Chipper chipper for Kubota L2500

   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #1  

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I've got 24 acres of hardwood and pine in Vermont
need to chip up lots
what to consider with my tractor?
any suggestions on products?
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #2  
No direct experience with your tractor, but last year I dod a lot of research on PTO-driven chipper-shredders.

I looked at Vermeer, Patu, Wikco, Befco, and WoodPro before settling on the Bearcat as my best choice for a small (4-5") well-built chipper with the right features.

Check out the Bearcat (made by Teramarc Crary) 4" and 5" models and remember that a 5" chipper is really happy doing 4" logs with an occasional 5" section.

The way I look at it, anything over 3" is fuel /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #3  
Hello fello Vermonter.

Try doing a search using "Valby" and you'll see some post and a picture on my chipper. I'm sure if you search for "chipper" you'll get a lot of great info too.

If your pocket can handle it get a hydraulic feed. It's much safer and is easier to feed. If I can get it into the hopper it will suck it in. In the fall I was sticking in 10 to 15 foot tall trees, sucking them right in. Best of luck. Let us know what you get.

I got my chipper fron Bechard's in Champlain NY.

Where about in Vermont are you? I think were up to 8 or 10 VTer's!


Derek
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   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #4  
I did my research a few months back and then purchased a Valby Model 140 and have been using it since. It's an excellent machine--really heavy duty. The only drawback which I have found is that the direct-drive disc turning at 540 RPM does not throw the chips very far and the machine can plug up with damp leaves and juniper needles. The Model 160 is belt driven from the PTO shaft so the speed of the disc is increased to over 1,000 RPM and this would take care of that problem. For my little tractor (JD Model 670 with 18 drawbar HP and 16.5 PTO HP) I felt that the Valby Model 140 was most appropriate. I will never wear out this commercial-grade machine. The Bear Cat was my second choice.
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I'm in Norwich, VT
found the Valby site
how much were the 140 and 160 models....roughly?
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #6  
Here is another vote for a hyd feed no matter which chipper you get. If you are working along, you can do the work of two people when the hydo is going, throw in a branch and be off getting the next pile while the chipper pulls in the last one...otherwise you need to stand there and feed stuff in. I have a Woods 8100, think it maybe to big for a 2500 but its a great chipper. The chipper is one of my favorite (and so far most expensive!) attachments. I figured if I bought a really good one with plenty of muscle that it would be the last one I ever had to buy...good luck.
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #7  
Hiya Edge !

Greetings from across the river in NH. I live down just south of Claremont. There's another poster on here, Thomas, who lives up in Lebanon. Welcome to the board /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

To your questions re chippers...

I have a Bearcat model 70554 Chipper/Shredder. It's a great machine - will take a 5" log, but I'd never chip that - that's firewood ! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif The real benefit of that size opening is that you don't have to trim so much. It does NOT have a hydraulic feed, and that is definitely a plus - especially if you're doing more than I am. I'm not really clearing land, I'm just maintaining my place.

It sounds like you have a lot to clear. I have a neighbor who just cleared off his place for new house construction last year. What he did was rent one of the large machines. He'd cut a tree, do a minimum amount of trimming, and then use his tractor to push the tree into it. I saw his wife pushing what must have been an 8" pine tree into that unit - seemed to work out okay. They certainly made a BIG pile of chips! (The whole neighborhood is using his woodchips.) I suggest this because if your really heavy clearing is a one time deal, this might work out well for you. Obviously if you're gonna be doing this on an ongoing basis, that makes the purchase of a chipper more 'necessary'. [grin]

He rented a unit from The Rental Center - On the John Stark Hywy between Claremont and Newport. There's also Upper Valley Rentals there in W. Lebanon. I've stopped in there a time or two, and they have (or had) some of the big commercial units. I don't recall exactly what the daily rate was that my neighbor paid, but it was really quite reasonable - you could rent that monster for MANY days for what even my unit would cost you.

In any case, hope this gives you an alternative solution.

Happy Tractoring !

Dave Wells
 
   / chipper for Kubota L2500 #8  
I purchased a Bearcat 70554 Chipper/Shredder and two-speed blower last fall. I am using it on my Kubota B2400. I am clearing 2 acres of 12-year-old saplings. (The future site of my garden.) Most of the saplings are tall and straight so they are well suited for a chipper. I chose this unit since it offered both the capability to chip as well as shred. I wanted the shredder to shred compost and paper for mulch and compost as well as the chipper to take chip the saplings..

The 70554 can easily chip 4-inch trees. With longer trees (over 8 feet tall) or larger trees, the trees feed a bit too fast for the power available and stall the tractor. I have found that if I support some of the weight of these larger trees and slow down the feed rate it works fine.

I have not been as happy with the blower.

The screen is tough to clean if you have the blower installed. The Blower assembly covers the screen and must be removed to clean or change the screen. After removing the blower the screen comes out easily with two bolts through the bottom. The manual states that the blower should only be used with the chipper and dry material in the shredder. From my experience, with the blower installed, any moist material in the shredder will clog up the blower and screen. I also had problems with small twigs about 1/8 inch in diameter falling through the shredder hammers and clogging the screen and blower.

The blower assembly also covers the access port used to remove the knives for sharpening. It is hard to understand why this problem exists, the 4 ½ inch port could have been placed anywhere on the path of the knives. If the access port had been placed higher up it would have been fully accessible with the blower installed.

The manual recommends sharpening the knives every 10 hours of chipping. The self-feed will become less reliable as the knives dull. This means after a few days of use the blower must be pulled off for the user to use the access the port. The alternative is to remove and replace the chipper knives from the top by reaching between the disk and side wall, not a viable technique, my hands are big and clumsy enough that I would almost certainly drop at least one bolt and end up taking off the blower and screen anyway.

So far most of the time I have been running the 70554 I have had the 2-speed blower installed. This spring I will try the shredder (without the blower) with the screen with largest holes to see how it handles wet material, paper, and twigs.

The Blower drive shaft guard, used when the blower is not installed, requires that the drive pulleys for the blower be removed before the guard may be installed. The two pulleys are set on a shaft with a keyway and secured with setscrews. The pulleys must be set to positions to match the pulleys on the blower frame. Removing the pulleys requires a gear puller. Installation requires a hammer (and gear puller) to align them on the shaft. For this tractor neophyte this is a time consuming process.

Bearcat should have either provided a guard, which can cover the pulleys, or used a quick attach technique (e.g. a PTO spline and quick release) for the blower drive.
Either technique would speed up the blower remove/install cycle considerably.

The blower option seems to be a poorly designed afterthought to the well-designed chipper/shredder.


If you are looking for a dedicated chipper with integral blower the 74554 is a far better (and more expensive) choice. The 74554 has a hinged cover that provides easier access to the knives. The better access and therefore the faster knife change could be a factor if you use the shredder extensively. It also has hydraulic feed, which will control feed rate, not require that you stand by and monitor the feed and reduce the possibility of kickback. 73454 is the manual feed equivalent model to the 74554.



Ed
 
 
 
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