Troy-Bilt 424 - Manual (Page 9)

9
4
WARNING
Never operate the chip-
per shredder without
chipper chute lowered
into the operating
position.
Figure 7
Operating
Your Chipper
Shredder
Operating The Chipper Shredder
Shredding
Yard waste such as leaves and pine needles can be
placed in the hopper for shredding. After material has
been processed by the shredder blade and flails, it will be
forced out of the chute deflector, and, if attached, into a
debris collection bag.
Observe the following guidelines when shredding yard
debris:
1. Never attempt to shred material other than normal
yard debris (leaves, twigs, pine cones, etc.).
2. Avoid shredding fibrous plants such as tomato vines
until they are thoroughly dried out. Fresh vines do not
shred well and tend to wrap themselves around the
impeller and flails.
3. Place reasonable amounts of debris into the hopper at
a time. Do not overload the hopper.
4. Allow the material in the hopper to be drawn into
the blades and shredded before adding additional
debris to the hopper. Failure to due so may result in a
clogged hopper, clogged chute deflector or a stalled
engine.
5. Avoid placing twigs longer than 24 inches into the
hopper. Twigs longer than 24 inches may result in a
clogged hopper.
6. Never place branches with a diameter greater than
1/2-inch in the hopper. Doing so can result in serious
damage to the unit’s shredder blade, flails or impeller.
Clearing the Hopper
Should the hopper become clogged with debris during
operation, proceed as follows:
1. Grasp the handle with both hands and gently agitate
the chipper shredder to help loosen debris, drawing it
into the impeller.
If the clog does not clear, proceed as follows:
1. Stop engine.
2. Use your hands to remove any debris found near the
top of the hopper.
3. Use a branch (or other available device, i.e. broom-
stick) to dislodge debris located toward the base of the
hopper.
4. Restart engine.
NOTE: If you’re unable to pull the starter rope as a
result of accumulated debris near the impeller, follow
instructions under the heading
Cleaning the Reduction
Chamber in the “Maintaining Your Chipper Shredder”
section of this manual.
Chipping
WARNING: Never operate the chip-
per shredder without chipper chute
lowered into the operating position.
Branches up to 3” in diameter can be fed into the
chipper chute. Observe the following guidelines when
chipping branches:
1. Keep both hands firmly on the branch as you feed it
into the chipper chute.
2. Never feed more than one branch into the chipper
chute at a time.
3. Never feed anything other than branches (or wood)
into the chipper chute.
4. Apply intermittent pressure (force, in short pulses)
while feeding larger (2- 3-inch diameter) branches
into the chipper chute, to avoid bogging or stalling
the engine.
IMPORTANT: Never feed branches with a diameter
greater than three (3) inches into the chipper chute.
Doing so can result in serious damage to your unit’s
chipper blades, flails or impeller.
NOTE: For best performance, always operate the
unit with sharp chipper blades. If a noticeable loss in
performance is encountered while chipping branches,
the chipper blades should be replaced.
Emptying the Debris Collection Bag
1. Stop engine.
2. Squeeze the locking buckle release the bag’s
drawstrap before loosening it from the chute deflec-
tor. See Figure 7.
3. Empty the bag and reattach to the chute deflector
opening. Refer to Figure 2.
IMPORTANT
Never place branches
with a diameter greater
than 1/2-inch in the hop-
per. Doing so can result
in serious damage to your
unit’s shredder blade,
flails or impeller.
IMPORTANT
Never feed branches with
a diameter greater than
three (3) inches into the
chipper chute. Doing so
can result in serious dam-
age to your unit’s chipper
blades, flails or impeller.