Skid Steer mounted chipper

[QwikDraw]

Anyone use one? I have been looking at two models but would like some opinions..are they worth 9-10K? I will be putting them on an ASV SR80 or RC100.

Valby
Skid Steer Woodchipper

Bearcat
Wood Chippers Chipper Shredders Stump Grinders Vacuums Trim Mowers & Truck Loaders by Bear Cat

The Bearcat rep seemed very helpful and is trying to get a demo up my way to try. I am having trouble getting the Valby rep to call me back.

Thanks! Ted

 

[burnetma]

Ted,

I am not familiar with these units, but I could not help but comment about one thing I saw on the Valby site. The Valby site gives uses for the chips post processing. One of which is animal bedding. I just want to warn you that only softwoods are acceptable as animal bedding. Some hardwoods are poisonous to horses (possibly other large animals??). So, if you are chipping a mixed lot, do yourself a favor and do not sell/give the material to horse owners. Best use it

FYI, Northeast Implement is about 20 miles from me, but I can not picture where in Spencer they are located for the life of me. Interesting...

Mark

 

[QwikDraw]

Thanks Mark.

Although I had not thought of selling the chips as bedding, you never know and that bit of info may have kept me from future troubles...
I am in Connecticut.

Thanks again,
Ted

 

[burnetma]

Ted,

I am glad you are in Connecticut. No risk of competition

Below is a partial list of woody plants that are dangerous to horses and some other livestock:
Cherry #1
Yew #2 (Poisonous to all livestock)
Peach
Black Walnut
Black Locust
Poison Sumac
Poison Wood
Rhododendron
Azalea
Laurel/Mountain Laurel
Kalmia
Some Oak Acorns
Fiddleneck
Mimosa Trees
Ponderosa Pine Needles (abortion)
Red Maple (also called swamp maple, soft maple or Acer rubrum)

For more information:
Horse Owner's Field Guide to Toxic Plants by Sandra M. Burger
Published in 1996 by Breakthrough Publications

So like I started to say before, do yourself a favor and do not sell/give this mulched material to people as animal bedding. It is best used for other agricultural/ornamental purposes.

Best of luck.
Mark

 

[QwikDraw]

Whoa...that's a lot more then I thought. Whenever I chip though, it's normally just blown and spread. If this attachment makes "nice" chips maybe I could use them for planting beds and such...but no live stock! I also just posted to the other SR80 thread, a machine I really want! and am hoping it is just what I need.(looking at the Timber AX too)

Thanks,
Ted

 

[Haoleguy]

QuikDraw - This past year I was thinking of a similar attachment for my tractor. The choices, as you are seeing, are for 5-6" diameter wood. I rented a 6" Salsco and a 12" Brush Bandit stand alone units to see what diameter I needed. I found the larger unit made the work go so easily I decided to bypass the tractor mount unit and in fact I can pile up a bunch of limbs, brush, etc. and rent the 12" periodically. The ASV units you are talking about have sufficient hp and flow you could potentially handle much larger diameter chipper if it is available. Have you considered a used 9-12" stand alone wood chipper for slightly more dollars. If you had pretty good volume then you could use the tracksteere to feed the chipper. Just a thought.

 

[QwikDraw]

Haoleguy,

Some good thoughts. I just priced used chippers on machine trader and found the prices were better than I expected. I will have to think about it more, the skid steer could get places that a truck/chipper combo could not but a bigger chipper would be faster. I won't know until I demo one of the SS models. Also, price wise, a new SS model versus a used tow behind. As for volume, I only do the occasional chipping job now and rent but I do not advertise for such services. I don't want to compete with the bigger tree guys around here, I don't climb or do crane work. I mostly work alone so maybe the smaller SS unit would work for me. I have been thinking about this for months and everyday I change my mind on what to get.

Thanks for the help,
Ted

 

[capt_met]

i rent larger vermeer chippers when i have the need. i will use a root grapple to bring limbs and branches to the chipper. this has worked very good so far. i can tow the chipper to a central spot and ferry the branches while it is being fed.. i like renting chippers because for the amount of times a year i need one it doesn;t pay. i don't have to worry about maintenance or sharpening the blades.
good luck with your decision,

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Qwikdraw, Maybe I missed the original reason you needed a chipper. We also list that service but we do not use a chipper. We use a 100H.P. mulcher mounted to a RC-100. I don't know why I didn't mention this earlier. Save yourself,oh about 10k, put that towards capital and one less machine to maintain. There is a technique to mulching brush piles but I can tell you that.
Robbie

 

[QwikDraw]

Robbie,

I thought that too...but wasn't sure what the finished product would be (with the Timber AX). I am pruning an apple orchard starting in January and the owned wanted some of the chips for landscaping. They also have an 7-8 foot high pile of brush, can the timber ax tackle a pile like that? and what does the finished product look like? a big mess or does everything get chipped (mulched) up small? If the Timbr Ax could do a faster job but not good enough for landscape chips it still may be worth buying a load of chips and reducing the brush with the AX. Then I can put all my $$ into the Loftness attachment.

So many questions...

Thanks for the help!
Ted
PS - the orchard owners are old friend, if I purchased the Timber AX and advertised, I could fill in with orchard work while waiting for mulching work. Maybe that's the "new" plan....as of tonight