Super Apache chipper: belts & PTO speed

[jaybrad]

Has anyone replaced the drive belts (3) on a Super Apache wood chipper?

Last night a few of us tackled this job - and I have to say it was a royal PITA.

The biggest challenge was there is not enough space between the frame and the front shaft to slip the belts off, so it meant disassembling the entire bottom unit and removing the flywheel.

Hopefully this won't have to be done again, but if so I was thinking about taking a grinder and opening it up a bit on the sides of the front shaft. But I wondered if others had been through this and had any tips.

My other question has to do with PTO speed. My tractor only has 540 as an option for the rear PTO, but one of the neighbors has a Kubota 3030 and can select a higher speed (960?). He claims that it chips easier and won't hurt the bearings, but I'm concerned with having the flailing knives spinning around at twice as fast as recommended.

Is this a legitimate concern?

Thanks,
Jay

 

[shvl73]

I haven't changed the belts on mine, and now I don't want to!
I don't think I'd run it above 540rpms. I'd worry about something breaking (blades?).

 

[Ductape]

When i had one, i never needed to change the belts. I'll have to take your word for it being a pain.

I used to have an older Yanmar with a two speed PTO. I did occaisionally run my chipper in the 1000 PTO speed chipping small brush (about 2" and under)......... BUT my RPMs were in the mid to high teens and not anywhere near where you would run it in the 540. I probably ran it over sped by maybe 20%. I did this because there was a little time between branches, and i was mostly trying to keep the noise down a bit. It chipped the small stuff fine, but the brush had a much greater leaverage on the motor......... when the RPMs began to drop (when the chipper worked harder), they dropped FAST.

Your friends Kubota has more uumph than your tractor and my old Yanmar, so it would not have to work quite as hard. But with that being said, I wouldn't recommend running running in the 1000 PTO speed at much more than half the RPMs you wuld run it in the 540 speed. I wouldn't worry about the knives and hammers so much as the bearings and U joints. The flywheel is only balanced to run at 540. I WOULD be concerned about burning up the bearings and U joints, and possibly the unit shaking itself apart.