Wallenstein BX62S shear pins

[oosik]

Well - after having and using my BX62S for four years - I finally did it. Feeding old, hard dry apple wood and blew a shear pin. Kind of surprised me because it was only 4" diameter material.

Anyhow - I looked and by golly - I don't have any shear pins. Called dealer - it will be a week because they don't stock them.

The question becomes - - has anybody used a standard bolt successfully? What grade bolt - -?

I tried a 3/8" - grade 2 bolt and it sheared IMMEDIATELY. No joy there. Thanks for any help.

 

[oosik]

BTW - for those who have never had to purchase an "OEM shear pin" - - the Wally shear pins come in at around $6.50 each. Not gold plated either.

 

[CobyRupert]

Do you happen to have (or find) the original shear bolt head? (i.e. which end went flying?)
The marks on that should tell you what grade it is/was.

 

[oosik]

No - I didn't look. But I saw the second bolt head lying there on the ground - so the original should not be far from it - hopefully. I shall have a second cup of brew and go look. Thanks CobyR.

 

[oosik]

Wonders will never cease. Found top halves of both shear bolts - OEM and my grade 2 replacement. Both within two inches of each other - hiding in two inch tall grass. I did have help though - I used my ever handy White metal detector. Took less than two minutes and I had them in hand. The OEM is grade 8.

I bought the metal detector about ten years ago - got tired of dropping and not finding those "one of a kind" parts. After a bazillion trips into the "big town" to get replacement parts for those dropped and lost in the grass - the metal detector soon paid for itself.

 

[CobyRupert]

:cool2:

 

[jymbee]

Well - after having and using my BX62S for four years - I finally did it. Feeding old, hard dry apple wood and blew a shear pin. Kind of surprised me because it was only 4" diameter material.

Anyhow - I looked and by golly - I don't have any shear pins. Called dealer - it will be a week because they don't stock them.

The question becomes - - has anybody used a standard bolt successfully? What grade bolt - -?

I tried a 3/8" - grade 2 bolt and it sheared IMMEDIATELY. No joy there. Thanks for any help.

Yep, we used a standard bolt to replace the shear pin on our Wallenstein. Lasted about one minute. Dealer had OEM pin in stock and I bought several but haven't had to use any of the extras yet. Don't recall how much we paid for the extras.

 

[oosik]

For sure - I tried a standard, Grade 2, bolt and the first chunk of my rock hard apple wood took it out. Then I found the OEM shear bolt and it was Grade 8. I bought and use Grade 8 bolts from the local hardware store. I sheared one of those also in my "chip my old apple wood" project. This was the first time I have ever chipped anything other than pine. Quite an experience.

My son had darn well better appreciate the chipped applewood. There is a pile of about 150 pounds.

 

[CobyRupert]

For sure - I tried a standard, Grade 2, bolt and the first chunk of my rock hard apple wood took it out. Then I found the OEM shear bolt and it was Grade 8. I bought and use Grade 8 bolts from the local hardware store. I sheared one of those also in my "chip my old apple wood" project. This was the first time I have ever chipped anything other than pine. Quite an experience.

My son had darn well better appreciate the chipped applewood. There is a pile of about 150 pounds.

What do you do with the chips? Apple wood is the preferred wood when we smoke our bacon and hams.

 

[oosik]

My son was going to come out and help with the - "take down the old apple trees and chip them up" - project. But you know how that goes. So - I took them down - they were 35 year old semi-dwarf - pushed them over with the grapple - cut them up so they would go thru the chipper and then chipped them. The 8" trunks became 4" half-trunks and even those blew the shear pins. I really wouldn't want to have to chip old rock hard apple wood all the time.

Anyhow - he is going to use them to smoke stuff in his fancy smoker/bar-b-que'er. I AM going to be invited.

A good friend in Palmer, AK( about 40 miles NE of Anchorage) had a smoker that was a building. It was about 18' by 24' and he smoked everything. All kinds of fish, bear and his annual moose. He used apple wood - now that I remember this - I just wonder where he got the apple wood. Must have been from some old homesteads in the Palmer area.