OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Chippers, Mulchers, Shredders & Stump Grinders Petrol Chippers, Mulchers & Shredders MTD 8HP Chipper Shredder

Here are some pics of the MTD unit I was having some carby issues with,

It's an American made MTD unit with a Tecumseh 8HP horizontal shaft engine. They still make a similar unit from what I have been able to see. It now has plastic shutes. This one seems reasonably well made for a domestic unit. The shutes are all steel, pneumatic tyres, wheel hubs have grease nipples. According to the stickers on the machine the branch shute at the front takes up to 2 inch branches and the main shute advises up to half inch.

I removed the large shute blade today for a quick sharpen. The blades which chip branches are still quite sharp.





I I shoved a piece of 70 by 38 into the waste shute to lock the cutting disc so I could remove the blade. They were an absolute pain.







The model number is 242A648-000 I'm guessing it's about an early 90's model.

Cheers

Al

Cool.

Doesnt seem much more capable than a Rover Shredder.
Im sure it is.


Looks a bit more user friendly to move about.
But takes up more space.

Would love to see pics of the chipping blades setup.
How thick is the housing.

That front blade is for braches, is that the only blade??? Then just the vane things on a flywheel type thing.

It's funny that the newer verions run a smaller capacity, 7HP Briggs yet they have a larger cutting capacity up to 3 inches. Perhaps the better motor?? or better construction, larger bearings etc?

There is the blade I sharpened yesterday and then 12 of what I think they call floating hammers which you can see in the pic. The chipping shute has two 3 inch blades which you can see mounted to the other side of the disc

You can see the bolt which retains the blade I sharpened yesty.



and the chipping blades



The chipping shute




A weird sticker, seems kind of funny





And the odd tilting shute for raking leaves and twigs directly into





Cheers

Thanks for that. Very interesting.


Strange that there doesnt seem to be any sort of mandrel for the hammers. I assume that the blade on the face at the inlet chute is enough to get it all happening and the flail action of the hammers finishes it all off.

Is the disc meant to be kinked like that where the chipping blades are???

The housing does not look to be very thick.


Very interesting machine none the less. Gives me a few ideas.
I like that sweeep up off the ground idea, even if it probably doesnt work as well in practice and the theory would suggest. Do you put stuff on it then lift it up and let it fall in???


Cheers, Bob.

The metal of the housing is 2.5mm thick. There is a similar kink for the other chipping blade so I'm guessing it's meant to be there.

I haven't used the drop down shute but when I drop stuff in there it seems to get sucked in. The section just before the blades is flat so there is no continuous slope to the blade. So I think if you raked leaves up close enough to the hopper they would just get sucked in.

One thing this chipper mulcher does do an excellent job on is palm fronds. I put about 20 or so freshly cut fronds through it today and they dont bind up at all. I notice that Greenfield make a point of advertising that their machines are good for fronds. I assume there are some types of mulchers out there that don't like fronds due to their blade configuration.

It looks like a rather solid machine for a home-use one aldot. I think "home" would have to be rather large to need something that size - the machine is bigger than my shed. I seem to have read that palm fronds, having very tough longitudinal fibres, tend to wind around rotors and keep any other refuse from going into the rotors. The shredding then stops until you laboriously cut the fronds off the rotor, then start shredding again. At this point I don't know what your machine does to keep this from happening, unless that first-stage rotating blade actually cuts the fronds, which would be quite an achievement.

That's pretty much it. That blade in the first pic cuts up everything before it gets to the housing with the 12 hammers or flails. It's footprint is pretty much on par with a large self propelled mower. Certainly no large home here, just lots of trees, shrubs and hedges as well as that of my neighbours. If I were a rich man I would like a little Red Roo or Hansa chipper to take some bigger stuff.