New Chipper/Shredder - BXM32

[Knight9]

I've been thinking about getting a chipper or chipper/shredder for a number of years. Been keeping up with the various posts on here, and eyeing them every year at our local Farm and Ranch show. This year the black poplar fluff put me over the edge. I decided it was time to pick one up and start taking down trees.

I had already decided I would be getting a Wallenstein, and after some more reading on here I opted to order a BXM32 (3" chipper/shredder combo). I had to order it, because I wanted it in Kubota orange....guess color matters :laughing: Took a few weeks to get it in. They loaded it on the pallet into the back of my pickup and I don't own forks, so I wasn't too sure how I was going to get it out. Ended up resting one end of the pallet in my FEL bucket and slowly pulling it down a trifold ATV ramp to the ground. Worked pretty well.

After attaching the chipper to the 3PH and measuring the distance between PTO grooves, I was pleased to see that I would not have to cut the PTO shaft they included. It is shearpin protected, and after greasing it up I attached it and was all set. I played with the 3PH height a bit to see what angle keeps the chipper at a usable height while keeping the PTO shaft at as slight an angle as possible. I will have to bolt on some permanent lumber on the bottom of the skids, but to get using it, I opted for a few short lengths of 2x4.

The chipper itself was already greased up, so after taking the time to read the owners manual (yes, I'm one of those :ashamed, I grabbed chainsaw, hearing protection and gloves to give it a test run.

Here are a few pictures before I started.








You can see I had a tree leaning over that needed to be cleaned up, so it was my "tester". Chipper performed like a champ! I just blew the chips into the bush with the deflector on the shoot at its highest.

Then I moved the tractor to my first clump of black poplar and started going. The chipper had no problem with any wood I could get to the blades. The shredder is very agressive and pulls in branches at an almost alarming rate It never came close to bogging down my B2410. I also chipped some old dry willow tree, and it sliced it up no problem. A few more pics with the chip pile.




I am very impressed with the quality of the machine. Very simple, and very well put together. Only a couple of items to note. I know it is a 3" chipper and I intentionally did not get the 4" (it is a LOT bigger implement and quite a bit more $), so I will have to make sure the wood going in is trimmed a bit more than would be nice (bit of a compromise). I will certainly have to put on some wood under the skids. The default angle for the PTO shaft if you put in flat on the ground is too severe.

 

[bigtiller]

Did you use the shredder much? I am curious to know how well the fan worked to clear it's self out when shredding. I think it probably worked great while chipping.

 

[Knight9]

I used the shredder quite a bit. Put all the smaller branches through there instead of trying to feed them through the chipper. Worked really well. You can load up the top hopper with small branches then push the gate lever and they drop down, or you can push them in with another branch. The paddles work very well to clear itself out. By the time I was back with my next limb, it was always cleared out.

 

[Wedgie]

Last summer I purchased a BXM32 chipper-shredder myself. My main use has been to shred(grind) up tree trimming that have already been sent through a commercial chipper. With one person shoveling the chips into the hopper and another person regulating the speed of feeding with the gate lever an amazing amount of chips can be shredded in a short time. I have rigged up extensions on my two-wheeled garden wagon to the shredded material can be blown directly into the wagon and transported directly to where it is needed in the garden.

I think that short of adding finished compost to the soil, the shredded material is as good a way to add organic matter to the soil as possible. Alternatively, the shredded material can be used as a mulch during the growing season and then plowed under in the fall or next spring.

George

 

[rondi7]

HI--my first post here--and it's a question. We are seriously considering a BXM32 for use on our 3 acres with our New Holland 1720 (24 PTO HP when new). My dealer does not have any Wallensteins in stock--so no touchy--feely. The John Deere dealer has a BearCat SC5540--5" with on the ground dump. The SC5540 shredder portion has the brush bristle like thingys to keep stuff in the shredder, whereas the BXM32 has a flapper door which looks to be much more cumbersome to use.

So my questions--- When you have limbs 1" diameter but maybe 8' long with lots of leaves in it and you need 2 hands to lift it up to guide it down the chute--how does the flapper door work for you?

Is it lightly spring loaded so you just push the limb against the door and it opens, or do you take a bungy and tie it open?

I can see where the door is slightly safer and for shredding only leaves you can control the feed rate--but it's small limbs I'm concerned about.

Thanks for any pointers, Ron

 

[jbrumberg]

I have a BXM32. I have not used it very much yet, but the chipper works as advertised and the shredder can really pull material through that flapper door rather abruptly. There is some debris ejected as the shredder pulls the material through the chute. Once that flapper closes there is no particulate matter being ejected.

"So my questions--- When you have limbs 1" diameter but maybe 8' long with lots of leaves in it and you need 2 hands to lift it up to guide it down the chute--how does the flapper door work for you?"

Once the shredder rotor grabs the limb(s)- it pulls sharply and abruptly. With single limbs I have not had one fall out. With a couple of limbs one or two may fall out as well as eject some material as the limbs are pulled through. I have not yet shredded a lot of leaves/limbs at this point .

For my needs I needed a discharge chute. I am more than satisfied with the discharge chute operation.

I have no complaints.

Wear safety gear.

Jay

 

[DMW]

So my questions--- When you have limbs 1" diameter but maybe 8' long with lots of leaves in it and you need 2 hands to lift it up to guide it down the chute--how does the flapper door work for you?

Is it lightly spring loaded so you just push the limb against the door and it opens, or do you take a bungy and tie it open?

I can see where the door is slightly safer and for shredding only leaves you can control the feed rate--but it's small limbs I'm concerned about.

Thanks for any pointers, Ron

I've found that it works best is to chip as much as possible even on the smaller branches, then feed what's left into the shredder. If you can't hold it in one hand, it's probably too much to feed into the shredder at one time. Using the lever to open the chute has been a non issue for me. Standing between the chipper chute and the shredder chute, you don't have to move to place anything from one to the other. Lots of little bits go flying in the air when the flapper is opened.
For face and hearing protection a forestry helmet is nice.View attachment 273303

 

[rondi7]

I really don't mean to steal this thread, because I really appreciate Knight9's review.



This is what I meant regarding using 2 hands to put small limbs into the shredder. It looks like this is easily done, however this is a screenshot from video posted by Wallenstein in 2008, and it is a BXM42. Is this easily done with a new BXM32? It also looks like the guy kinda throws the limbs down and lets go quickly because the shredder "grabs" the limbs quickly. The video is from YouTube--do a search there on Wallenstein BXM--if you care.

Thanks, and sorry I was not very clear in my question,
Ron

 

[Knight9]

No problem with the question, and not stealing the thread at all!

Loose leaves, small branches and twigs can be set in the hopper and then you push the lever, and it will all fall down into the shredder. For branches like those in the picture you posted, you just have to push them down into the knives and they will get pulled down into the shredder...VERY QUICKLY! You do have to let go quickly as they disappear in a second. I've put branches up to the inch diameter into the shredder and several branches at a time of smaller dimentions.

Hope that helps.

 

[farmeratheart]

I got my BXM32 late last summer and used it quite a bit over the winter shredding bark from firewood processing. Last week I chipped/shredded a couple of trailer loads (5' x 8' utility) of branches trimmed from the bottom of a 40' spruce tree. The branches were probably 2 1/2" at the butt end sawed from the trunk. Most were 9' to 10' long-they hung over the end of the trailer. There were completely covered in needles and all of the smaller branches so common to spruce. I was running the BXM32 on the back of my JD2305. I revved her up to PTO speed and got started. I took one limb at a time and fed it down the chipper throat. When the limb diameter got below 1" I pulled out the remainder and dropped it into the shredder hopper. I was very happy with the results and couldn't be much happier with the Wally!

Frank