Chipper Need a chipper

[Storm56]

Thanks guys, looks like I am driving to PA in a couple of weeks to pick up my "Champion 550". Does Cat yellow go with Kubota orange???

That will be one classy lookin setup, for sure should not lose it in the woods! That yellow went well with my John Deere green too!

 

[TerryR]

Did I miss something? He too is very happy with his

I don't know that you did.

My BearCat is the same general design as the Pequea. I've never seen one of them or the other brands that are being recommended here, so can't comment on the quality of one vs the other. Both of these two are chippers only, which work great on limbs and small trees, but less so on small brush. In my view the blower and chute are essential if you expect to use it much at all. I don't see a need for power feed unless you are going to be using it commercially, were time is money. So it looks to me like you are going in a good direction.

One issue I learned about from my prior chippers is that easy access to the blades is important. On the BearCat that requires removing one bolt and swinging the chute down. On another one I had you had to remove several shields then remove the top, which had lots of bolts and was big and just heavy enough to be awkward. I can't tell how you access the blades on the Pequea.

Seeing the damage caused by a jamb on a direct-drive unit in another thread here makes me very happy with a belt drive.

Terry

 

[The Deerslayer]

Agree with TerryR. Easy access to blades and wheel to clear any potential jambs is important. As noted, they are not great for brush and are not designed for it. The blower chute is a huge advantage as you will not need to keep moving the tractor as the pile grows. The chute allows you to send it wherever (into trailer, truck bed, etc....and about 30 feet away.

 

[DennisFolsom]

My Woodmaxx WM-8H arrived yesterday afternoon. I finished putting it together and purging the hydraulics last evening. I chipped with it today. I'm very impressed with it, and pleased with my purchase. It is a different and better design than the common Chinese chippers. It is manufactured in China, to Woodmaax's design & specs. Woodmaxx installs American blades, adjusts the belts, greases and inspects the machine at their NY warehouse before shipping them out. The customer finishes the final assembly. An excellent illustrated manual is provided, in perfect English, with only 1 or 2 typos.

So far, I am favorably impressed with the quality and the performance of this machine. The brush I chipped today was almost all softwood, but included a fir tree that was 7.5" The trunk section that was 5" went right through without stopping the feed (speed set on 7 on the 10 scale). I did have to stop and start the feed a few times when chipping the 7.5" section, but it took it!:thumbsup:

This evening, I'll be posting some photos in another thread, on Woodmaxx WM-8H chippers. Gotta go pick up the tools and put the garage back in order now.

 

[mark02tj]

Thanks guys, looks like I am driving to PA in a couple of weeks to pick up my "Champion 550". Does Cat yellow go with Kubota orange???

That Champion 550 is a NICE chipper!! All American made in PA!! Pequea makes the chippers from Frontier.

Not sure where in PA you're driving to, but from where you're at in FL, you're probably looking at 800-900 miles each way. So the 1800 mile round trip will cost you roughly $950 in fuel, wear and tear, etc. on your truck. You might want to see about working with the seller to ship it. I bought a Bearcat chipper from a guy in WI last spring. They had it on a skid and had a truck come pick it up at their place of business. I picked it up at the shipping company's terminal on the north side of town where I live. It was under $300 to ship!! I used ABF Freight Lines since they had a terminal near me. They actually have small terminals all over the place. If you can get the sell to skid it and drop it off at the terminal in his town, you can pick it up in your town and save a bunch of money, not to mention 2 L O N G days on the road.

When I was rate shopping for the freight on mine, I got quotes ranging from the $268 from ABF to $1100 from USF Holland. You will need the measurements and the approximate weight (probably about 700 lbs) and they will need to know that it's not stackable and that the chute may stick out further than the side of the skid. Just make sure you have the right "rate class" quoted and you'll be good. I had them quote me the highest rate class available - the reason is that if they quote it at "Rate Class XXX" but when it gets to the destination they determine that it should have been "Rate Class YYY", then your quote is no good. I found this out after I was quoted, but then the quoting guy said "I'll reclass it to xxxx and that way you won't have to worry about it." No change in price for me going to the higher rate class. Unfortunately I don't have all that paperwork handy or I'd dig up the actual rate classes for you.

Enjoy your chipper! It's gonna work ya!!

 

[RoyJackson]

Not sure where in PA you're driving to, but from where you're at in FL, you're probably looking at 800-900 miles each way. So the 1800 mile round trip will cost you roughly $950 in fuel, wear and tear, etc. on your truck. You might want to see about working with the seller to ship it

It's worthwhile checking out Uship (https://www.uship.com/). Quite likely cheaper than driving...

 

[newbury]

Aw! C'mon! ROAD TRIP!!

 

[KevT]

Aw! C'mon! ROAD TRIP!!

You got it Newbury!!!:thumbsup: We looked at shipping and no unless crated it, the best we found was $700. So not having any kind of vacation in 3 years (we are both self employed) and a BIL in that area that we actually look forward to seeing.

And thanks for your concern but according to "Google Maps" it is less than 1100 miles (beats going to CO where I am from) and my truck my not be the most fuel efficient but worst case scenario gas will cost us under $500. Add a few motel rooms, food, and we have a trip, a week away from work, and get to see friends and family along the way for about a grand. Does it make it a good deal on the chipper, NO. Does it help the two of us keep our sanity, YES!!!!

 

[KevT]

Besides, those of us in FL like to go up North and drive slow