me too
This chipper was fine for a while. Then, when loading leaves into the chute, my wife accidently included a small piece of a branch - no more than one inch in diameter and two inches long. That destroyed the machine. It came apart internally as described by the other buyer - the clamp came off and a blade came loose badly damaging the flywheel. It is nearly 0 for a replacement flywheel. Then, shortly after repairing that, the engine literally exploded when the engine case cracked open throwing bits of case and oil everywhere. A replacement engine is around 0.
The engine case is about as thin as cardboard and looks like it's made of cheap sphelter. That's not to mention having to replace the oil seal after only a year of operation. If it was made of materials that could stand the strain of real work and if the spares were reasonably priced it would be OK; but as it is, it's an expensive lesson in modern junk manufacture.

WORTHLESS!
We bought a Troy Bilt chipper from a local dealer. It was advertised as "heavy duty" on the Troy Bilt site, "chips 3 inch limbs". We thought Troy Bilt was an established, reliable brand. Took it home, and it wouldn't even chip privet hedge clippings! Took it back, the dealer kept it a week (a small local hardware store) and the old man said he couldn't find anything wrong with it ("the engine runs fine") The engine does run fine - it just won't chip anything! MTD (the company that now owns Troy Bilt and has bought up several other brands) told us to take it to another local dealer. We did. They kept it almost a week, called to tell us it was 'fixed'. We got there and were told the blades were dull, the steel wasn't good quality and we might want to get aftermarket blades of better quality, but they'd sharpened them anyway (without asking us or suggesting we replace them with better blades) then demanded for labor because the blades aren't covered under warranty. Of course, this chipper had been used all of one hour! Needless to say, we're outraged. MTD refuses to cooperate. We're filing a complaint with the Attorney Generals consumer office and maybe taking the dealer to small claims court(as local agent for the company) under the UDAP law (unfair and deceptive acts and practices act).
This chipper is worthless - definitely not heavy duty - barely even light duty since it couldn't handle 3/4 inch privet. It might have shredded leaves ok. Don't buy it, and for that matter, I'd stay away from anything made by MTD (they own many brands of lawn machines now) - their customer service is rude and not there to help you.

Some poor points
The engine is very difficult to start. It takes two men and a boy to pull the starter rope. No shut off on the gas. Important for winter storage, engine should be run out of gas. After third useage, the engine died--no spark. Troy does not stand by their entire product, the engine is under a Briggs warranty. When I called Briggs, the rep seemed to have limited knowledge concerning the engine. After a listening to elevator music for a long time, finally found out that I needed to get the engine to a dealer. Now of course the unit is very heavy, so if you live a long distance from a service center the shipping costs would be extreme; therefore, I am going to tear the engine apart and try to fix it myself. Wish me luck.

Troy Bilt ain't wat It used to be
I have owned Troy Bilt products for 30 years.

Sprayers, mowers, and the like.

Loved them all.

They were well built and went on year after year after year.

I had a Troy Bilt Tomahawk Chpper that I had used for 25 years before it gave out.

I has heard Troy Bilt's quality had taken serious hits but bought this unit anyway.

BIG Mistake.

It jams repeatedy, it is poorly engineered and if you have more than a modest amount of chipping or shredding to do, you are going to be at it a long long time with this piece of junk.


No more Troy Bilt for me


Gry Hutchinson

Most Disappointed
I bought one of these to deal with a large amount of brush at a house I bought in August of 2006. After about 2 weeks work, this chipper literally came apart.

Who I bought it from isn't at issue here, but, I took it back and they gave me a new one.

I used it maybe twice and then fall and winter set in and I didn't use it again until this spring (2007). The same issue arose. The problem is with its engineering. The machine uses blades that are attached by roll pins to do the chipping. The roll pins are kept in place with steel clamps that are probably inserted mechanically at the factory.

If debris, which is inevitable--it is, after all, a chipper--hits the side of the clamp, the clamp comes loose and flys off. These clamps usually fly into the discharge chute with no problem.

Then the real issue begins. Without the clamp, the roll pin that keeps the blade in place is spun out of its hole by the centripetal force. Once the pin has come loose, the blade comes loose, and it jams/destroys the entire chipping mechanism. Luckily, we caught this flaw on the "second machine" (the first machine self-destructed, but I was lucky and it did so before the warranty expired).

This is obviously an engineering flaw in the design--otherwise the clamps would not be needed in the first place. And who would design a cutter that used a roll pin in a situation that would immediately indicate the roll pin would be subjected to centrepidal forces, and thereby pushed out of its position of securing the blades.

Obviously the engineers who designed this did not graduate at the top of their class. I'm surprised they passed engineering school exams to begin with.

This piece of equipment has soured me on Troy-Bilt equipment entirely. It is an expensive piece of equipment that should naturally be expected to operate within its defined tolerances and not dangerously come apart at the seams because of obvious design flaws a high-school shop student could figure out.

These people have not done their quality control and should not be trusted. Don't buy this piece of equipment.