ChipZilla !!!!! (Bearcat 73554 Chipper Shredder)

[hazmat]

Picked up my new Bearcat 73554 Chipper Shredder on Thursday. Got to run it for 5 hours this afternoon. It has a new name - CHIPZILLA

Here is a mini review & some pix. I tried to convince my wife to take some video, but she wasn't inclined to help me contribute to your deliquency. Something about "sisterhood". Maybe at a future date.

Specs
5" capacity
Manual "self" feed
140# flywheel with integral blower
4 chipper knives (double sided)
~2000 RPM operating speed (has pulleys to speed up the 540 RPM)
24 shredder knives (double sided)
Weight 600#
MSRP ~$4,000

General
Impressive construction & craftsmanship. Nary a squeek or rattle when fired up - well balanced. This thing is solid. Although, once you start feeding it, you'll want to be wearing hearing protection (I wear my chainsaw helmet with muffs & face shield). The housing opens up with the removal of one carriage bolt. Makes for easy blade changes or to clear a clog.

The 3pt setup is not built to the quick hitch / Imatch specification. Not a huge issue as my harbor freight hitch has an adjustable hook, but a little dissapointing. Also the chute is 86" tall when the unit is on the ground - unless you have an 8' door on your "equipment shed" (I don't ) you have to remove it for storage (3 bolts). The chute rotates 360 degrees for easy placement.

In 5 hours of use, I generated ~5 yards of mulch. This was a mixture of limbs, leaves & bark/sawdust pile. This machine works faster than I do - I'm beat

Chipper
The knives are still sharp, but the chipper pulls the wood in on it's own. Most of my wood was dry. My 18HP (14 PTO HP) tractor could only digest about 3 feet of 3" dry maple before it started to stall out, a quick pull back on the limb allowed it to recover. Generally, anything over 3" is firewood to me. The 5" capacity of this unit was great as it made it easier to feed crooked branches. The built in blower launches the chips into next week. I picked up a 6" PVC elbow to make landing the chips in my dump trailer a bit easier. Haven't installed it yet.

Shredder
For the smaller stuff, the shredder shines - branches up to 1" and other organic material (leaves, bark etc.) The hopper is very high, but it prevents you from getting your hand into the shredding drum. Also, the way it is designed, gravity helps to feed the shredder. On my old unit you really had to force the stuff into the shredder.

I found it worked best for the organic material to slowy "sprinkle" the material into the hopper to prevent feeding clogs. If it does plug up, poke at it with a stick. I was shredding a pile of sawdust & bark left over from cutting & splitting 8 cords of firewood last spring. It was very wet - lots of rain last week & it's been decomposing for a year. I clogged the output chute 3 times. Took about 5 minutes to clear the clog.

Dry leaves were turned to dust about as fast as you could load them in.

The shredder doesn't have the typical screen. There is an adjustable gap between the shredding drum and the blower. Once the shreds can fit past the gap, they get blown out the chute.

Summary
Overall I'm very happy. I'm going to write the company about the quick hitch issue as well as the height of the chute - maybe they could make it hinge somehow? Those are my only complaints.

A close second (for considerably less $$ $2,500) was the Wallenstein BX42 chipper. I decided that for my uses, I really wanted the shredder capabilities.

 

[RoyJackson]

Great looking chipper, Hazmat...kjeep us posted as time goes by...

 

[BTDT]

Sometimes I think I would like one of those, but then I probably wouldn't have any trees left. Looks like it did a nice job. If the chute is too tall, and it was mine, I would cut some off the top and reattatch the deflector.

 

[larry8818]

Hey Hazmat,

How did you convert your Bearcat 73554 to quickhitch?

I am trying to convert mine as well. I cannot see clearly in your pictures how you did it.

I have attached 4 pictures on trying to figure out how to convert mine. I already have a plan, but was wondering how you did yours.

Thanks,
Larry

 

[hazmat]

Hey Hazmat,

How did you convert your Bearcat 73554 to quickhitch?

I am trying to convert mine as well. I cannot see clearly in your pictures how you did it.

I have attached 4 pictures on trying to figure out how to convert mine. I already have a plan, but was wondering how you did yours.

Thanks,
Larry

I cheated - I have the Harbor Freight quick hitch which has an adjustable top hook (unlike the Deere that is fixed). No mods to the chipper.

In your case, you will need to weld some flat bar to the top attachment structure in order to drop the top pin hole so that your Imatch will pick it up. It looks like you have enough room to do it on the "inside" (thus avoiding the hassle of the angled part).

 

[larry8818]

Hazmat,

Thanks. An adjustable top link sounds like it will do the trick...I am very surprised John Deere does not do that...that would be nice.

I think I can get around the weld. Your right is saying I can go to the inside which I will. I will Drill two holes on each side and run two bolts from the inside out to keep the unit from tipping back when I bring the 3pt hitch up, then just drill my lower hole and run the busing through for my top hook.

Thanks for your input. Do you have a close up of the Harbor Freight hitch, adjustable top link?

 

[hazmat]

You are welcome.

I don't have a pic of adjustable hook, but the HF quick hitch has been discussed a bunch here on tbn - I'd try a search...

 

[J_J]

I cheated - I have the Harbor Freight quick hitch which has an adjustable top hook (unlike the Deere that is fixed). No mods to the chipper.

In your case, you will need to weld some flat bar to the top attachment structure in order to drop the top pin hole so that your Imatch will pick it up. It looks like you have enough room to do it on the "inside" (thus avoiding the hassle of the angled part).

Why not use a flexible top hook up, such as a piece of chain with a grab hook

I have the an older PTO Bearcat chipper/shredder. My sides are not as high as yours, and the chute is not as tall. I had to purchased the add on blower. Did they offer different shredding chutes, with different slots or holes? My shredding blades can also be reversed.

Something you might consider, is ,that Black and Decker, has a kit that includes a hose and a netting cover for a trash can. I use this setup keep the chips in one place until I want to use them.

Something not so funny, I was chipping stuff, and the chute rotated around and slung stuff all over me. I did find a way to lock the chute in place. I have only had to replace one bearing on one end.

 

[ddivinia]

Who is the hook up more blades? I can see myself going thru some blades in my 73544. I figure I can have a handful of them and get them all sharpened at once.

D.

 

[Loogie]

Thanks for pics and review. I'd love to see some video of it in action!