RVThere
Member
After checking many posts here, I decided to order an Oxxn 8100 with the hydraulic feed. Let me tell you it pained me to buy something made in China but I needed a machine that could handle 8-inch Russian Olive that has overgrown a farm I bought back in February. A similar US build model would have been 4 times as much and that was out of the budget.
Oxxn had a fall cleanup sale where they knocked about $400 off the price if you ordered before Sept. 30 so I ordered a unit online on Saturday Sept. 29. They shipped it out that Monday and FedEx delivered it to my farm on Thursday (I could have had it Wednesday but I had meetings scheduled). I paid an extra $50 to have lift gate service.
The machine is shipped in an angle iron frame with plastic around it. It was in perfect condition with no scratches. They tell you to use your 3 point hitch to get it out of the frame but the vertical angle iron sides were in the way so I had to cut them out with a reciprocating saw.
The instructions are big on pictures and short on words. You definitely have to study the pictures, look for the right parts, compare back to the pictures, and use your best intuition. The hopper extension sides were cumbersome to install with one person so you may want to grab a helper. Complicating the assembly is that there seemed to be quite a few extra bolts, nuts and washers. Never a calm situation when you have a 225 lb disc spinning around and you're worried you forgot to install a critical bolt!
I assembled most of the machine Thursday night and bought the correct hydraulic fluid (7 gallons!) at NAPA. The PTO shaft seemed very tight to install so I called Oxxn on Friday with some questions. Vanessa answered the phone and was very cordial. She had her brother Chris call me back which he did so in less than 30 minutes. He told me to scrape some of the powder coat paint off the inside of the PTO shaft and grease it thoroughly. I also told him the hydraulic fluid was going in slowly due to the inlet filter on the tank. He said that providing I was using new fluid and my shop was relatively clean, I could remove that inlet filter so that the fluid went in quicker.
Got the fluid in Friday night and got the PTO shaft to slide on the chipper side. However, the shaft was too long. Following the instructions in the manual, I measured the distance between the locking rings and the total length of the shaft. Using the formula in the manual, I calculated that 4 inches needed to be cut off of both ends (26 inches - 23 inches) + 1 = 4 inches. Again using the reciprocating saw, I cut off 4 inches off of each end.
I slide the PTO shaft on one spindle and then when I go to slide it on the other spindle, it comes apart. The PTO shaft was now too short! As the side extension arms were all the way retracted, I could not make any adjustments to move the chipper closer to the tractor.
So Saturday morning I went to TSC and bought a PTO spindle extension as a stop gap measure. I installed the extension on the tractor side, adjusted the extension arms and tested the PTO with everyone a safe distance away. Ran fine in the shop with no load.
Took it outside the shop and ran a few big Russian olive clunkers through it and it chopped them up with no trouble at all. The hydraulic feed is really nice. Had to do some branch trimming because those trees tend to have a lot of branches at right angles.
Called Oxxn yesterday to tell them about my PTO shaft problems. Without a second thought, Vanessa said she would send out a new PTO shaft at no charge. (although I was the first customer to cut a PTO shaft too short...). I spoke to Chris again to explain my issue and he also said they would ship one out. Chris called me back today to say that a new shaft was being shipped. About an hour later I got an email from Fedex with a tracking number and it should be here by the weekend.
All in all, the chipper is a beast and Oxxn customer service has been superb! If your budget does not allow you to buy an American made chipper, this is definitely the way to go.
Oxxn had a fall cleanup sale where they knocked about $400 off the price if you ordered before Sept. 30 so I ordered a unit online on Saturday Sept. 29. They shipped it out that Monday and FedEx delivered it to my farm on Thursday (I could have had it Wednesday but I had meetings scheduled). I paid an extra $50 to have lift gate service.
The machine is shipped in an angle iron frame with plastic around it. It was in perfect condition with no scratches. They tell you to use your 3 point hitch to get it out of the frame but the vertical angle iron sides were in the way so I had to cut them out with a reciprocating saw.
The instructions are big on pictures and short on words. You definitely have to study the pictures, look for the right parts, compare back to the pictures, and use your best intuition. The hopper extension sides were cumbersome to install with one person so you may want to grab a helper. Complicating the assembly is that there seemed to be quite a few extra bolts, nuts and washers. Never a calm situation when you have a 225 lb disc spinning around and you're worried you forgot to install a critical bolt!
I assembled most of the machine Thursday night and bought the correct hydraulic fluid (7 gallons!) at NAPA. The PTO shaft seemed very tight to install so I called Oxxn on Friday with some questions. Vanessa answered the phone and was very cordial. She had her brother Chris call me back which he did so in less than 30 minutes. He told me to scrape some of the powder coat paint off the inside of the PTO shaft and grease it thoroughly. I also told him the hydraulic fluid was going in slowly due to the inlet filter on the tank. He said that providing I was using new fluid and my shop was relatively clean, I could remove that inlet filter so that the fluid went in quicker.
Got the fluid in Friday night and got the PTO shaft to slide on the chipper side. However, the shaft was too long. Following the instructions in the manual, I measured the distance between the locking rings and the total length of the shaft. Using the formula in the manual, I calculated that 4 inches needed to be cut off of both ends (26 inches - 23 inches) + 1 = 4 inches. Again using the reciprocating saw, I cut off 4 inches off of each end.
I slide the PTO shaft on one spindle and then when I go to slide it on the other spindle, it comes apart. The PTO shaft was now too short! As the side extension arms were all the way retracted, I could not make any adjustments to move the chipper closer to the tractor.
So Saturday morning I went to TSC and bought a PTO spindle extension as a stop gap measure. I installed the extension on the tractor side, adjusted the extension arms and tested the PTO with everyone a safe distance away. Ran fine in the shop with no load.
Took it outside the shop and ran a few big Russian olive clunkers through it and it chopped them up with no trouble at all. The hydraulic feed is really nice. Had to do some branch trimming because those trees tend to have a lot of branches at right angles.
Called Oxxn yesterday to tell them about my PTO shaft problems. Without a second thought, Vanessa said she would send out a new PTO shaft at no charge. (although I was the first customer to cut a PTO shaft too short...). I spoke to Chris again to explain my issue and he also said they would ship one out. Chris called me back today to say that a new shaft was being shipped. About an hour later I got an email from Fedex with a tracking number and it should be here by the weekend.
All in all, the chipper is a beast and Oxxn customer service has been superb! If your budget does not allow you to buy an American made chipper, this is definitely the way to go.