I've seen mentions of this site in my travels elsewhere on the web, but this is my first time here.
I wanted to get a chipper shredder to deal with the brush on our suburban acre, a combination of tree trimmings and scrappy tree brush. I'd also like to chop up our compost pile to see if I can get it to cook down faster. I can't justify or afford one of the fancy "eats whole trees" models, so I was looking for a low budget home-owner grade unit. I found what looked like a reasonable deal on Craigs List, $75 for an "older unit" that needed some repairs.
It turned out to be a Kemp model Z60H / S/N Z60H5475354
Searchin on Kemp found a couple of references to the Green Acre Lawn & Garden place that's supposed to have parts, but didn't find this site - I found this site searching for Green Acre - talked to them this afternoon, and was told that they have been out of business for at least four years now, and have no idea about parts (but wished they did, as they keep getting calls) :crybaby:
The machine looks similar to the pictures in the Models: K2, K4, K4CH, K6, K6CH, K8, K8CH, T6CH manual that is on the site here, which is far more info than I had previously, the biggest difference looks like the wheels.
I had to clean out the tank, but the 206cc / 5hp B&S "Magnetronic" engine on it now runs pretty well, though it does seem a bit tired.
The clutch is very bad - I assume that it's a fairly standard item?
However running it with the clutch as best I could, I found it didn't do very well at either chipping or shredding. Looking at the manual it appears the chipper blade may need adjusting / replacement. (Ideas on sources?) However it didn't look like the machine would do a lot with branches, even at it's best. The chute is pretty tiny, and it didn't look like the chipper blade even ran all the way across it - not to mention only having the one blade.
When I tried to shred some of my soggy compost, if I had the output door in the lowest position it just clogged up, and if I had the door in the upper position it just seemed to shoot the stuff through without doing much to it...
I noticed that the teeth seemed to have about 1/2" of clearance between their tips and the screen on the bottom - is this too much?? Can one build the teeth back up by welding on their ends (I have a MIG welder)
I'm starting to wonder if this is the right machine for my needs, even if I do get it fixed... I wouldn't mind getting my money back out of it, but not sure if that's reasonable.
Comments / suggestions appreciated...
:wwp: Pictures here: http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa193/Stoveburner/chipper/
Gooserider
I wanted to get a chipper shredder to deal with the brush on our suburban acre, a combination of tree trimmings and scrappy tree brush. I'd also like to chop up our compost pile to see if I can get it to cook down faster. I can't justify or afford one of the fancy "eats whole trees" models, so I was looking for a low budget home-owner grade unit. I found what looked like a reasonable deal on Craigs List, $75 for an "older unit" that needed some repairs.
It turned out to be a Kemp model Z60H / S/N Z60H5475354
Searchin on Kemp found a couple of references to the Green Acre Lawn & Garden place that's supposed to have parts, but didn't find this site - I found this site searching for Green Acre - talked to them this afternoon, and was told that they have been out of business for at least four years now, and have no idea about parts (but wished they did, as they keep getting calls) :crybaby:
The machine looks similar to the pictures in the Models: K2, K4, K4CH, K6, K6CH, K8, K8CH, T6CH manual that is on the site here, which is far more info than I had previously, the biggest difference looks like the wheels.
I had to clean out the tank, but the 206cc / 5hp B&S "Magnetronic" engine on it now runs pretty well, though it does seem a bit tired.
The clutch is very bad - I assume that it's a fairly standard item?
However running it with the clutch as best I could, I found it didn't do very well at either chipping or shredding. Looking at the manual it appears the chipper blade may need adjusting / replacement. (Ideas on sources?) However it didn't look like the machine would do a lot with branches, even at it's best. The chute is pretty tiny, and it didn't look like the chipper blade even ran all the way across it - not to mention only having the one blade.
When I tried to shred some of my soggy compost, if I had the output door in the lowest position it just clogged up, and if I had the door in the upper position it just seemed to shoot the stuff through without doing much to it...
I noticed that the teeth seemed to have about 1/2" of clearance between their tips and the screen on the bottom - is this too much?? Can one build the teeth back up by welding on their ends (I have a MIG welder)
I'm starting to wonder if this is the right machine for my needs, even if I do get it fixed... I wouldn't mind getting my money back out of it, but not sure if that's reasonable.
Comments / suggestions appreciated...
:wwp: Pictures here: http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa193/Stoveburner/chipper/
Gooserider