Chipper Northern/Mackissic chipper

[Anonymous Poster]

Hey, have any of you used the PTO chipper/shredder that Northern sells? There's two models, one that chips 3" branches and sells for $1200, and one that does 5" and sells for $2100. I think that the larger one is a Mackissic.

Northern's description of the gearing is wierd- 540 rpm PTO gives 2014 rpm (3.73:1 ratio) is correct, then they say "825 to 1000 PTO rpm delivers ideal 2000 to 2600 rpm".

I've got a Kubota 7100 which has a two-speed PTO (540 and 857). If my math is correct, I'd need to run the 7100 at about 2100 rpms instead of the max 2600 to keep the chipper from running too fast.

Other than the speed issue, it sounds like what I want- it's not too heavy for the 7100 and it's both a chipper and shredder.

My wife's getting frustrated with the 10hp MTD chipper/shredder that we have now (I am too, but she runs it more). We have to be careful feeding it or it'll jam, and it can't deal with anything larger than a stick. We've got 10 acres of trees and another 10 of brush, and burning is illegal in our county.

 

[DennisY]

If you are fortunate enough to have a wife who is getting impatient with the chipper by all means get her a new one! Good help is hard to find!.

 

[hayden]

I looked into this pretty extensively a few years ago when shopping for a chipper. Both models are made by MacKissic. When I was looking NH only sold the low end model. I ended up calling MacKissic and talking to the boss (Mr MacKissis I presume).

He said DO NOT buy the lower end unit for use with a 540 PTO. It's designed for 1000 RPM input speed and is not satisfactory at 540. This advice was coming directly from the manufacturer. He lamented about Northern advertising the unit as suitable for 540 RPM PTO. He steered me towards the higher end unit (the Brute is what I think they call it) for use with a 540 PTO.

It looks like Northern somewhat improved the wording in their ads for the lower end model, but it still invites purchase for the wrong use.

Since you have a faster PTO speed, it might be OK for your machine. I'm not following your reasoning for keeping your engine speed down, though. It seem that if you use full engine speed and the 857 RPM setting for the PTO that you are within the prefered speed range for the lower end MacKissic.

I've only got 540 RPM, so my conclusion was to not buy the lower end chipper. When I then looked at the higher end chipper, it was the same price as a woods, Bear Cat, Patu, etc. which are all excellent chippers. Search for posts on this topic. There are a bunch of people with a number of different models and all seem very happy with the performance. Manual feed models are in the $2200-$2500 range, and you can get either straight chippers or chipper shreaders. Hydraulic feed adds more $$.

Good luck

 

[Anonymous Poster]

PTO speed and 6100 lb Kubota chipper

On chipper and brush hog speed, I may be off on this (and by all means let me know) but I'm under the impression that if you run less then the suggested design speed 540 usually, that it is HARDER on the implement due to it's lack of cutting ability, kind of like when you shove a chain saw into brush without the rpm up.

I own a 6100 pound chipper, built by Kubota, it is called the L35, you pile up the branches in a huge pile, and once or twice a year you shove the pile around and listen to the snap crackle pop, all while sitting in the cushy seat! Of course this only works with Alder and Cottonwood, 2 Northwest woods that break and rot quickly.

If these were cedar branches I'd be pushing them around the rest of my life with no change!

grind on

del

 

[Anonymous Poster]

chipping/burning

As I mentioned in another post a short while ago on burning regulations in semi-rural areas, one fire dept has on it's website that recreational and religious fires are still legal, but it is all based on your INTENT. If your intent is to have a religious or recreational fire it is OK, if your INTENT is to dispose of brush it is not OK. I love it. My neighbors all make sure they have their picnic tables nearby with the checkered tablecloths, and for added benefit throw on a turban or shroud or GET NAKED, depending on their religion!

burn on!

del

 

[Thomas]

Re: chipping/burning

Kinda makes you wonder who determine these laws. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif
Your neighbors sound interesting. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: chipping/burning

Believe me, you don't have to move the picnic table. I'm sure a half-eaten bag of marshmallows and some suitable sticks would be enough to establish your intent.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: chipping/burning

Around here, you can burn if you're a commercial orchard. I'm not. If I was a quarter mile farther west I'd be in a different county and could burn.

As for the RPM issue, the "Brute" chipper has a 3.73:1 belt system to speed up the chipper. PTO speed is usually rated at the tractor's working RPM, which I think is 2600 for the 7100. The Northern catalog says that the chipper's speed range is 2000-2600 rpms. So an 857 rpm PTO times 3.73 gives a chipper speed of 3196, which is a little fast. 2600 is about 80% of that, so that means that I'd have to run the tractor at 80% of 2600, or about 2100 rpms.

On the other hand, my wife keeps mentioning that a backhoe would be useful, and I suspect that she won't like the 7100's lack of power steering when she has to drive it to move the chipper. So maybe I should just trade it in for a larger tractor!

 

[john_bud]

Re: chipping/burning

Del,

What you are discribing is EXACTLY what my dad used to do in St. Louis when I was growing up. We had a large lot (1/2 acre) in suburbia about 1/4 mile from the local police station. My dad cut down a large Elm (you remember them from before Dutch Elm disease did them all in?) and was burning the branches. WELL, somebody called the police to complain. The nice man in blue showed up and told my dad that he couldn't burn in town except for outdoor cooking. Light bulb goes on! My dad says, "Wait a second", runs in to the fridge grabs a hot dog and a fork. Sticks the hot dog and fork in the ground near the fire and asks the cop if it's legal now. Cop laughs and walked back to his car and drove off. You have to understand that the fire at this point is about 15' across with flames about twice that high!

Probably wouldn't work today, but it is a fond memory from my youth.

John Bud

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: chipping/burning

I have a solution to your problem, get the backhoe, pick up a big stump with the hoe, and presto you have POWER STEERING!

I moved a stump today with the backhoe to a place I would be able to turn the tractor around and get to it with the loader. Was trying to turn, kept running into some trees, thought what the heck, looked down and both the front tires were not turning and were gently floating a few inches off the ground. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. Time for some LOADER BALLAST!

I used to do this with the Ford sometimes, just leave the stump dragging on the ground and steer with the brakes. As I've mentioned before this L35 either has a super powerful engine (at idle) or it has NO brakes as I need a tremendous amount of force to get this to turn with the brakes (if at all)

DEL