Victory Chipper - any experience?

[BeeJay42]

About 15 months ago I purchased a WC-10H PTO Wood Chipper with Self Contained Hydraulic System. I am just finishing the review, and it is not pretty. Has anyone else had any experience with one of these? There were a couple of items in the instructions that did not match, but not too bad overall. We were able to get it together without too many issues. I have a MF-285 tractor which along with a number of other similar MF tractors are prolific across the country. When we connected it us and got ready to install the PTO shaft it took a lot of figuring to get it the right length. We finally got it installed and attempted to start it up. It sheared the bolt right away. Installed a new one and the same. Checked everything out and all seemed to work correctly. Purchased some #8 bolts though that was not recommended. After three more shears the PTO broke. Contacted the sales rep and they sent another shaft and some more bolts. As I travel most of the time, I only had 3 weeks to work with this. Came back for 3 weeks in the fall and work on it for a while, but still never able to get it to run. No workable solutions from the manufacture. Came back in the spring and started off with the basic trouble shooting again. Found out that the instructions for the operations was incorrect. With several trial and errors, we got it to run. What joy!! Then it clogged up after just three branches. Found one video online on how to adjust the spacing for the blades - and it was a hideous video - and we worked at getting the blades corrected. Ran a couple of more limbs through and it appeared to be working right. Then it clogged again. The machine gets VERY HOT. Even on a very cool day.

The PTO shaft broke again - the collar - so we gave up. At a lost on what to do to get this to work. The sales rep asked a couple of questions, but the only solution appears to spend $500 on a slip clutch for a +$4,000 unit.. Don't see how that will fix the extreme heat of the unit, or the clogging.

I look forward to any working solutions anyone would have. I would add that we got the heavy duty flail mower from Victory and my boys say it was the best purchase we ever made. The gear box went out the first day and they promptly replaced it and we have over 100 hours using it.

 

[oosik]

I have a solution. You may not like it. Recognize that this is a cheap chipper. Give it to somebody who wants to waste time trying to get it to run.

If it's beyond shearing bolts and is now breaking PTO shafts - you do not want this unit. You may be very close to damaging components within the tractor transmission/pto systems.

If you still need a chipper - buy one that has recognized credits.

 

[oosik]

Sorry to be so blunt. But that chipper has a real potential to cause grievous personal injury. Let alone damage to your tractor.

And you are correct - a slip clutch is not the solution.

 

[LouNY]

I just read the specs for that chipper a 385 pound flywheel, 4 knives, and what they call 2 counter knives, what I would call shear bars.

It is easy to see why you might have troubles getting that flywheel spinning, getting a 385 pound flywheel up to speed is going to require slipping the pto clutch until it is up to speed and it certainly is not going to be real quick.

As far as plugging are you running it at full rpm?
Also anything like a chipper has to have the knives and shear bars (counter knives) almost touching and the shear bar has to have a sharp edge or be square to the cutting knives for a good shear otherwise they will wedge.

 

[groundcover]

Been there done that ! Had a cheap Chinese PTO chipper that I spent way more time fixing than I did chipping . Put it on Craig's List , guys were just about fighting over it. Bought a low hour diesel Brush Bandit that will see me out, way more machine than I need but boy is it sweet !

 

[oosik]

I read the specs off the web site also. That would appear to be a pretty heavy duty chipper. Makes no difference - it must be properly set up to function well. Sharp knives, square shear bars, close tollerances.

Without some experience with chippers this can be a daunting task for a newbie chipper operator. It boils down to knowing what to do and how to do it.

My M6040 allows me to slowly engage my chipper. Starting at idle - I ease back on the pto engagement lever. Once the chipper rotor is fully engaged - I run the tractor engine up until the dashboard gauge shows 540 pto rpms or whatever I need. This gauge has two functions. Tractor engine rpms or pto rpms. This gauge has a switchable feature.

It would be good for BeeJay42 to have somebody with chipper experience to check out this situation.

 

[oosik]

There is one situation that a whole lot of chipper users may not understand. I've looked at a whole lot of chippers. I don't remember EVER seeing a rotor that was PERFECTLY FLAT. Not being perfectly flat means the rotor will not rotate in a flat plane. When setting the knife to shear bar tolerance you must rotate the rotor to find that knife that is closest to the shear bar. All tolerances must be set using this single knife to shear bar tolerance. Doing otherwise can cause the other knife(s) to make contact with the shear bar. Not a good thing!!!

At the very least - doing otherwise can cause the entire system to plug and come to a rather inglorious HALT.

 

[oosik]

Ok BeeJay42 - here is what I would recommend in your situation.

- turn off the tractor, remove key from ignition
- disconnect PTO from chipper, leave connected to tractor
- open up the chipping compartment so you can see the rotor, knives
and shear bars
- check to see how sharp the knives are. Does the shear bars have a
nice, clean squared off edge. The knives should be sharp enough
to easily cut your finger.
- by hand, rotate the rotor. Find which blade is closest to the shear
bar and what is that gap between that blade and the shear bar. My chipper recommends 1/32 of an inch. If you have one - use a feeler
gauge. The remaining knives should not be that far off either.
- carefully spin the rotor. Does it rotate freely.
- with one hand on opposite sides of the rotor - pull hard. Go to the
other side - same thing - pull hard. You should not be able to move
the rotor. You are checking for runout.
- how big and thick are the chips. They should be about 1/4 the size
of a playing card and less than 1/8 inch thick.
Ok - this is the extent of my knowledge. You have a hydraulic in-feed. Is it adjustable. I wonder - is it feeding too fast and not allowing the chipping action to function properly. Why aren't the chips coming out the discharge chute. Is there some type of screen that stops them from being blown out.

With your 90 hp tractor - it takes something major to stop the chipper and shear a pin. Stop using the grade 8 bolts. You will just continue to damage the PTO shaft. Needless to say - stop using the chipper until you can identify and correct the problem.

 

[LouNY]

I'll add one other thought, with that massive flywheel and the inertia that it will have a slip and over running clutch would be a good investment. The slip clutch to protect the tractor while starting it up and the over run to protect your tractors pto clutch and BRAKE.

 

[ericm979]

What part gets hot? The hydraulic fluid? Or something else? There isn't anything that should generate heat. Just bearings.

Some chinese chippers used a simple valve instead of a real flow control. That might make the hydraulic system get hot.