BearCat Chipper/Shreader Any Good?

pennwalk · May 5, 2012

Every chipper manual I've read warns the operator to not stand in line with the chute...

But if you are like me and don't always read the manual as completely as you should about the third or fourth time you get beaned by a sharpened chunk of wood you will start to think about standing to the side.

Chris

RoyJackson · May 5, 2012

pennwalk said:
Every chipper manual I've read warns the operator to not stand in line with the chute...

But if you are like me and don't always read the manual as completely as you should about the third or fourth time you get beaned by a sharpened chunk of wood you will start to think about standing to the side.

Chris

Yep, I think I'm an oddity in that I read and refer to the manuals frequently. Goes with being a Quality Assurance Engineer, I guess...

s219 · May 6, 2012

I was chipping today wearing my Stihl helmet with the face guard down, and learned the hard way that you need to flip it up before spitting. Yeah.

Gordon Gould · May 6, 2012

s219 said:
I was chipping today wearing my Stihl helmet with the face guard down, and learned the hard way that you need to flip it up before spitting. Yeah.

:laughing:
I did that inside a snowmobile helmet once. Man I miss chewing. Really.

Bogi · May 6, 2012

I own a sc5540 and love it! The only advise I would give is keep the blades sharp. After an 8 hour day of chipping, I take out my blades and hone them on a fine stone. The time it takes to do this is made up on the next chipping. It chips effortlessly with real sharp blades. I rarely use the shredder.

Artisan · May 6, 2012

Bogi said:
I own a sc5540 and love it! The only advise I would give is keep the blades sharp. After an 8 hour day of chipping, I take out my blades and hone them on a fine stone. The time it takes to do this is made up on the next chipping. It chips effortlessly with real sharp blades. I rarely use the shredder.

HA! Hey! you havn't paid the "dues" yet... :laughing: hehe

Thanx for the input, coincidential I was typing in your Hello thread as you
were typing in my chipper thread!

Yes, Sharp is good. I ordered a brand new set of everything blades for it. I am keeping the blades I pulled and will get them sharpened professionally once then try my hand at wetting a stone and keeping them that way.
This way I will always have a sharp set on hand...

Artisan · May 10, 2012

So...

The unit was stored close to the beach so the shredder blades were well
eaten into w/ rust. The Chipper blades were dull and someone did a wierd
job sharpening them, plus they were discolored as if they overheated
them while sharpening. PLUS the 4 chipper blades were not of equal
length nor weight.

I pulled all protective covers and greased up all zerts and cleaned and
cleaned and painted all the protective covers. I banged the dent
out of the hopper top and it looks COMPLETLY different now! I am VERY
pleased. It is turning into a nice piece of machinery.

So I ordered up all new blades. The chipper blades were easy to remove,
the 6 rows of 36 bladed shreadder deals were HARD. I started using
a punch trying to punch them out and after an hour I gave up, ON THE
FIRST ROW ONLY! Oh man, I went inside to see if I could order 6 new
shafts and some spacers and sure enough, there is a Kit so you can just
hack all that stuff out of your way and punch out small bits only as I said
in the past.

Today I got that portion all done / reloaded, it didn't help the instructions were
wrong, yep, WRONG, and after I called BearCAT they realized I was right
and they are re-printing their instructions now. What a pain, once I got
it figured out it went quickly.

I did a quick spin of the unit to make sure I didn't screw up, as in getting
the sequences wrong which would have been VERY EASY to do. I got er done.

Here is a video of it turning less all safety devices. I did it on purpose, I
wanted to see the blades spinning to make sure it looked symetrical.
All is well so far...the chipper blades which there are 2 styles, well,
the guy assumed my #554 was the same as a 70554 or 73554 and he
ordered up a set...WRONG, oh man...So they will come in tomorrow and
we should be done w/ phase one.

I sure would like to find a BLOWER for this for cheap!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6gkC5TKtak"]554-test.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

pennwalk · May 12, 2012

Artisan, Don't tell OSHA but I have chipped without the screen or cover and it does eliminate the piling up of chips under the chipper. I got to thinking that it was probably a bad idea so I don't do it anymore. My shredder blades are a mess and need to be replaced. Thanks for the tip about just cutting them out. I am looking forward to hearing how it chips for you.

Chris

Artisan · May 12, 2012

Hmmm"the long white space" is back....

Oh well, here I sit today w/o any new chipper blades. Someone dropped the ball AGAIN. I was told I would have them yesterday. Now, "maybe" Monday.

Burns my Donkey

murphy1244 · Aug 15, 2012

Artisan said:
Hmmm"the long white space" is back....

Oh well, here I sit today w/o any new chipper blades. Someone dropped the ball AGAIN. I was told I would have them yesterday. Now, "maybe" Monday.

Burns my Donkey

Well!!! What happened???? Shouls I buy that model ????

Artisan · Aug 15, 2012

The BearCAT I bought, the blade issue was a typical kid at
the counter failing to do his job. If I were to do this purchase
over I think I would look harder at getting the same w/ a
blower attachment. It piles debris and you have to shovel it
away or move the whole unit...Additionally you need to be
able to sharpen the 4 truck chipping blades and for that
I still need to either send mine out, or buy a makita 9820-2
machine. The shreadder blades should stay good for a
good long while. I would NOT use this machine w/ less than
17HP at the PTO as well.

murphy1244 · Aug 15, 2012

Art, Was thinking of buying a new sc5540b for 4700.00 what you think?

Artisan · Aug 15, 2012

Murf I HIGHLY recomend you contact BearCat and tell them what you
have and what you plan on using it for and get an experts opinion...
I might call Kioti as well and get there's. Do not take my text as
gosple.

Having said that I believe that the DK40HST has 35.2 PTO H.P.

I believe the BearCAT SC5540B is a 5" unit, so the ECHO Bear Cat 5"
chippers and chipper/shredders require a tractor with PTO hp
ranging from 25hp to 45hp so that looks ok.

If you can afford it, a hydraulic feed would be VERY nice.

Make SURE it comes w/ a blower.

That BearCAT weighs 720 Lbs, Lift Capacity of tractor =, 24" aft of hitch, lb(kg) 2,493 lbs.

Make sure they give you a PTO Driveshaft w/ the deal.

Buy an extra set of chipper blades or price them first
and maybe ask for a set as part of the deal.

Buying used is OK so you may want to look for used too.
BearCAT builds a tough unit and from what I have seen
parts are not hard to get.

Brant · Aug 15, 2012

murphy1244 said:
Art, Was thinking of buying a new sc5540b for 4700.00 what you think?

Not even close to worth the money IMHO. For $5k, you're in the territory of a pretty nice power-feed chipper. The size of the opening into the chipper disc is very important and the Bearcat stuff is small.

murphy1244 · Aug 15, 2012

Brant said:
Not even close to worth the money IMHO. For $5k, you're in the territory of a pretty nice power-feed chipper. The size of the opening into the chipper disc is very important and the Bearcat stuff is small.

Well what do you suggest? Thanks for the reply.

Artisan · Aug 15, 2012

What model do you suggest for him Brant?

Brant · Aug 16, 2012

murphy1244 said:
Well what do you suggest? Thanks for the reply.

See here.

murphy1244 · Aug 16, 2012

Brant said:
See here.

Bought the Wallenstein today thanks for your input.

LouieJunior · Aug 16, 2012

Nice move. Which Model did you choose and how much did you pay? I am considering the BX42S myself.

murphy1244 · Aug 16, 2012

LouieJunior said:
Nice move. Which Model did you choose and how much did you pay? I am considering the BX42S myself.

I got bxm42 for 4,725 out the door. Seems everyone likes this brand the best. I could have got a Bearcat sc5540b for 4,625.

BearCat Chipper/Shreader Any Good?

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