# Troy Bilt / Garden Way Chipper/Shredder



## homebrewz (May 24, 2011)

Hey folks, 

I have a Troy-Bilt Super Tomahawk Chipper Shredder made by Garden Way, model # 10941 and probably manufactured around 1984. I'd like to find a manual for it, but Troy-Bilt told me I was out of luck. It seems Garden Way went out of business and were purchased by Briggs and Stratton. However, not all of the older assets were purchased including some of the tech info on the older products. Its been sitting for years, but I got it running. It just needs a new belt. 

I've already tried eBay. Thought I would post here in case anyone has something similar and has a manual. 

Thanks!


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## backpack09 (May 25, 2011)

Post a picture and we may be able to help a little more... and we all love to see pictures of machinery.

Is it a flail/hammer type setup or a cutting setup?


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## thewoodlands (May 25, 2011)

homebrewz said:
			
		

> Hey folks,
> 
> I have a Troy-Bilt Super Tomahawk Chipper Shredder made by Garden Way, model # 10941 and probably manufactured around 1984. I'd like to find a manual for it, but Troy-Bilt told me I was out of luck. It seems Garden Way went out of business and were purchased by Briggs and Stratton. However, not all of the older assets were purchased including some of the tech info on the older products. Its been sitting for years, but I got it running. It just needs a new belt.
> 
> ...





http://www.brentchalmers.com/




zap


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## homebrewz (May 25, 2011)

Backpack09 said:
			
		

> Post a picture and we may be able to help a little more... and we all love to see pictures of machinery.
> 
> Is it a flail/hammer type setup or a cutting setup?



Picture attached. I guess its a cutting setup? There is a rotating blade for the chipper.. not sure about the shredder. 

Zap, thanks for the link. I found the same one during my internet search. I have a slightly different model, but that manual may help. For instance, this one has a Briggs & Stratton engine, not a Tecumseh.


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## heat seeker (May 26, 2011)

You might take the original belt to an auto supply store, they can measure it and fix you up. Just make sure they know it's for a chipper, there are different grades of belts.


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## richg (May 26, 2011)

Sorry to be teh bearer of bad news, but that model was the subject of multiple (and successful) product liability lawsuits. I got one for cheap, was hunting for spare parts and found out about the problem. The issue is that the discharge screen can fall off and people were losing parts of their feet when they kicked the pile of chips out from under the chipper. The Troy Bilt that manufactured that machine went out of business and all servicing/spare parts was taken over by MTD. They don't stock much of anything any more for it.  The Troy Bilt of today is a totally different company. You can still find the odd spare part on feebay....use the search term "troy tomahawk" and bunch of stuff pops up....belts, bearings, chjipper blades etc. Be careful....we don't want to see your screen name changed to "Stumpy"


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## homebrewz (May 26, 2011)

Thanks for the info. The problem with the belt is that it is stretched out, so matching it up will be difficult without the original specs. Once we get it running, I'll check the guard on the bottom, but will likely just use a metal rake to move chips out of the way. Like most reasonable people, I find power equipment like this fascinating and terrifying at the same time.


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## heat seeker (May 26, 2011)

You could get a few belts of different sizes to take home, and return the ones that don't fit. When I do a home plumbing job, I buy all kinds of extra parts in different sizes, and return what doesn't work. Sure, it guarantees a trip back, but that's far better than several trips to get the right items, and the job goes much faster and easier. Took me too long a time to figure that one out!


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## blades (May 28, 2011)

Get a length of 3/8" rope ,loop it around the pulleys and pull it real tight, while hold tight mark where the ends cross over. That should get you real close if not right on. forgot make sure the tension pulley is out of the loop when doing this.


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## michham (Jun 9, 2011)

I did a lot of research trying to find belts for my chipper shredder and found that any heavy duty 5L 80 belt works perfectly and I found a bunch of sources for them.  The ones I bought are Kevlar reinforced.  My chipper/shredder is the Model 4990 ST and has no idler pulley.  The motor shaft has a centrifugal clutch on it and the the belt is always tight.  The belt length is not too critical for my chipper since it's go about two inches of adjustment.  What I really need is the cast iron pulley on the driven shaft.  4" OD 1" id with a 1/4 by 1/8 keyway and a hub width of 1 1/2 and two set screws.  I have been able to find a very simliar pulley from TB Woods but the hub is only 1 3/16 wide and it only has one setscrew.  The original part number iss 1900920 I believe.  If anybody knows where I can get one, let me know.  Thanks.


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## gpcollen1 (Jun 14, 2011)

homebrewz said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info. The problem with the belt is that it is stretched out, so matching it up will be difficult without the original specs. Once we get it running, I'll check the guard on the bottom, but will likely just use a metal rake to move chips out of the way. Like most reasonable people, I find power equipment like this fascinating and terrifying at the same time.



Your local repair shop should have a device on the wall specifically for measuring belts.  I did that with all 3 tractor belts when we could not cross-reference my model number and find the belt #/spec.


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