BX 2660 & PTO chipper

[AHNC]

Am considering an SC5540 Bearcat chipper to drive off the 2660. The BX has 19.5 pto hp and Echo is saying 25-45 hp is the right range. I would not be doing the 5" material they say it can handle, as that would be firewood. I have no experience with chippers. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, pricey little things at $2979

 

[Pepsiboy]

Am considering an SC5540 Bearcat chipper to drive off the 2660. The BX has 19.5 pto hp and Echo is saying 25-45 hp is the right range. I would not be doing the 5" material they say it can handle, as that would be firewood. I have no experience with chippers. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also, pricey little things at $2979

AHCN,

In my experience with PTO implements, you would need a MINIMUM of 25 hp at the PTO for this to work correctly. UNLESS you are going to put nothing LARGER than 1 1/2 inches or LIGHT brush through it. INHO, I don't think you would be satisfied with this unit for YOUR tractor. I would suggest a smaller unit, if possible. :2cents:

Dave

 

[Code54]

Check out Woodmaxx chippers, they have a newer model that is rated for the BX. Looks pretty nice form what I have seen

 

[oosik]

I agree with Code54 & Pepsiboy. Without adequate horse power the chipper may bog down enough that it won't blow chips out the discharge chute. Its also going to put quite a strain on your tractor just to do a mediocre job. Get a chipper that falls within the power range of your tractor. There are many brands that have great chippers that fit your tractor.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Get a bigger tractor or small branches.

Bearcat 73554 now known as SC5540B

David

 

[wawajake]

You are asking for trouble if you put that unit on your BX , you will have many a sudden stop to your unit and engine when it hits something the 19.5 hp can't handle ..........I have the Wallenstein BX42 on my BX2660 that is correctly rated for my 19.5 hp...and even that at rare times has shut down my machine when it hits a knot in a 3 or 4 inch maple for example . I doubt that those rare sudden stops are good for my drivetrain. So even though you think you won't be putting 5 inch stuff in it, you will , or your helper will. I also suspect that the flywheel will be very hard to first get up to speed if you are shy by 5 or 6 hp, and that regular startup strain will tax your engine also.

 

[roadhunter]

I actually purchased a used SC5540 earlier this week from out of state. I chose this unit because I am looking for a specific chip size to burn in a boiler. The shredder part is just a hammermill which gives the ability to make a certain size chip.. I have a 75 hp tractor to use if necessary but I am planning to give it a go on my old Farmall H which is probably going to be below the recommended HP range at the PTO. I have faith that the old girl can power through it like she always does. I won't be using the chipper much, just resizing shredded wood and wood chips in the hammermill but I will test it to see what it does. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get a chance to hook it up and run but I will give you some feedback on how it runs on the Farmall.

If you are just running small stuff the little gas powered units can be found for quite a bit less and lets you use the tractor to move the brush around. Something like this.
Bearcat Model 85 Chipper Shredder 3" Branch Briggs Stratton 8 HP Engine | eBay

 

[roadhunter]

I'm curious why this Woods machine (which appears to be the same as the Echo) only requires 20 hp and is priced almost $2,000 more.
Woods W5000 3 PT Hitch Chipper Shredder for Tractors | eBay

 

[David_Kb7uns]

I wonder if they may of changed the size of the pulleys for the belt, run my 73554 with a MF35 and it can pull it down with a larger size branch.

David

 

[5030]

I'd take a good look at the Wood-Max economy mechanical drive chipper. It's similar to the Jinma 8", actually it is a Jinma. You can vary the output chip size by varying the knife angle.

I have a Jinma 8" that I bought used for 1000 bucks. It was on Craigslist last year and I have to say it's a helluva chipper. Having said that I drive mine with a 84 horse pto tractor but it's rated for 16 pto and above. The ability of a chipper to chip lies in the flywheel weight and the infeed rate and the Jinma/Woodmax has a heavy flywheel with twin knives.

Mine will handle 8" hardwood logs no issue. Your cannot do that of course but I'm sure even with your limited power, once you get the flywheel spinning, it will handle 4" no issue. It's all in how you feed it and with the controlled infeed mechanism, if it starts to slow down, you can release the infeed to allow the reactor to recover, much like commercial chippers that handle whole trees do. The have speed sensing mechanisms that stop the infeed to allow even the big engines to recover.

When I stuff in an 8' log, I have to stagger the infeed kanually, not that my tractot slows down but I installed a twin plate slip clutch on the PTO input so I wouldn't destroy the chipper in as much as I'm inputting about twice the rated power.

I use the chips as fuel as well and I found that by changing the knife angle, you can alter the chip size.

Just my 2 cents