trollview
New member
I recently purchased an MTD 242-645-000 5hp chipper/shredder from the previous owner. I serviced the engine and changed the fuel to non-ethanol. The shredder worked great for a huge amount of berry bush prunings, not so good for Ponderosa pine needles and leaves. They would collect behind the flail screen and plug up the discharge. Suspecting a dull shredder blade I removed it according to the manual I downloaded. It didn't seem particularly dull, but I touched it up, balanced it and re-assembled the machine, noticing that the flail screen had been installed opposite from the clear directions in the manual. Thinking I had found the problem, I reversed the screen so that the curved convex side faced inward. The flails began striking the ends of the screen. What's the deal? Are the flails too long? Or, is the manual wrong?