Troy-Bilt 424 User Manual

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.

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 

Chamber in the “Maintaining Your Chipper Shredder” 
section of this manual.

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. 

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.

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.

 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.