Cost Effective Chipper/Shredder?

[MajMac392]

Robert, If I were you I would read up on the Chinese Chipper like Mark mentioned. The price seems very fair for the product. They have had a few problems but it looks like whoever has one loves it and would buy again. There are also some on ebay called: "New Farm Pro 6" Woodchippers". A while back I was looking on ebay and one of the dealers, in KY I believe had a buy it now for $1450.

 

[fractal]

robert

How much would it cost you to haul it to your local county yard?

I did the analysis a couple of years ago. I generate 2-3 tons of yard waste a year, probably 10-15 yards worth. My county yard charges 25 bucks a ton to take the stuff. I haul 1000 pounds of the stuff to the yard every couple weeks during the summer in the back of my f350. I pay 10 bucks per trip in dump fees and probably half that in fuel. I can also take as much mulch (they run it through a chipper / shredder that is bigger than my house at the county yard) as I want for free, or have them deliver it for a low delivery fee.

I guess what I am getting at is ... I can get rid of my brush / weeds faster and cheaper by hauling it to someone else who chips it. It would take me a lot longer to chip it myself, and I will never make back the cost of the chipper in saved dump fees. The downside is that my truck is almost always in some stage of "being filled".

If I were to do it all over, I would probably buy a trailer. That way the trailer could sit and be filled with brush/weeds, taken to the county yard when full. It helps a LOT if your county yard will do pulloffs. Ours here in santa barbara will. The one where I used to live in santa clara county did not. Being able to drive in, untarp, and have a skip loader pull the whole load out of the truck in 30 seconds makes the process painless.

 

[JEDinNH]

I bought a Wallenstein BX40 (takes to 4") a couple of months ago for the back of my B7500. It was $2100 at the local Kubota dealer. I too was wondering if/what to get for my residential needs. Burning was an option, but it's weather dependant and I would need to move the limbs to a spot I could burn in my case. I didn't want to deal with hauling it out and dumping somewhere either. Now I cut a small area of small trees and chip it up, done. I didn't really need the shredder, so I concentrated on the chipper only models, I also felt that I didn't really need the auto feed feature given the amount of chipping I'm doing . I did look at the DR 3pt model but the weight of it (185lbs) kind of made me wonder a little about the "constitution" of it, and if the flywheel might be a little lighter, then again maybe it has no bearing on operation. The BX40 weighs 400lbs and also has a director chute to direct the chips. This unit gobbles up everything up to the 4" pieces without hesitation, and didn't cost a lot more than the DR unit, and travels nicely in the woods on the 3pt.