- Location
- Columbia
A cautionary tale ... and a question.
Hi Gents, I purchased a lemon. I got a used Altec WD540D chipper from a "nice guy" in FL who wanted to help me out by meeting me at a gas station so I didn't have to drive all the way to his house to pick up the chipper.
The diesel motor started up and ran like a champ, and the feed rollers went in forward and reverse just fine. But I wasn't able to put any wood through the chipper because we were in the middle of the city with cars and buildings all around us. Anyone seeing any red flags yet?
What I didn't realize was that the chipper's feed rollers didn't actually feed. They would spin just fine, but as soon as you put them under load they stopped cold. My 12+" capacity chipper literally wouldn't pull a 1" stick through the feed rollers.
But buyer beware right? There's a special place in #3!! for dishonest people. But whatever. That's for another thread.
The first thing I tested was the pump pressure by putting a pressure gage between the pump outlet and the forward/reverse valve inlet. Like so:
And sure enough, instead of 2,000 PSI it was showing 400-500psi. So I called Altec and a new pump was $600. I purchased an identical pump from Northern Tool (of all places) for $230. When I swapped the pumps I pulled the old pump apart and it did indeed show a few thousandths of wear.
But to my surprise, when I started up the chipper with the new pump ... it still showed about 400-500 psi. So it occurred to me that maybe the pressure relief on the forward/reverse valve needed to be adjusted. But I can't find a way to adjust it. The valve itself looked suspiciously new so I called the seller. He assured me he'd sold me a perfectly functional chipper ... but admitted that he'd recently replaced the valve with one he'd purchased from Northern Tool. He refused to send me pictures or any information about the old valve. Nice guy.
So here's my first question. I can't seem to figure out a way to adjust the pressure on this valve. It has a spot that looks like an adjustment (circled in red), but I can only loosen it (counter clockwise) and when I turn it a half turn or so fluid starts to leak out.
The specs on the valve (W-V-BR01) say it's adjustable, and factory preset to 2,250 psi ...
I can't find a manual for it online, so I'm not sure how to adjust it. Maybe there's an adjustment under the cap on the right side of the valve? I just don't want to take it off and have a spring shoot into the next county.
My second question: Is there a better universal valve I can buy that would work? Altec doesn't sell a replacement valve for this chipper anymore. Which might be why the seller listed it for sale in the first place. I'd really like to get this beast running. If not I'll have to sell it broken and try and recoup as much as possible.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Gents, I purchased a lemon. I got a used Altec WD540D chipper from a "nice guy" in FL who wanted to help me out by meeting me at a gas station so I didn't have to drive all the way to his house to pick up the chipper.
The diesel motor started up and ran like a champ, and the feed rollers went in forward and reverse just fine. But I wasn't able to put any wood through the chipper because we were in the middle of the city with cars and buildings all around us. Anyone seeing any red flags yet?
What I didn't realize was that the chipper's feed rollers didn't actually feed. They would spin just fine, but as soon as you put them under load they stopped cold. My 12+" capacity chipper literally wouldn't pull a 1" stick through the feed rollers.
But buyer beware right? There's a special place in #3!! for dishonest people. But whatever. That's for another thread.
The first thing I tested was the pump pressure by putting a pressure gage between the pump outlet and the forward/reverse valve inlet. Like so:
And sure enough, instead of 2,000 PSI it was showing 400-500psi. So I called Altec and a new pump was $600. I purchased an identical pump from Northern Tool (of all places) for $230. When I swapped the pumps I pulled the old pump apart and it did indeed show a few thousandths of wear.
But to my surprise, when I started up the chipper with the new pump ... it still showed about 400-500 psi. So it occurred to me that maybe the pressure relief on the forward/reverse valve needed to be adjusted. But I can't find a way to adjust it. The valve itself looked suspiciously new so I called the seller. He assured me he'd sold me a perfectly functional chipper ... but admitted that he'd recently replaced the valve with one he'd purchased from Northern Tool. He refused to send me pictures or any information about the old valve. Nice guy.
So here's my first question. I can't seem to figure out a way to adjust the pressure on this valve. It has a spot that looks like an adjustment (circled in red), but I can only loosen it (counter clockwise) and when I turn it a half turn or so fluid starts to leak out.
The specs on the valve (W-V-BR01) say it's adjustable, and factory preset to 2,250 psi ...
I can't find a manual for it online, so I'm not sure how to adjust it. Maybe there's an adjustment under the cap on the right side of the valve? I just don't want to take it off and have a spring shoot into the next county.
My second question: Is there a better universal valve I can buy that would work? Altec doesn't sell a replacement valve for this chipper anymore. Which might be why the seller listed it for sale in the first place. I'd really like to get this beast running. If not I'll have to sell it broken and try and recoup as much as possible.
Thanks in advance!
