Valmet 546 havester slow feed wheels

[Angrybeaver94]

I have a valmet 546 series 2 harvester I bought about 2 months ago. The saw and feed wheels are slow, the feed wheels have gotten to the point now I can barley feed at all. The saw is faster if I pick up on my main boom. Also when I'm extended out all the way I can't pick my head off the ground. I've check orings on the shuttle valves on main boom section, how do you know if the shuttle valve itself is bad? The other issue I have is the brake pressure accumulator light is on, idk if tht issue could b connected. Thanks

[mike_belben]

Get a guage on and start checking system pressures.  I expect that you have a leaking relief valve or sectional Oring in the feed/saw section.    My reasoning is that your feed and saw speed increases when using the boom because the exhaust flow from the boom cylinder is filling up the exhaust line.. Lets say there is 50psi in the exhaust line for that instant.  Your leakage in the roller and saw circuit will reduce because there is 50psi of resistance to it now so less fluid goes around the drive rolls.  


Let your saw or feed rolls run for a while then find the absolute hottest spot in that circuit with a temp gun.  If its in the valve or especially near a plug, you found it.  Fluid doing no work dissipates its energy as waste heat.  

[snowstorm]

shuttle valve problems. there is a primary and a secondary shuttle.usually its the primary. it has 2 orings 2 backup washers. they must be in the right spot the backups in the right order and the orings must come from komastu. napa orings will not work.  that machine has a combiner valve. that combines bolth sections of the gear pump to provide oil for the feed wheels and saw. brake psi lite has nothing to do with the head or crane. it has its own pump left rear of the motor. has a spin on filter. dose it have the double extension boom or single? if double it will not lift the head all the way out 

[Angrybeaver94]

Ok thank you I'll look into tht. I believe it's a double extend 

 

[Gary_C]

Nice machine and lowboy. I ran a 546H series II just like yours for many years and wished I had a drop deck lowboy as the machine is too high when loaded on a regular lowboy.

I agree with snowstorm. Even when everything is working well and the boom relief set right you cannot lift the head at full extension of the boom. The reason for that relief valve setting is so it is harder to flip the machine over on it's side when you swing the boom out to the side. My 546 had 700 tires and I always kept the tracks on year around for ballast so the machine was not so tippy. Later I found the machine also had some fluid in the tires.

The feed roll motors on that head were a also a problem so they could also be a part of the problem.

I still have my 546 sitting here but the 960 head was sold. I also have some parts for the head if you are interested. You should put your location in your profile so we know your location.

[Angrybeaver94]

Thank you Gary_C. I have 600 on this machine which are loaded also. I live in Brooklyn, Connecticut. How did u like ur 546? I was told by someone that the 960 heads are a slow to begin with. I don't know any one else who has ever had or run one. I understand it's an older machine and not going to be as impressive as the newer ones, but it was a decent price and the guy tht use to own it took good care of it, everything he's done to it he wrote down and gave me all those documents. I appreciate all the help you guys are giving me, this down time is really hurting the production! 

[snowstorm]

i had one also

[Angrybeaver94]

How did you like yours snowstorm? I ordered all the orings for the shuttle valves from Roland machine should have them tomorrow I hope. Thank you for the help!

[Gary_C]

I really liked my 546 when I was running it but the negative was the downtime. It sure was underpowered but the major problem was downtime with the 960 head. The machine I had was abused by the original owner so some of the head problems were inherited. It is a hose eating machine so carry spare hoses.

Hopefully the previous owner gave you the manuals and especially the troubleshooting manual that was made up later. I let the one I had go when I sold the head so can't help you much there.

Keep your boom hoses adjusted.
Keep the tapered plugs on the delimbing knives tight and the large nut on the feed roll motors tight.
There are flat metal bars in the delimbing knife tubes that act as torsion springs that break and need replacing occasionally.
The tilt and clamp cylinders are the same and need the packings replaced regularly. I even had a spare cylinder till my spare rod broke.
The socket head bolts that hold the main valve bank together will break so I drilled and tapped for the next size larger. Actually two of the bolts had been next sized up by the previous owner in the Roland (Bark River at that time) shop.
Did I say keep spare hoses on hand?  Oh and the feed roll hoses probably need to be 4 wire because of the shock loading with the reversing and make sure you don't put the wrong twist in the hoses when installing them.

A friend of mine that also had a 546 would regularly cut 40-50 cords per day of aspen pulp so that machine could do the work if you could minimize the downtime. I never got that much production as I was mostly cutting hardwood thinnings with red oak, basswood and maple.

Look at the pictures in my gallery for some of my work.

 

 

Just don't do this with your machine.



 

[Angrybeaver94]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I don't have the trouble shooting book. I will have to check those things. I have noticed the bolts like to loosen up on the head. I'm not looking for big production, just too make my life a little easier. I'm usually always in hardwood also so will b cutting mostly firewood.