Customer Reviews

Troy-Bilt 24A-204B766 CSV 206 24-Inch 206cc Gas-Powered 3-in-1 Self Propelled Chipper/Shredder/Vacuum

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have now been using the 6.5 HP Troy Built C/S/V for three months. To make this simple, I'll get straight to the pro's and cons...

Pro's...
1) The factory did an excellent job of packaging and crating the unit for shipment
2) The unit feels substantial and this was reinforced for me as I went through the very simple set-up process (takes about an hour to unbox and set-up)
3) Directions for set-up were flawless
4) Once started, the unit does an excellent job of picking up dry leaves and twigs through the vaccuum nozzle -- it cleared my 1/3 acre yard in about 2 hours (including the time it took me to get the refuse to the street for pick-up)
5) When the suction power of the nozzle is overhwelmed by leaves, it is very easy to unclog the nozzle -- I just use a twig
6) I found that the unit hungrily accepted branches up to 2.5 inches in diameter (I measured) -- the unit does start to bog down on branches larger than this
7) Does a fantastic job of mulching yard waste -- I can't say it does this to a 10:1 ratio like the company claims (how do they measure this?), but I am very please with how few lawn bags I am using this season

Cons...
1) This unit is EXTREMELY difficult to start. For context, I am 6' 2" and before that third helping of Christmas dinner, I weighed in around 235 lbs. My wife, 5' 3" and around 120 (if she reads this I'm a dead man!), was never able to start the unit. I would guess that the pull weight on the starter cord exceeds 60 lbs. Exascerbating the issue is the rather awkward position in which the pull starter is located.
2) Branches can get jammed in the feeder shoot, and the plunger is never quit long enough to drive a lot of branches to the grinding teeth. Freeing these items from the feeder tube can be a frustrating process.
3) Awkward position of zipper on the catch bag makes it difficult to transfer mulched waste into garbage bags

Net/net: If you have a lot of trees and want to save time and think you're man enough to start it ; ) -- BUY IT!

I just received this item by freight yesterday so take this review for what it's worth. I was pleasantly surprised the truck driver unloaded it and put it in my garage. It would have been impossible for me to have unloaded it by myself.(see shipping restrictions). This is my second troy-bilt chipper/vac so I can compare them. The first was the 8 hp model purchased about 8 years ago. It only lasted 3 years and then the motor seized. It cost over twice as much and I definitely did not get my moneys worth. So I'm taking a chance on this one. I have about 1 acre with about 30 mature trees, many of them black walnuts so my yard is pretty harsh on equipment.
The shredder/vac portion is fantastic. If I were to rate this product just on that portion it would get five stars. The chipper part is a little disappointing. It seems to have a little trouble with 1 inch twigs. I stopped it once thinking it had finished chipping only to find out I couldn't restart until I took off the nozzle and worked the twig out of the blade.
Other things that drop it from five stars are the seemingly flimsy plastic parts, the bag design and the troy-bilt customer service. Some parts didn't fit together causing me not to be able to start it. I called customer service and had to wait about ten minutes for the guy to tell me to call my local dealer. I don't think it was a toll-free call but I could be wrong. Fortunately I was able to fix it myself. It had shipped from the factor with the safety button assembly upside down.
All said, if it last, I will probably be happy with the purchase. The general design is much better than the 8 hp and the nozzle doesn't seem to get clogged as much. Perhaps the added 1.5 hp made the former a better chippper.

I have a lakeside area with lots of acorns and walnuts in the north woods of Wisconsin, which after one pass, are completely removed and no longer a bother. The vaccuum is strong enough to lift small twigs and nuts from the ground in one pass, so it does it's job. The self propelled feature is not so hardy. My vac pull to the right constantly, I believe only the left rear wheel is power driven. There appears to be a small differential casing, but it's very dainty and may be broken after only several uses. For the money, this little machine really cleans up, and will make no work at all out of leaves and grass. It's a good value for me, and is perfect for small areas (<1 acre) with lots of manicured trees. The flywheel is directly connected to the motor shaft, so it's a bit of a challenge to get it started with a pull rope, especially when very cold.

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UPDATE REGARDING TROY-BILT CUSTOMER SERVICE
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I want to update my review in light of my recent experience with Troy-Bilt's customer service. After using my unit about 9 times (5 last season and 4 this season) for a total of about 50 hours, I noticed that the stitching on the leaf collection bag was coming undone leaving holes in the bag in several places. I contacted Troy-Bilt customer service to find out about getting a replacement bag. They first told me to contact my local dealer to have them take a look at the bag. The local dealer said they don't deal with the bags. I then called back Troy-Bilt CS. At that point the rep said that the bag is only subject to a 30 day warranty because it was a "wearable" part. I told him that customers should expect to get more than 9 uses out of the bag before it breaks down, and asked if there was anything he could do for me. He put me through to MTD factory direct. There I reached someone who was completely unhelpful and who would not at all deviate from his script. When I pressed him for an answer as to how Troy-Bilt could meet me half way on this, he hung up on me. I should note that I was being extremely courteous with the gentleman.

I still like the unit very much, but based on the poor build quality of the bag and my extremely poor experience with Troy-Bilt/MTD's customer service, I have to lower my rating from 4 to 3 stars.

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I received my Troy-Bilt chipper vac about four weeks ago and have used it a couple of times since then. I have a three quarter acre lot that is very heavily wooded, about one half acre of which requires raking. This machine has literally cut more than in half the amount of time it takes me to clear my yard. It has also greatly reduced the volume of yard waste that I have to pile in the woods behind my house.

I wholeheartedly agree with most of what previous reviewers stated about this machine, but would like to add my two cents.

With regard to the starter pull cord being a tough pull, this is true. I have noticed that the machine often leaves small pieces of larger sticks in the chipper chute which can jam the chipper chute making the pull start next to impossible to pull. What I have found works best in this situation is to us a long stick to rotate the chipper blade until the offending piece is exposed, then fish out the piece with the stick. This should be obvious, but never reach into the chute with your arm, even when the machine is turned off. Another observation I have made is that when the machine has been running and is turned off, it is best to set the choke to half when restarting. This should get it going again with one pull.

With regard to the nozzle height, I also have an uneven yard and have also experienced divoting when the nozzle is in a lowered position. I also find it best to leave the nozzle in it's highest position.

As far as the bag goes, I had a lot of difficulty with it at first, especially considering that one of the pins is located tightly between the handle and the chipper chute. After a couple of tries, I found that if you tilt the machine backwards so that the bag rests on the ground, it lets up the slack on the hooks and makes it much easier to remove. I recommend removing the hook next to the chipper chute first. I also recommend not letting the bag get too full. This makes removal of the bag a little more difficult.

With regard to delivery difficulties, I guess it just depends on the local delivery service. The folks that delivered it to my house not only removed it from the truck, but placed it right into my garage. I still find it hard to believe that I got free shipping on such a huge item.

A couple of final pieces of advice. First, invest in a face mask. This machine has a tendency to produce a lot of fine dust that gets in your eyes (even with goggles), mouth, nose and lungs. Second, do not to let the leaves build up in your yard, especially if your yard is heavily wooded. The machine works great and has great suction, but when you have a thick layer of leaves on the ground, it has a tendency to clog from time to time and may require a few passes. Not to mention, you will have to empty the bag more frequently, which can become a nuisance. When the machine has clogged, I found that simply easing it back on its rear wheels or pulling it backwards almost always quickly clears the clog.

Overall this is an excellent product that I would highly recommend to anybody with a lot of leaf bearing trees on their property. Take it from someone who has a good number of large, old growth oak trees on his property. What used to take me about 16 hours to do by rake now takes me about 6 to do with the this leaf vac. It truly is a time and labor saver.

************************************* UPDATE *************************************
*********************************** SEASON TWO ***********************************

This is my second season with my Troy-Bilt Chipper Shredder Vac and I thought I'd share a little of my experience. I pulled my unit out of the garage last weekend after it had sat their for three seasons. After dusting it off, I attempted to start it and it failed to start. After fiddling with the speed control and choke, filling the tank with fresh gas and cleaning the air filter, it still would not start. I removed the spark plug and noticed that it was dry. Before spending $150 to get the unit repaired at the local shop, I decided to place a call to Briggs and Stratton's customer support. I was promptly transferred to someone who knew about my engine. He was very helpful and made a couple of suggestions. He said that if the plug was dry, it could either be a clogged fuel line or build up in the carburetor. He suggested first removing the spark plug and pouring a tablespoon on gas into cylinder head through the spark plug hole. He said that if that didn't work, I should remove the carburetor and clean it. I certainly was not looking forward to doing the latter. To make a long story short, after two tries of pouring a tablespoon of gas into the engine through the spark plug receptacle, the unit started and ran fine for the three hours it took me to clear the lawn. I guess the initial combustion from the gas I poured into the cylinder was enough to clear the blockage in the carburetor. I should point out that I stored the unit with gas in the tank which probably either settled out in the carburetor causing some sort of blockage or produced moisture in the carburetor. Either way, the tip from the Briggs and Stratton tech did the trick.

Now that I had the unit started and running smoothly, I had no problem clearing about a half acre of leaves in about three hours. I would like to reiterate a point I made in my initial review. Do not to let the leaves build up in your yard if you intend to use this machine. I just took my first pass over the first of the fallen leaves. There was a light covering of leaves on my lawn; enough so that very little grass was showing, but not deep. The vac had no problem clearing this. Last year, I had delayed until the end of Fall and had to clear leaves that were several inches deep (I have a lot of trees). I found myself having to stop frequently to unclog the unit and empty the bag which was very time consuming. Plan on making several passes with the unit throughout the Fall season and you won't be disappointed.

Despite my difficulty starting the unit in the second season (which I partially blame on myself for storing the unit with gas in the tank), my rating of four stars still stands. I still recommend this machine to anybody looking to save time clearing leaves.

This is my initial impression, as I just received my unit. It took alot longer to assemble than it should have, thanks to very poor quality control. First, the support bracket that attaches the chipper chute to the vac handle absolutely would not attach, because the plastic portion of the chute was not assembled to the metal portion properly. I had to drill holes and relocate the bracket in order to get it mounted properly -- and I was following the instructions to the letter.

Second, there is a safety switch below the snout of the vac that gets depressed by a tab connected to the snout (so you can't start it unless the snout is properly attached). This tab is easily bent, and apparently was. I tried to start the unit several times before I thought about the switch and checked to see if it was depressed. I fixed the tab, and the unit did start.

Third, the adjustment levers for the snout opening were assembled incorrectly. I had to partially dissamble the mechanism and get them seated properly in their slots.

So after taking 1.5 hours to assemble something that should have taken 20 mins. I finally got to try the thing out and can offer a few functional observations:

1. The vac portion works very well. It sucks up loose leaves and small twigs without difficulty. It will not suck up leaves that are wet and matted to the ground, but I wouldn't really expect it to.

2. The chipper can be finicky. You need to make sure that anything you stick into it does not have any kinks in it that would cause it to get caught in the opening at the base near the blades.

3. As previously stated, it does have a rather heavy pull to start. If you have the choke on for the initial startup it starts pretty easily, though (1st or 2nd pull).

I will need more time to get used to the quirks and form a real opinion on how well it works, but I thought I would post my initial impressions while they were fresh -- and I was really irritated about the QC issues.

Fisrt impressions:

1. This unit is heavy...terribly heavy. Don't expect to be able to push it if the propel mechanism fails.

2. This unit, with a Briggs engine, is hard to start...terribly hard to start. Expect to pull the rope 6 to 10 times...and hard.

3. The chipper jammed on the third branch...one well within the size limitation of the machine. The jam made it impossible to pull the starter rope, and a MAJOR disassembly of the front end was required to free it up. This might not be the machine's fault because the branch was dry. It broke and splintered rather than being cut. I won't try to chip dried twigs and branches again.

Like other Troy-bilt products I have seen (I also have an 8 HP tiller, which I will not part with), the build quality is very good.

However...overall I wish I had my money back.

After deciding to move to Fl., I no longer needed my yard man leaf vacuum which was indespensible in my wooded northern acre.

Well, we decided to move again, to woods in NC and I ordered the Troy-Bilt 6.5 Hp chipper shredder, made by MTD also, because of my experience with the YardMan version.

It arrived earlier than estimated (good) and in perfect condition. The minor assembly was easy and everything works fine. It has a bit more power than my older one but is very similar, Otherwise. It chips branches up to 3" and worked very well on my accumulation of yard debris. Fast and efficient for a unit this size. I learned with the other that the vacuum hose is a better accessory than the vacuum nozzle that comes std. so I ordered that from MTD and used it in my wooded area to clear some leaf piles from last Fall. The extra power of this unit was evident and it did a great job, very seldom having to clear the hose of wet debris.

For its size and price, this is an excellent machine and I anticipate good service as with my prior version.

1. Support bracket to the chipper chute's flange nuts are tapped so off, you'll needs to re-tapped it for it to fit to the impeller housing. 0 stars

2. Location of the starter cable as shipped will cut into air filter housing if you start from that position. To avoid cutting into the air filter housing, you'll have to reposition the cable under the air filter housing and pull parallel to gound which is pain on your back. 1 stars

3. The metal plate on the nozzle attachement will loosen itself often, cause the machine to quit or won't start. 1 stars

4. The discharge chute fit on to the impeller housing in a way that debris will discharge from the side where the chute and the housing meets. 2 starts

5. This machine should be called shredder vac not chipper shredder vac. The chipper works in a way that it might as will not have it. The chipper gets jammed with the branch that is well within its manufactory spec. and it takes alot to free it and get it start again. 0 stars

6. The machine starts to push right after short use, makes hard to control its direction (don't try to push it on its own). The machine start to drive on left wheel only. Causes: the wheel have clutch type assembly, suppose to lock in together when its going forward. After giving myself a workout fighting the machine from going right, I removed the hub cap and find out that plastic spring ratchet that suppose push down the pawls that locks the wheel are warped. On a such heavy duty machine, I can't believe they put plastic that is made of same materiel as zip tie for spring. 0 stars

The reasons this machine get 2 starts from me is that the shredder and vac function works. I bought this machine for the function that it has chipper function for the twigs and small branchs that my Stihl blower shredder vac could not do, just for vacuum up the leaves, my Stihl does the job for lot less. Very disapointed, with how often you see the TV ads Troy bilt have run. They should paid more attention to product quality control

I purchased this chipper/vac about 6 weeks ago and have used it three times since. These are my observations,

1. The starter pull cord takes a lot of effort to pull, but does start in 1 or 2 pulls. If you have left a stick in the chipper chute that is engaging the blades, it is very hard to pull. If you don't have average upper body strength you will have a difficult time starting this machine.

2. The run/stop lever is difficult to reach because it is located behind the bag. You can not read it because the bag is in the way, so become familar with the direction for run and stop prior to running, because you will need to reach in blindly to stop it.

3. The adjustment for the nozzle height, in my case, needs to be all the way up. I do not have the benefit of a perfectly flat yard, so, when I come across a high spot the edge of the nozzle digs in and divots the lawn. All the way up is the only way I can operate this machine.

4. When Troy-Bilt states in the agreement, shipper is not responsible to get this machine off the shippers truck, they mean it. When the tractor trailer came, I had to be inventive as to getting this 200 lb machine off his truck. The driver did help, but it was my responsibilty to come up with a way to get the large box to the ground.

5. Other reviewers have stated difficulty with the bag. I have found the bag to be a learning experience. What I mean is once you get the hang of it, you can install and remove it quickly and without much effort. I like the bottom zipper for dumping the leaves and the multiple grab handles.

6. The vac has good suction. Branches do need to be rather straight and have some thickness and weight to find their way to the blades on their own. It chips well.

7. My neighbors spend all day raking and I vac in the time it takes to mow the lawn.

8. I haven't as of yet had the experience of vacuuming up a stone and still wonder if it is possible and what, if any, damage it could cause.

So far, I am pleased with this purchase. I never looked forward to raking up up least 50 bags of leaves. Uneven surfaces are a problem, but you find a way to deal with it eventually, it still beats raking.

After much research, reading, and re-reading customer reviews, I decided to purchase this machine. I did so with a pre-purchase understanding based on some of the negative customer reviews in this forum. I also inspected one of these machines in person at a local store to get a first-hand view of some of the issues that customers had complained about in their reviews. My pre-purchase understanding consisted of the following issues:

* I accepted that, after uncrating, I would make some minor modifications during assembly;

* During assembly, I substituted some connections and fittings with better quality fittings that I bought at a local hardware store;

* During assembly, I removed many of the bolts and nuts and added "thread locker" to most of the connections.

These minor details during assembly prevented some of the problems that I read about in customer reviews. Then, after completing assembly, adding motor oil and a ¼ tank of fuel, and following start up instructions, I started up the machine. It started on the first pull and operated great. I put it at full throttle and let it run until it ran out of the ¼ tank of fuel. While it operated, I walked around the machine and made a thorough inspection of the entire machine and how it operated. During this inspection, I noted some observations for better performance. Following is a list of those issues and what I did about them.

* I noted that there was daylight between the seal of the vacuum nozzle to the chipper/shredder housing. Therefore, a loss of vacuum suction power for the leaves (one of the negative complaints from some reviews). My solution: I removed the vacuum nozzle and installed an O-ring type seal with silicon around the face of the nozzle. Result: it then sucked up leaves like a vacuum cleaner.

* I noted that there was some blow-by at the connection of the felt-lined collection bag and the plastic chute from the chipper/shredder housing (potential source of dust and material blowing in my face during operation). This was due to the wrinkling of the heavy felt of the collection bag around the plastic. My solution: I wrapped a heavy terry-cloth material around the plastic chute and then tightened the belt of the collection bag around the terry-cloth material, which tightened the seal and eliminated the blow-by of air, dust, and vacuumed materials.

These minor modifications during assembly and at initial operation solved some of the problems that some customers had complained about in their reviews. The result is that, for a couple hours of additional assembly time, several additional dollars, and a some common sense, my Chipper/Shredder/Vacuum is a much better machine.

I then took the machine out back and proceeded to feed limbs and branches into the chipper for about two hours without any problems. It ate the smaller diameter limbs up like my grandkids chew up cookies. Yes, the limbs over 1-½ inches in diameter had to be fed a little slower, but the machine chewed them up just fine. I saved one straight limb to push the smaller stuff down and make sure all the limbs were completely chipped.

Afterwards, I vacuumed leaves and acorns for about an hour. As I previously said, it sucked them up just like a vacuum cleaner. In total, I chipped three bags full of brush and limbs and vacuumed and shredded two bags of leaves. The shredded materials were great and were immediately used to mix with soil to fill in some low places in my back yard.

After finishing my initial use, I allowed the machine to run out of fuel, which will keep the carburetor from gumming up. And, I made sure that all the limbs and leaves had been completely shredded and cleared the chipper chute. This insured that there would not be any unwanted resistance when I started it up the next time.

In summary, this is a good machine if you follow some common sense assembly modifications and operating methods that I have described. If a prospective buyer is willing to take some of these issues into account and use some common sense to resolve them, he or she should not be reluctant to consider this machine. It has worked great for me.