Chipper, Woods 5000

[Anonymous Poster]

The spec's state "Gravity Feed". Does that mean that that there is no mechanical action that pulls the limbs in?, or do you have to push them in by hand?.
Any one that has one of these units and could/would give a review?.
I am also considering the Danuser 18P. Any comments on the 18P and how it compares to the Woods 5000 would be appreciated.
These are the only 2 brands available in this area.
Appreciate your inputs.

 

[ronjhall]

nico
I have a Bear Cat 71020. It has a 20 HP. Gas engine. It’s the same as Woods 5000 except it’s not PTO driven.
The chipper will feed almost anything put in the chute up to 5”. As long as branches don’t hang up on the chute.
The Shredder is another story. Almost every thing has to be pushed past the brush like protector on either side of compartment. This makes for a lot of work. But is does do a good job.
Here is a thread on chipper shredders. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=113856&page=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=all&vc=1>CLICK HERE</A>. There several other threads. Do a search using “bear cat”. Some of them are quite long. So plan on spending some time reading. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[Michael_S]

I use one with my L3010. When chipping softer wood, the chipper will pull the limbs into the feeder most of the time. They will sometimes require a little assistance in feeding, or holding it back to create enough resistance so it doesn't pull it in too fast.
Shredding is another matter. Once the limbs are past the saftey brushes it sucks it in very fast. I've even had it pull my forearm into the top edge (well away from the teeth) of the chute hard enough to leave a bruise. Be carefull.

 

[Darren]

Although Woods won't own up to it, the 5000 will handle more hp than advertised. Bearcat who builds and supplies it to Woods rates it higher. If you're planning on feeding leaves into the shredder be prepared to buy the blower kit. The Bearcat folks told me the air from the spinning hammer mill actually impedes feeding leaves. The blower attached to the discharge creates a vacuum that overcomes that. You can buy a hose, housing top and chute cover that allows you to vacuum feed material. For that you need the two speed blower setup rather than the single speed.

You will end up force feeding more stuff than you expect. The chute is angled so that gravity is supposed to cause the material to enter the blades as it's chipped. That doesn't always work well.

 

[BigDave]

I have a Woods 5000 C/S, it's pretty new...I've only used it once so far. The chipper doens't mechanically force the wood in, but gravity works well enough. The shedder is another matter, I felt uncomfoartable trying to get it the grab sticks & leaves, they just didn't want to go down easily. Since then I have purchased a tamper from Woods, I plan to try it out later this week. I'll let you know how it goes. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Gunfighter]

I just picked up a new Woods 5000 chipper shredder. It's still on my
truck waiting to be unloaded. It was a display model so the machine
is fully assembled.

Any advise from you experianced users would be appreciated as
this is my first chipper/shredder of any type...

 

[BigDave]

I used mine today for the second time. So I am NOT an experience user yet.

My recommendations so far:
1. Do not have a firm grip on anything you feed into the shedder, once blades the get a hold, it will be sucked in extremely quick. The tamper is really only useful leaves.
2. Limit the length of the thicker stuff you feed into the shredder. A 3" fresh cut tree will be cut no problem, no matter what the length. A 5" dried out hardwood will stall my tractor if it is more than 4' long.
3. Watch you effluent pile. If you don't pay attention, and your output has no place to go, it will start creating a cloud of dust coming out the chipper section.
4. Eye Protection, Ear Protection, Gloves are musts.
5. A filter mask, a hat, long sleeves will make it more pleasent. No hat = wood chips in the hair.
6. Have the tractor at sufficient RPM so the PTO is at 540RPM for engagement. If you engage and then throttle up, the unit makes an unpleasant thumping in the gear box.

I also keep a chain saw & recipricating saw close by to "right-size" any odd shapes or trunks that are too long.

 

[dsinger]

I have a Danuser 18P for use with my B7500. I have had no problems. The mechanical feed is a nice feature and very simple so no worries about breakdowns. I will usually chip only up to 3-4 inch diam. larger I use for firewood. I have not used a woods 5000 so cannot make a direct comparison but feel the Dnause is a lot of machine for the money.

 

[apcaruso]

Hi,

I've been using the Woods 5000 chipper/shredder on a B7500 for a couple of years now.

A few comments:
1. If the chipper blades are sharp it will conveniently pull in whatever you put into the chute.
2. As Big Dave points out, sometimes the draw rate is too fast, and if the diameter is too great the tractor will bog down and stall. The way to prevent this is to push the piece you are feeding in downward, which will easily break it free from the chipper blades. You can then wait a few seconds for the engine RPMs to come back up and then push another few feet in and repeat. If you try to break the piece free by pulling it straight back out of the chute this is very difficult.
3. The shredder functionality is quite inconvenient. There are a pair of brushes that you need to push debris through in order to get the materiel to the hammers. It is quite unnerving to do this, and slow. If you have a lot of leaves to shred this can take a long time. For this reason I rarely use the shredder.
4. The blower attachment would be nice but was more than I wanted to spend. The single speed blower ( as I recall) was an additional $750. The dual speed blower was an additional $1,400, which was needed if you want the vacuum attachment kit, $750. This would be nice for leaves, but at an extra $2,150 I would go with a trac-vac instead for fall cleanup.

Just my opinion.

 

[Gunfighter]

Thanks much BigDave for the trail blazing, it makes it much easier when you know what to expect.

I've named it the Mean Machine...

Wonder if they used this on Jimmy Hoffa, it would explain why no one has every found him. Red pudding is all there be left...