Morbark Chipper Won't Start

130-40 hp Model 13. Thinking about picking up a 15, same basic machine though, 2 knives.
 
Local machinist sharpens my 4 blades for the 1250 and balances them at 40.00 per set if they are not too gouged up. So 10.00 per. Not bad really. Set of 4 is about 124.00 new. So I keep 5 sets currently and send in 2 sets at a time. Probably going to buy 2 more sets..... Rinse repeat.
 
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  • #205
We have 4 sets and when 3 are dull I send those three in for sharpening. I think we're paying like $75 for the three sets. Dirt cheap compared to buying brand new.


love
nick
 
My pro sharpener is $1/ inch of blade, $64/ set. They just come back sharp and true. I seem to get knicks that always get sharpened all the way out, significantly deeper than what I can freshen-up with that hand sharpener.

Merle, I've never noticed a concave shape, but I know what you mean. Is yours visible to the eye, when installed on the machine.

Yes, visible to the eye. New knives and machine, 86 (?) hours now. I put it there by many touch up sharpenings. No gravel divits in blades, I am pretty finicky about clean material.
 
We have 4 sets and when 3 are dull I send those three in for sharpening. I think we're paying like $75 for the three sets. Dirt cheap compared to buying brand new.


love
nick

Your knives may seem to last longer when chipping with a square anvil.
 
Dude you're totally right. I know that my understanding of chippers and engines is very limited and minimal. But when I bring it to two dealers and then engine guys, when I get it back it should be....close to new? Now all that can be said about it is "it has the ability to chip some things."

I guess I'm kinda hoping bandit or vermeer will be better at managing my deficiencies! 😊
I just wanted to chime in real quick..... I was recently looking at Vemeers website and they made some really nice changes to the BC900 that should take care of the problems that we have with ours. First, they are now putting a 35ph Vanguard engine on it..... Same one that is on our stump grinder and that seems to be a much, much better engine than the 40/39/37hp Kohler that ours has on it. I know it's a gasser and it's a small whimpy machine compared to most, but I think it does a respectable job for its size and cost.
Second, they changed from a manual belt tensioner to engage the disk to an electronic clutch.... Again I have to assume this is a similar clutch to what is on our stump grinder. So far that is working well for us too. All I know of is that it's much better than what was on our 252 grinder.
After bad mouthing Vermeer, I think I would actually give it a serious look now. I'm still sure that it's not as good as a Bandit, but I bet it's at least $10k cheaper and it will still do the job.

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If you guys are in areas with any decent sized mills around those mills will have full time filers on staff and all the fanciest knife sharpening equipment available. I have a neighbour who's a filer and he has a lot of trees so we made the obvious agreement. I had been running like Willie for a long time but being a pack rat I never threw out a single knife, so from the day I met this neighbour I had never bought another knife. If you're getting knives sharpened the key is to have lots of sets and keep them the same size. When you have a dozen sets all sharpened to the same size, anvil adjustment is no more difficult or often than with new knives every time.
 
I like that. May start doing something as I have a bunch of knives laying around too. Gotta get the woodstove in the new shop this month!
 
Is it a PIA to set anvil clearance? Corn choppers were not that bad. Basically same kind of machine. It made a big difference on them if the clearance was set properly.

It was one of those things the first time is difficult, but each time gets easier.
 
It's a little pain. Half a dozen bolts and fine tune. Tightened bolts, check clearance again. Rinse lather repeat
 
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  • #218
They said one of the fuel injectors wasn't working. We were basically running off 3 cylinders.

We've had it just over a week and it's just as crappy as ever.


love
nick
 
Jim....it's supposed to eat that branch like your best combine eats a swath of corn.

Nick, sorry it's going tough right now. I was all set to be excited for you.

Just so you know in the back of your head there are only a hand full of things that must come together for that machine to chip well. Some of the mechanically inclined tree guys here or near you could figure it out in a half hour or far less and 3 branches to check it or less.

It's like a gas engine of old needed 3 things to run. Fuel, spark and that spark at the right time. You, me, anyone could check those things and have any engine running.

Find someone who will love to show you how to check for that handful of things on this chipper or the next new one. Same either way.
 
Was that 3000 rpm I saw? Every diesel I've run maxed out at 2200-2300 rpm. That is a morbark issue in my mind. I think I said it before that every time we had a problem our dealer would pass it off as a Cat problem. The Cat dealer would get it and say it was morbark issue. Boss went all Vermeer after that.
 
Shit. I did not see that the smilie on the end was a frownie.

Not uncommon for a little diesel to run fast like that. My only problem with small diesels that are turned up to higher HP levels is that they generally need to run faster to make the power. A bigger engine that turns slower will last longer, but be more expensive to buy. The Allis Chalmers in dads old Gleaner spun at 2670 to make enough HP. When it blew up it sent pieces through the side of the shinny galvanized engine compartment. That was cool to an 8 year old, not so much for Dad.


In my opinion, that engine either needs taken out and dynoed or taken back with a shit load of wood to chip on the Dealers front step.

As mentioned before, air, compression, and fuel are needed, in the right amounts, at the right time.

Timing is critical on a direct injected engine, just a few degrees is enough to make an engine not start. A governor problem will cause an engine to not make power or maintain engine speed. I dont know what kind of governor your engine has, but the old mechanical types were known to fail. A fuel supply problem is possible, and hard to pinpoint at times. Air in the fuel system is a bitch to find and will cause a loss of power. Turbos fail. Aneroid systems fail.

A stuck open injector can sometimes cause a cylinder to wash down and loose compression. Did you ever have a diesel smell in your oil? Can you get to your injector lines?

If you can, I would suggest that you start the engine and run it up to 1200 or so and crack the injector lines to see if the engine pulls down or changes sound. Do this one at a time, and crack the nut on the injector. If the sound changes or the engine pulls down you can be reasonable sure that the injector is opening and the cylinder has compression. If no change occurs, you might have poor compression due to rings or valves, or your not getting fuel, either no fuel or non atomized fuel.


Of all the crazy ass hatefull things I have experienced, a bad fuel line was the worst. The damn suction line had the inner lining separate and block fuel when the demand went up. Ran at idle like a top.

Of course a horrific drag and friction can cause an engine to pull down too.
 
I don't think the engine is the problem now other than that rpm is too high. Said it before too. I think there may be an auto feed problem and the throttle linkage may need adjusted.
I'd say the auto feed parameters may be set incorrectly or the unit itself is bad.
 
Well if thats the case I apologize.

Just chalk it up to unneeded information. Like the time you asked a friend about fishing and he goes into an hour lecture about graphite vs bamboo when all you wanted to know if it was crawlers or shiners.
 
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