Chipper Anybody using a Liberty Chipper?
- Thread starter lil_country
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DeeDubya
Silver Member
Actually I read the "Awful Product Review" and then ordered my Liberty shortly thereafter. Read the entire review and you will see why.
Awful Product Review: KPX WoodChipper - Nature's Harmony Farm Blog - One of America's Most Sustainable Farms
I just bought a Liberty. Haven't used it yet. The purchase experience was BAD. Ordered Jan 4, told i would have it by the end of January. Just got it April 10. Was charged in full on the day i purchased it. Was told I would be called when it shipped. I had to call to get any answers. Told 3 different arrival times and had to have staff waiting all 3 times which cost me $. Was told i would be upgraded to the 8 inch because of all the screw ups. Shipping label said they were sending a 6 inch, but Alex, the general manager, assured me an 8 inch was on the way. Haven't been out to my property to see it yet, but if it is a 6 inch, i will be pissed. Will repost when i see how it works. Overall, they get a 1 out of 5 on customer service so far. if the chipper is a 3 of 4 out of 5, i'll be happy. If not, i will not...
Liberty really needs to work on customer experience. As it stands, it sucks.
Liberty really needs to work on customer experience. As it stands, it sucks.
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DeeDubya
Silver Member
I had my doubts too, but they followed through with everything. The promo advertised $100 off and free blades. I had to email and remind them of both, but they did what they said. The chipper does well. Occasionally a small branch will jump over into the feed drive and throw the belt. Large lumps of foliage will cause the feed to disengage. But that was mainly with green cedar that has some thick leaves and tends to bunch up. After chipping but before shutting down (with the chipper spinning) spray some WD40 into the chute so that it sucks the spray in and coats the internals. It will help keep the knives from rusting. As with most things, it works better when smooth and shiney.
Well, disappointed. I did get the right chipper-the 8 inch. Got it assembled, on the back of my 52 horse Kubota. Started to chip, everything seemed ok. On the third load of brush (nothing more than 4 inches in diameter and some pine/redwood tree trimmings, the discharge chute plugged. Had to shut down the tractor, remove the chute, and dig the solid block of chippings out of the main body of the chipper that contains the flywheel. Put the chute back on and restarted everything, only to have the same problem 2 more times, the third time the plug was so bad it actually tried to stall my tractor! Each time, the discharge chute had to be removed and the plug cleared. And each time was only after about 5 minutes of chipping. The process of clearing the chute each time took about 8-10 minutes! Not a sustainable situation with all the brush we have to chip. Had to shut down with no real work done.
Am i doing something wrong? The hole that sends chips from the flywheel chamber into the chute is only about 4 x 4 inches, and the chute is the same cross sectional area, so it doesn't seem hard to figure out why this is happening.
After the long wait for this machine and brush building up on my property, i am disappointed. I am going to ask Liberty to take this machine back unless someone has a solution to this problem.
Am i doing something wrong? The hole that sends chips from the flywheel chamber into the chute is only about 4 x 4 inches, and the chute is the same cross sectional area, so it doesn't seem hard to figure out why this is happening.
After the long wait for this machine and brush building up on my property, i am disappointed. I am going to ask Liberty to take this machine back unless someone has a solution to this problem.
DavisHollow
Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2011
- Messages
- 29
- Tractor
- Yanmar 2610D
I've had that problem also with my Tomcat 8" PTO chipper, same design as the Liberty. It's designed to run at 540 rpm which is 2200 rpm on my tach (Yanmar 2610 diesel 31HP, 26HP at PTO). But I run about 1800 because I just don't like running at rated speed. I ended up jamming the chute with fresh cedar trimmings, the green stuff really tends to jam the chute. One time I just took the chute off and it cleared itself on restart. I did about 5 hours of chipping over several months. Then I jammed it again on skinny cedar branches with lots of green. It jammed extremely tight. Took off chute and it was crammed in so tight had to dig it out. Long story short, I parked it after not being able to clear it. 6 months later I figured it would be mulch, so I fired it back up and after some heavy clutch popping it cleared.
Solution. Run at rated RPM. Stay away from freshly cut cedar with lots of green matter still on it.
I did 4 straight hours of chipping at 1800 rpm on a pile of 6-month old cedar clippings, no problems. Its the fresh cedar that jams it up. And even then, I think if I just ran it at rated RPM I would have been fine.
Solution. Run at rated RPM. Stay away from freshly cut cedar with lots of green matter still on it.
I did 4 straight hours of chipping at 1800 rpm on a pile of 6-month old cedar clippings, no problems. Its the fresh cedar that jams it up. And even then, I think if I just ran it at rated RPM I would have been fine.
DeeDubya
Silver Member
About 90% of what I chip is green cedar. As you know Cedar sap is very sticky. Keep a big can of WD40 handy to spray into the machine while it's running. The WD40 dissolves the cedar sap and keeps everything shiny and slick.
Daves Maple Farm
New member
Managed to plug my BX42 chute too. Ran tractor engine too slow in effort to save fuel. Had to choose between fuel savings and plugging. Now run fast and dont get so frustrated! Forget fuel savings, these guys know what speed works best. Mahindra 2615 drives it with no problems.
....now.
....now.