Chipper Wallenstein constantly getting clogged

[jrclark]

I have a BX42s running off of my Kioti DS3510 (27hp PTO). The BX42 has absolutely no problem chipping anything, but has a ton of problems discharging most everything. I was really happy with it the first time I used it, but the last couple of times have been frustrating. Granted, the last time out it was mostly green birch going down the chute, but were incredibly small limbs. Even alternating with dry stuff doesn't help the situation. Is this normal, or am I missing something? The discharge on this thing necks down too far in my opinion which causes this issue.

 

[JRobyn]

Not sure of the Wallenstein design, but the "draft" on my Morbark is created by no more than 4 "vanes" which are simply 6" long pieces of about 3"x3" angle iron bolted to the main cutter wheel. They could possibly come loose or break off, although I bet you would have heard it had this happened. May be worth checking.
Oh, and be sure to run it at 540PTO RPM.

- Jay

 

[jeff9366]

Willow and Birch, which are often used for basket making because of their pliancy, are the two worst branches to chip.

There is nothing better than a battery powered Sawzall with a 9" pruning blade for cleaning out chute jams. A Sawzall will pull out the worst clog in a few seconds.

Even alternating with dry stuff doesn't help the situation. Is this normal, or am I missing something?

A BXM42 shredder/chipper would shred your "incredibly small limbs" without clogging.

A BX42s/chipper (only) is for chipping heavier debris. Light stuff does not provide enough resistance for the knives nor twig breaker to cut; it blows out of the rotor whole.

I think you working outside the design parameters of your BX42s with the small stuff.

There are many threads in the archive differentiating the material input of the BXM42 versus the BX42s.

 

[texas42]

I have a BX 42 also and know what you are experiencing. As Jeff9366 suggested let stuff dry until at least the leaves are brown and crisp. Stuff will then go thru without plugging, that has worked well for me. Might be with birch you need to let it dry even more.

 

[jrclark]

The unit is new, the knives are sharp. I can try spraying the inside of the chute. At one point, I had dragged some dried oak and hickory and still had the clogging issue. I am running it 540, but did run it @ 1000 for a quick laugh and it clogged as fast as it chewed. Too bad, because running it @ 1000 rpm would sure save some time, even with 27hp at the shaft!

Let's put it this way, if I had a sawzall with me the last time, the urge to trim the chute would have been overwhelming. What pisses me off the most is that I finally had help (bro-in-law) and couldn't take advantage.

 

[jeff9366]

I suggest sorting your material into >1" Birch for the BX42s and <1" Birch to be burned when dry.

 

[PapaPerk]

I suggest sorting your material into >1" Birch for the BX42s and <1" Birch to be burned when dry.

What's the point of a chipper then?! It should either chip the stuff or not.

OP does it have an auto feed?

 

[Piston]

What's the point of a chipper then?! It should either chip the stuff or not. OP does it have an auto feed?

By auto feed, do you mean hydraulic feed? I cannot begin to imagine that it does, because with hydro feed, you would not have this problem.

I see that the knives are sharp, but are they properly positioned? It seems that the manual feed chippers are pretty sensitive to sharp blades and proper adjustment.

I agree with papa perk, why have a chipper if you have to go through the trouble of sorting material?

 

[oosik]

Letting the material dry out is the answer. Green material will plug any chipper. I chip Ponderosa pine. When I had the BX42 the small limbs and green needles were constantly plugging the chute - pine pitch is just like glue. I chip 750-900 small pine trees( 6" and smaller) every spring - maintaining my pine stands. I changed my procedure - cut, stack and chip next year. You really don't have to wait a year but that schedule works for the way I operate. Now that I have a much larger tractor and a BX62 its not so critical. However, I still follow the wait a year to chip schedule. I NEVER have a plug up with this schedule.

The first time you chipped the inside of your chute was smooth, clean, pitch/sap free paint. When you chipped the next time the sap had built up in the chute and caused it to plug. And yes, when the chute necks down it is more subject to plugging. Running at 540 pto rpm will help - higher air flow.

If you start with a clean chute. are chipping truly dry material and still have consistent plug ups - check the "paddles" on your impeller. If they are OK then I would contact your dealer and have him check out the chipper.

 

[jrclark]

Letting the material dry out is the answer. Green material will plug any chipper. I chip Ponderosa pine. When I had the BX42 the small limbs and green needles were constantly plugging the chute - pine pitch is just like glue. I chip 750-900 small pine trees( 6" and smaller) every spring - maintaining my pine stands. I changed my procedure - cut, stack and chip next year. You really don't have to wait a year but that schedule works for the way I operate. Now that I have a much larger tractor and a BX62 its not so critical. However, I still follow the wait a year to chip schedule. I NEVER have a plug up with this schedule. The first time you chipped the inside of your chute was smooth, clean, pitch/sap free paint. When you chipped the next time the sap had built up in the chute and caused it to plug. And yes, when the chute necks down it is more subject to plugging. Running at 540 pto rpm will help - higher air flow. If you start with a clean chute. are chipping truly dry material and still have consistent plug ups - check the "paddles" on your impeller. If they are OK then I would contact your dealer and have him check out the chipper.

All great points oosik. Unfortunately, my schedule is a bit different in that I'm trying to prep my lot for our new home. The slightly dried out birch had absolutely zero issues going through.

I'll look to adjust the blades and adjust as suggested by Piston.

This unit was purchased second hand, but had very little use on it. I doubt any dealer would look at it out of the kindness of their hearts.

This is a manual feed chipper.

 

[Furu]

Don't know the Wallenstein chippers but does the chute rotate so that you can direct the chip exhaust?
If so is the chute round construction or square? My chipper's chip exhaust is made out of 8x8 inner dimension square tube. The top of the chute rotates and if I rotate it so that the square upper does not align with the square lower section I can get a clog with very leafy material or very fine twig type material due to the obstruction at the rotation joint.
If I keep the upper and the lower sections aligned (yes that is only 4 "perfect" directions to discharge) I have no problem with any material.
If I am chipping dry it makes no difference if the sections are rotated so as not to be perfectly aligned then I have infinite rotation angles. I just watch it when chipping leafy material and make certain upper and lower sections are in alignment.

This may or may not be relevant to your situation depending upon design.

 

[oosik]

When I had the '42 and chipped freshly cut green pines I did two things that helped. Alternate green and dry stuff. Also I would "lube" the inside of the discharge chute with a spray lubricant, mainly WD40. I used both methods together because I never had enough dry to keep the chute cleaned out. I even tried cleaning the chute with kerosene. All these "cures" would help to a greater or lesser degree but pretty soon it would plug and I'd be digging again. It was a true PITA.

Another solution, if you have the time, cut all the limbs off the trees. Green "sticks" will seldom cause the chute to plug. For me, trimming the limbs off was also a PITA and I only tried it a couple times. I chip all my trees "in the round".

 

[murphy1244]

I have a BX42s running off of my Kioti DS3510 (27hp PTO). The BX42 has absolutely no problem chipping anything, but has a ton of problems discharging most everything. I was really happy with it the first time I used it, but the last couple of times have been frustrating. Granted, the last time out it was mostly green birch going down the chute, but were incredibly small limbs. Even alternating with dry stuff doesn't help the situation. Is this normal, or am I missing something? The discharge on this thing necks down too far in my opinion which causes this issue.

You need a shredder, a BXM-42. That's what I use.

 

[jeff9366]

Thank you, Murph-------

Some of our readers do not understand that Wallenstein makes distinct CHIPPERS and CHIPPER-SHREDDERS. You cannot chip small, light stuff in a Wallenstein CHIPPER. Small stuff will process fine in a Wallenstein CHIPPER-SHREDDER.

Lubricating the exhaust chute may help but a BX42s will not process small stuff consistently. BX42s is not designed to process small stuff.

 

[rasorbackq]

Well , well , well first time for everything. Never heard of a Wallenstein chipper plugging up before.. I had a 8 " chipper that was always plugged . I returned it and was looking for a Wallenstein chipper because they are so good. Now I read they plug up too.
What to do???

 

[Gordon Gould]

I much prefer to chip green wood. I chip tons of sticky, sappy white pine and balsam fir. With green wood the through put is higher, the machine operation smoother, and blades stay sharp much longer. I don't cut anything I can't chip right away so it won't dry out. I have a BearCat chipper. I don't see why a Wallenstein would be different.

Are your rpms dropping because you are feeding to much to fast ?

 

[s219]

I have a BX-42, and can tell you exactly how to avoid the problem -- periodically send through an actual limb (say 2" thick or bigger) to keep the chute clear (you will see the wood chips blow out the leafy clog and clear the chute). If you are only feeding in twigs and leafy branches, it will clog (it's not a shredder, it's a chipper). But if you alternate big and small stuff, you won't ever clog. So, you can still feed in the twiggy leafy stuff, but feed in something substantial and woody about every 3rd or 4th feed, or feed the twiggy stuff in with a bigger limb at the same time.

As for green/dry wood, I find that has little effect on the clogging. Dry twigs can clog the chute too. And in fact, dry wood is a lot more difficult to chip. The user manual recommends chipping green wood, or if you have dry wood, at least alternate in something green every so often. Chipping dry wood will dull the blades faster and can actually cause a fire if there is a jam or the blades are real dull.

Generally for the tree work I do, I am shoving in limbs, twigs, leaves, etc all interchangeably, and rarely see jams anymore. If I only had twiggy leafy stuff to get rid of, I would not use the chipper. I'd make a brush pile. Or get a shredder. The BX-42 is a great unit, but it's a chipper, so it's meant for feeding stuff that can actually be chipped. For lots of twiggy, leafy stuff, the BXM-42 chipper/shredder is preferable.

 

[tractchores]

If it's clogging on even dry stuff make sure the chute is really cleaned out. We-40 in the shoot will get rid of sap if its sticky as well. I use a long bar to clear mine if it clogs. I alternate big with small and that solves the problem. Also check the gap alignment for the blades, that had a huge impact and can easily get misaligned

 

[oosik]

If a guy was a true "purest" then he would limb all his trees and send the limbed tree thru a chipper and the limbs thru a shredder. I looked at the Wallenstein chipper/shredder and the price. I decided, right away, that I'd figure ways to make the chipper work and put up with it occasionally plugging. Stacking and letting my pines dry for a year( even at a year they still aren't completely dry) solved all my plugging on the BX42. With the new BX62 and its larger diameter discharge chute - I don't even have to let the pines dry - but I've worked out a schedule and it works for me. I used my BX42 for 18 year and never had to resharpen or rotate the blades. They stayed sharp enough and never got a single nick in all those years. I think this has a lot to do with - I never drag the trees and pine is a very soft wood. Granted, after 18 years of use - 750-900 trees per year - the blades were not brand new sharpened blades any more but still sharp enough to chip with no noticeable decline in capacity or lugging of the tractor. I just hope I have similar results with my new BX62.

 

[jrclark]

Lots of folks suggesting alternating green with dry, small and large limbs, etc. This is fully understandable, but the clogs happen with feeding only 2 or 3 limbs of various types of material, which should explain my frustrations. I firmly believe a hydraulic feed would certainly help the cause, but that's not really an option at the moment. The clogs always occur approximately 3-4" below the rotating chute, so it's an issue with how the discharge necks down, not the rotating assembly. Before taking drastic measures, I'll try the WD40 approach and adjust the knives.

I like the unit, it will certainly pay dividends down the road. I'm vocalizing my frustrations now because of the time sensitive nature with clearing my lot.