Chipper chipper needed for small tractor

morganjack · Nov 7, 2011

my tractor has 23hp.. I believe 19 at PTO and am looking for a suitable chipper. Anyone have any comments or ideas .

RoyJackson · Nov 7, 2011

Obviously, read the specs (specifically, power requirements) on some equipment manufacturer websites...Woods, Bearcat, Wallenstein...just do an Internet search for "PTO Chippers" and you see a pretty good list.

Personal experience: I have a Woods 5000 Chipper/Shredder (built by Bearcat, but I don't recall their model number). Per the manual (which is downloadable from the Woods Equipment website), the required input power is 15-30 PTO HP. I ran it behind a 24 PTO HP tractor (Deere 790) and it worked quite well. Larger branches (4-5 inches diameter) would occasionally bog the tractor. I think your 19 PTO HP tractor may struggle a bit with that size material...depends on the type of wood and how dried out it is though.
A new Woods 5000 will run you about 3000 bucks...bought mine used for $1000 and it is in excellent condition.
If you do look used, Craigslist works, but be prepared to move fast on it if you like it...these things sell extremely fast!
Oh yeah..and always ask the seller if he can demo any used PTO equipment.

And, of course...
Welcome to TBN!!!

morganjack · Nov 7, 2011

Thanks Roy , all help is appreciated ! do wish I could find a good one for 1000.

anyone know about a Nortrac chipper .. new at Northern tool for about 2000?

ruren · Nov 7, 2011

morganjack said:
my tractor has 23hp.. I believe 19 at PTO and am looking for a suitable chipper. Anyone have any comments or ideas .

I will share one usefull thing I learned regarding chipper size. I bought a chipper that stated it was good for "4 inch capacity" thinking anything bigger than that goes in my firewood pile and my 30 hp tractor was at the high end of its rating so that would be better. I discovered that a lot of the stuff I want to chip is one or two inch branches, but with forks in the branches and odd shaped stuff I have to cut it more than I would like to fit into the 4" opening without jamming. In hindsight I wish I had gone with the six inch chipper to fit the odd stuff, even though I don't chip any 6" logs.

BethesdaEC · Nov 7, 2011

ruren said:
I will share one usefull thing I learned regarding chipper size. I bought a chipper that stated it was good for "4 inch capacity" thinking anything bigger than that goes in my firewood pile and my 30 hp tractor was at the high end of its rating so that would be better. I discovered that a lot of the stuff I want to chip is one or two inch branches, but with forks in the branches and odd shaped stuff I have to cut it more than I would like to fit into the 4" opening without jamming. In hindsight I wish I had gone with the six inch chipper to fit the odd stuff, even though I don't chip any 6" logs.

The Wallenstein BX42r has a 4 x 10 feed which allows it to take the odd sized stuff much better than most and if you get the hydro auto feed the feed rollers squeeze all those awkward branches very nicely into blades.

morganjack · Nov 8, 2011

sounds good . I am looking for price now

cmhyland · Nov 8, 2011

I have a Salsco 4" chipper.... It works well but requires cutting Y's that would hang up. A chipper with a 4X10 opening will definately require less pruning of limbs before they go in...

Regards,
Chris

KenKubota · Nov 8, 2011

I have a Salsco 824 4" Chipper on my CUT (23hp at the PTO). It has hydraulic feed which does a terrific job of pulling branches in regardless of the forks in them. It also makes it much easier on the operator as you nevr have to stuff stuff in. All in all I love the chipper - especially this last week when I had it going non-stop to deal with the snowtober debris.

Dmac1 · Nov 18, 2011

I've got a Wallenstein BX 62m (manual feed) running on 30 pto hp and absolutely no problems chipping pine of multiple dimensions. It just chews it up and spits it into my truck. :thumbsup: I haven't tried 6" stuff yet but Wallenstein said it would chew up the big stuff too but that I might not be able to run a long log through it or it might bog it down vs if I had more pto hp.

I think flywheel weight is important...especially with a tractor at the lower end of the hp range for the implement. The Wallenstein's flywheel weighs about 200 lbs and the entire unit is around 770. I run it at 540 rpm.

With their design, you don't need to have an automatic feed mechanism because the blades pull in the material. I can imagine how, if the feeder is ramming it in too fast for the knives on a somewhat underpowered tractor, it could bog it down. The feed hopper on the BX 62 is 6 1/2x 12" so minimal need to trim before chip.

I love it!