A Couple of Chipper/Shredder Questions

[Riddler]

Half of my 50 acre place is a mixed oak/conifer woodland. Little maintanence has been performed in the woodland for 20 years. I also have a few acres of clearing to do soon.

There are dead, dying or soon to be cleared trees of every size (up to 24" or more), with branches that can often exceed a few inches in diameter. For true brush and vines, my rotary cutter does a decent job of reducing their volume in place, or after I have pulled or cut them at ground level. Finally, tree or shrub "prunings," as such, don't accumulate much around my place

So far, over the four years I have owned my place, I have dragged all the non-firewood debris to various burn piles. For lots of reasons, I would love to convert the debris into mulch in place, or material suitable for a compost pile.

If have TC45DA and, very soon, a TC18. In an ideal world, I would prefer to run an attachment with the smaller tractor, leaving the BH and loader on the larger tractor free to do other things. If I do that though, I will need to find a way to process the 4"-6" diameter material separately (e.g., leave it in place to rot, get used to collecting smaller diameter firewood, maintain a burn pile dedicated to the in-between diameter stuff, etc.).

My first question has to do with the chipper v. chipper/shredder issue. If most of what I am going to feed in the machine are green tree branches limbed from large trees, as well as small diameter tree and shrub trunks with their branches intact, will I a find a PTO driven chipper only (i.e., no shredder) lacking at all? Is there a "clogging" issue with a chipper that is fed a large dose of green material along with the trunks and branches? A shredder sounds nice, but if the chipper will dispose of the leaves and twigs along with the trunks and more substantial branches, then I'm fine with that.

My second question has to do with feeders. It is important that I be able to place debris in the hopper and leave it. I see references in the posts to non-feeder machines that nevertheless "pull" material in. If I dispense with a feeder of any type, can I expect to be occupied at the machine most of the time monitoring the progress of most of what I feed? When it comes to feeders, what are main advantages of a hydraulic v. mechanical feed mechanism.

Finally, for those of you who operate a 4" chipper, but have to deal with 4"-6" material some of the time, what's your solution? Do you long for the day when the 4" chipper becomes a 6" unit, or are you happy sorting things out as you fell, limb and buck trees, so that the 4" chipper keeps humming without undue delays?

 

[asylum575]

Riddler,
Well, I can't give much insight to the PTO driven chippers, as I have a Mighty Bandit 6" chipper that's powered by a 20HP Onan Performer engine. I can tell you this. Get as big a chipper as you can swing. I use the 75% rule with chippers. They will only handle 75% of what they are rated for with ease. A 4" chipper will handle 3" fine, but may bog down when you go a little bigger. My 6" Bandit handles 4" fine, but when I get over 5" I really have to rev it up. You may want to look at the Jinma chipper thread. Jinma has a 6" chipper that can be had for around $1500. From what I have read, users are happy with them. You have a considerable piece of property to maintain and would hate to see you go too small.

Ed

 

[Inspector507]

The TC18 gear tractor is only 15 HP at the PTO. There are a couple of chippers out there that will work on that tractor, but I doubt if they'd have a very big capacity. I have a TC18 HST and would love to have one, but the money to get a good one that will work and the 3" or so capacity keeps holding my back.

 

[RalphVa]

If the 15 hp PTO is correct, you'll only be able to run either the MacKissic TPH-122 (3") or DR chipper (think it's 4"). Think you need around 23-25 hp for 6". A friend of mine ran his Jinma off his smallest (approx. 25 hp) JD. You have to also consider weight. The Jinma is up around 800-900#. The Mac is only 160#. Think the DR is a bit heavier but well within the capabilities of the TC18. The Mac is manual feed. Think the DR is too.

I run my Mac on a 4010 that has about 14ish PTO hp. I've NEVER bogged it.

Used to bog my old TroyBilt (8 hp and about 2") and a non-chipper Mac on a 12 hp Gravely.

Ralph

 

[pax_tractor]

I wanted a PTO chipper for my Kubota L2800 (22hp at PTO) but decided it did not have have enough power for the job.

What I've done is rent tow behind chippers; both 6" and 10" made by Vermeer. I can tell you from first hand experience the 6" was too small. The 10" was awesome! Either of these chippers make excellent mulch and will the 10" will suck down limbs with amazing ease. If I had 50ac I'd look for a used chipper such as these. Of course, they are not cheap.

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear but that's my .02.

DP

 

[chuckhole]

We have the 10HP TroyBilt that is rated for 3" and works best at 2" or less. It sucks down the smaller stuff but you have to push the larger stuff. I would suppose that any of them are that way unless you get an automatic feed. Since my wife hates burn piles, we should have bought a bigger one. I would have rather bought the DR at the very least.

 

[shvl73]

We have the 10HP TroyBilt that is rated for 3" and works best at 2" or less. It sucks down the smaller stuff but you have to push the larger stuff. I would suppose that any of them are that way unless you get an automatic feed. Since my wife hates burn piles, we should have bought a bigger one. I would have rather bought the DR at the very least.

I've got the 10hp MTD version. It works well for what it is. I sharpened the blades and found it will draw the branches in quite well, even the larger stuff. If you get anywhere near 3" hardwood, you're working it. The cure for that is a woodstove!
Still, an opportunity to upgrade has come up and I'm going for it.

 

[ToddW]

I wanted a PTO chipper for my Kubota L2800 (22hp at PTO) but decided it did not have have enough power for the job.
DP

I run a 6" Jinma behind my L2800 HST and it is a beast. There is plenty of power available for it.

For the OP's question about greenery, I have palmetto lining my driveway that needs to be trimmed back a couple times a year and I now feed that to the chipper as well. The result looks like grass clippings. It may not be a shredder, but it does a good job at it.

/Todd

 

[Gittyup]

Data point: I have a Bush Hog CS-100P (rebadged Goossen) chipper/shredder. I run it on a 21 PTO HP tractor. Works great. Chips up to 5" logs. Has no feed, but does self feed if the blades are kept sharp. Shredder is a real time saver if you have real brush (not just limbings); takes up to 1.25" limbs. Shredder is much faster than the chipper. Weighs about 450 - 500 lbs without blower.

I think mine chipper/shredder is probably a bit too big for a TC18. If you really need to do 6" stuff, you'll need more tractor than the TC18, or a good self-powered chipper.

 

[weldingisfun]

I had a DR chipper. It is very well built, but too small for my need. Sent it back and bought the Jinma chipper with the money from the return. Had change to spare.
My place is eastern cedar, juniper and oak. The chipper takes it all. No major problems to speak of but have experienced most of the minor problems covered in the various Jinma chipper postings.
If your budget is in the $1500 to $1800 range. You can't go wrong with the Jinma chipper. If your budget allows you to go for more, do it. 50 acres is a lot of work.