PTO Chipper Advice -- maneuverability and center of gravity concerns

[outdoorben]

Hi All --

Longtime lurker here finally making my first post! I have a Kubota L2550 tractor with 24hp at the PTO. I'm hoping to find a PTO chipper that fits my somewhat unusual needs. Help, please!

My Kubota is quite tippy on our steep piece of property -- a mish-mash of little twisting roads, gullies, slopes and a few flat sections. I've learned over the years where I can and cannot safely go, almost always with a brush hog on the back. I would very much like to have buy a PTO chipper that I can take to the material instead of hauling the material to the few flat spots that are big enough to pile it up and hit it with the brush hog. Bottom line: center of gravity and size are both big concerns.

Material: a lot is straight, soft and easily chipped. A ton of California pepper which is more bush like, but soft. Some acacia, which is a hard wood. I would like to easily chip to 4" if possible.

Looking solely online (no dealers in our area), potential candidates:

1. The Best PTO Wood Chipper on the Market. 20-80 PTO HP
Splitfire 4003. This one has a unique horizontal flywheel and looks like it would have a very lower center of gravity. It looks like the smallest for tight spaces. But, 100% gravity with no feed at all. $5,000 is very expensive compared to the other two (uncomfortably over budget, but I could swing it). Can't rotate the output chute (which would be really nice!). Very simple design and easy to maintain. Rated to 4". Minimum 20hp.

2. WoodMaxx MX-8500G+ - WoodMaxx
Woodmax MX-8500G+. Looks pretty small as well, but has a vertical flywheel, so a higher center of gravity I would assume...? Looks fairly small for tight spaces. Gravity feed, claims a unique flywheel that really pulls in the material. Way cheaper at $2,275.00 minus 10% on sale. Can't rotate chute. Very simple design and easy to maintain. Rated to 5" max. 15 HP minimum for 4" soft wood at a very low 15hp.

3. 6" PTO Wood Chipper Shredder | Made in the USA | 3pt. Wood Chipper Attachment -WoodMaxx? | Chipper for small tractor - WoodMaxx
Woodmax MX-8600. Vertical flywheel. About the same size as the 8500. Hydrostatic feed. Middle price at $3,645.00 minus 10%. Fully rotatable chute (bonus!). More complicated design looks like more maintenance. 15hp minimum. Claims it can chip up to 6" at higher horsepower.

So, balancing size, simplicity, ease of use and center of gravity, does anyone have feedback on these? Or suggestions for others? Thank you!

-Ben

 

[TerryR]

Welcome, Ben.

I really can't speak to your stability issue hills, but do have a couple of thoughts about the two smaller machines.

I'd be very concerned about not being able to rotate the chute. I change mine all the time. If there is much of a breeze you want to put the input chute upwind so they don't blow chips all over you, so you aren't necessarily able to position the tractor to aim the output chute. When I'm blowing chips into the woods or a field, as I mostly do, I keep adjusting the chute to keep the chips from getting too deep in any one place.

Those very upright input chutes would be a pain lift anything very long into it. They would also make it very difficult to pull something back out if you find it's too big or tough for your tractor, which I occasionally find myself doing.

 

[bigtiller]

I have a Woodland Mills 6" chipper behind my jd 2720. No problems & no complaints.

WC68 6" PTO Wood Chipper

Our affordable 3-Point PTO Wood Chipper converts brush and branches into usable wood chips & works with 20-50 HP tractors. Covered by a 3-year warranty.

woodlandmills.com

 

[oldnslo]

The Woodmax 8500 G has two position discharge chute and will operate at either 540 or 1,000 RPM. Two pins need to be removed to remove discharge chute, rotate 180 degrees and reinstall the pins.
Mine came with 540 RPM shaft. Only had it around 8 months and used it for approx 7 hrs on my Branson 2400H not sure how that compares in size to your L2550 suspect similar to B2320 or B2620.

My 2400H has both 540 & 960 RPM option for rear PTO. The 960 blows chips out better and much less problem with leaves and white pine needles plugging discharge.

Green 4” silver maple or white pine is a full load and pulls engine RPMs down from 2600 to around 1800 but has not stalled or plugged yet.

Majority of weight is in the flywheel and support frame so center of gravity would be a little below center of flywheel.

Bottom of in-feed chute with unit sitting on ground ready to chip is around 3 1/2 to 4 foot off the ground.

I use this for clean up from downed limbs due to wind, snow, ice. Did notice with silver maple and chinese elm get a lot of small twigs mixed in with the chips. Majority of trees on my property are Chinese Elm, Silver and Red Maple, white and Norway pine.

It does pull the material in once you get it started. I make a point of trimming any branches over 1 - 1 1/2” diameter from main branch to aid in how it pulls the material. Like Terry mentions it is a challenge to pull material out of infeed chute since branches are trying to expand and catch on chute.

I briefly considered the 8600 with power feed but for my limited use could not justify the added cost but suspect would be nice feature but would also use some power.

Hope this info helps

 

[Hughman]

I just got the woodland mills wc68. Nice machine. Rotating chute. Weighs in at 900+ pounds.

 

[Whitbread]

I had a woodmaxx wm8m and just upgraded to a vermeer bc906 9" pto chipper. I can't speak of hill stability, but there is absolutely no comparison between any of the homeowner units and a true commerical grade unit. I would strongly urge you to look for a used vermeer bc606 if you plan on doing lots of chipping. It is a 6" capacity pto chipper with hydraulic infeed. It's built like a battleship compared to the tin can woodmaxx. They weigh 1350lbs. Knife access is very easy, it's a clamshell design.

Here's one for sale Log into Facebook

 

[redman135]

Hello outdoorben, Re the stability problem, you have 2 practical options.
1) Wheel spacers. Ask the members as there are some who use this option.
2) Dual wheels. They cost more but offer a huge increase in stability feel and a significant increase in tracion. Unless the ground is really wet, you willl need the seat belt to stay in the seat before you slide off the hill side.NOTE ,SLIDE not roll.
I grew up in hill country, a lot of it was to steep for a tractor.

 

[outdoorben]

Hello outdoorben, Re the stability problem, you have 2 practical options.
1) Wheel spacers. Ask the members as there are some who use this option.
2) Dual wheels. They cost more but offer a huge increase in stability feel and a significant increase in tracion. Unless the ground is really wet, you willl need the seat belt to stay in the seat before you slide off the hill side.NOTE ,SLIDE not roll.
I grew up in hill country, a lot of it was to steep for a tractor.

Thanks for the reply. I have always had wheel weights. Dual wheels are not an option because of the narrow twisting roads. But I had never heard of wheel spacers. They sound like a really good option for me -- I think an additional 6 inches to a foot max would be fine. I found this video that has me 100% convinced:

 

[outdoorben]

Welcome, Ben.

I really can't speak to your stability issue hills, but do have a couple of thoughts about the two smaller machines.

I'd be very concerned about not being able to rotate the chute. I change mine all the time. If there is much of a breeze you want to put the input chute upwind so they don't blow chips all over you, so you aren't necessarily able to position the tractor to aim the output chute. When I'm blowing chips into the woods or a field, as I mostly do, I keep adjusting the chute to keep the chips from getting too deep in any one place.

Those very upright input chutes would be a pain lift anything very long into it. They would also make it very difficult to pull something back out if you find it's too big or tough for your tractor, which I occasionally find myself doing.

The more I think about the rotating chute, the more I value I put on it. I had not thought of wind, so great point on that. And the tiny roads and rare flat spots make it very difficult to position the tractor to change discharge direction.

On the upright chutes, that is definitely a concern that I need to balance with chipper size. And, I am at the bottom end of horsepower (24hp) for most strong power intakes. I rented a commercial 8-inch monster with a flat intake once. It was fantastic, but towing it down to where I needed to work was simply not an option. I'll only be using the chipper for a couple of hours at a time (hey, I'm 62 working on slopes ), so I figure I can cut pieces shorter if need be. Not optimal, but better than cutting pieces down even smaller so I can move them to a better location for future chipping. So, anything's an improvement.

From the pictures it looks like a lot of flat intakes don't fold in, so they really stick out in the rear. A foldable intake might work if it gets down small enough and is not too heavy/top heavy.

 

[TxSteveS]

You definitely want a rotating discharge chute. Even if only to spread the chips around while you are working so you don't end up with a big pile in one place if you aren't collecting them for later use.

As for low center of gravity - I think most will have about the same. Just keep it as low as possible while moving.

I just upgraded from a FMH DW30 to a Woodmaxx WM-8H. The 8H is long since the input chute sticks out the back and is not foldable. But - it has the hydraulic auto feeder and has gotten very good reviews.

You might look at the DW30. It's a gravity feed that uses a drum style flywheel which might offer a lower COG. The discharge chute can be rotated in as well as the input chute can be tilted in and secured for a narrower profile while driving. To tilt in the input chute, you will need to remove 2 easily accessible bolts on the bottom, but that's pretty easy to do. You can see it here. 6” Drum Style Wood Chipper, FH-DW30 | Betstco Sales, Parts, and Service: Customer service was very good when I called for questions or parts.

The DW30 was reliable, I just got tired of fighting with the gravity feed for mesquite and oak branches that weren't straight. It ate juniper for breakfast, though. I was running it behind a 50hp Kubota.