Does anyone have a Woodmaxx WM-8H with 29 PTO HP?

[ngiovas]

I am planning to buy a PTO driven chipper for my Kubota 3560 tractor. I have been looking at both the Woodland Mills and the Woodmaxx. I have been leaning towards the WM-8H, but I am concerned about how well it will run with only 29 PTO HP. I don't plan to run larger pieces frequently, but how large of a piece will it realistically run? The listed HP range is pretty wide. I was also worried that since it is belt-driven, not as much of the direct torque will transfer to the chipper.

I spoke with Woodland Mills and they said the belt-driven machines will not do as well with less HP and I would be better off with a smaller machine that is direct drive. Just looking for opinions based on real-world experience.

Nick

 

[JJT]

I run my Woodmaxx WM-8M on a Kubota L3710, (30 pto hp), with no issues. The 8"x8" chipper throat will eat whatever I can feed it. I've tested it with a chunk of 4" hickory, at 8' the chipper did start to slow down. That was a one time test, normally anything over 3" gets cut into firewood.

 

[Stan B]

I'm running a WM-8H with 29.7 PTO HP (according to tractordata.com) and have no issues. The tractor RPMs audibly dropped when I fed it a 7" oak log at full feed speed, but it didn't stop it. That was mainly just a test to see what it would handle as there's no way I'd normally chip something that large. If I had to chip things that large on the regular, I might just stand along side the chipper and "shift" the feed between forward and neutral while monitoring the RPMs. Even huge commercial chippers do that, albeit automatically.

Regarding belt or direct drive, I prefer belt driven because they run the flywheel faster, which means it can be lighter but still store as much energy as a heavier weight flywheel running slower. Belts may also help absorb some chipping shock so as to not send that vibration back into the tractor.

 

[RalphVa]

I've a Woodland Mills WC46, a 4" chipper good for 15-30 hp. If you figure 15 hp to do 4 inch and hp going up by square root of diameter, then an 8 inch chipper would need 21 hp.

My 24.5 hp JD 2025R loafs at 2700 rpm (3000 is 540 speed on PTO) at up to 4 inch stuff in the WC46.

I highly recommend WM stuff. Great stuff. Great service. Delivery on Wed after ordering the previous Friday.

Made the metal reinforcement of the shipping box top into a table and am having casters welded onto the bottom part to use as a dolly in storage.

The WC46 is direct off the PTO but has a belt that drives the hydraulic feeder. It has 4 chipper blades. It was either the Woodmaxx or another one I looked at that only have 2 chipper blades but think they rotate them faster.

The WC46 has a shear bolt on the tractor side of the PTO. Came with 2 spare shear bolts.

Ralph

 

[rademamj1]

The WM-8H will be just fine at your tractor PTO rating.
Been using a WoodMax chipper 4 years (285 hrs) now and absolutely no issues. I have trimmed about a 1000 oak trees to head height on about 14 acres on my property, or thats about 20 tons of tree limbs we chipped. We also did much additional work for City Parks Authority on contract work. Already paid for the chipper based on the contract revenue. More importantly, a 30Hp tractor running a chipper, can definitely compete with the commercial towed Vermeer chippers out there.

 

[ericm979]

I've got a Woodmax 8H that I run on my Branson with 32 PTO HP. For larger diameter hardwood I have to slow the feed way down or stop and start the feed with the valve. When I'm chipping larger stuff I wish for more HP. But I don't do a lot of that, especially now that I have a decent wood stove and burn the larger stuff instead of chipping it.

Coast live oak is especially hard to chip- the wood is dense and it grows any way but straight, and the branches are grabby. Douglas fir is a dream to chip in comparison.

The belts never slip that I can detect, unlike my previous chipper. Not even at startup. V-belt drives do not lose much power- B series belts lose 3-4% at rated power.

I think the issue with the belt vs direct drive is that the belt drive on the 8H doubles the rotor speed, which doubles the inertia. And the rotor is already heavy. My Branson with a 2.1L engine has no problem getting the chipper turning at idle, and that's with an independent PTO that has a short clutch engagement period compared to doing it manually with a clutch. Your Kubota with a 1.8L engine might not have enough torque at idle, or enough flywheel, or faster engaging PTO clutch. It would probably handle it but I'd check with someone who has both a L3560 and a 8H.

On my 8H I was frustrated with the flow control valve that was either full on or a crawl but very difficult to get between the two. It was way too large for the chipper's hydraulic system. I replaced it with one that's apprpriately sized and it works much better. Not everyone notices this or is bothered by it.

 

[ngiovas]

Thanks for all of the responses. The Woodmaxx WM-8H is currently my first choice. It seems like the dual rollers will be better for grabbing wood, but I could be wrong. I also like the larger capacity, mostly so I can push through branches that may have some smaller limbs sticking out, but also because it may come in handy if I every upgrade my tractor (I currently have no plans to upgrade as my current tractor has been able to do everything I need it to do). So far I haven't found any info online about someone with this same chipper and a Kubota L3560, but I will keep looking.

On the flip side, I have also been looking at the Woodland Mills WC68. It has a smaller capacity (6") but is direct drive. Based on the reviews I have seen, it seems to work really well. I also like that the hopper folds up which would be nice for storage and for transporting it through the woods on the back of the tractor. Lastly, the cover is hinged giving you easy access to the knives for maintenance. The Woodmaxx appears to have a small access door which could be a pain if you drop a bolt while changing the knives.

Right now the Woodmaxx is hard to get (they are always out of stock). Hopefully, I am able to get one soon. I think for now, I will wait to see if I am able to get one in the coming weeks since I won't really be using it until the snow melts, but if it ends up being too difficult, the WC68 may be a good alternative. With my luck, they will both be out of stock by the time I make a decision .

 

[ericm979]

I dropped a knife bolt in my 8H but it was on the side of the rotor opposite the door. The clearance between the housing and rotor is too tight for it to pass. I got it with one of those remote grabbers with the little fingers on the end, taped to a bore scope and a coathanger to get it around the fan blades. The manual talks about getting stuff out: it says to not drop things in there in the first place. If you're careful and plan what you're doing it's not hard to change knives without dropping anything.... most of the time.

The dual rollers work well and the gap and spring pressure is adjustable. The video of the Woodland Mills 8" being operated made it look like getting the single large roller to grab material is often significantly harder than getting the 8H to do it, and it's what made me go with the 8H. But there's a lot of aspects of the Woodland Mills design that I like better.

 

[Stan B]

I also like the larger capacity, mostly so I can push through branches that may have some smaller limbs sticking out

The bigger the opening the better for best productivity. It is surprising how often a couple 1" branches in a bad config get stuck in the 8" opening. If it was an option, I'd get a 12"!

So far I haven't found any info online about someone with this same chipper and a Kubota L3560, but I will keep looking.

If you add your location to your profile, you might even find someone nearby that would let you try out an 8H on your machine. There are a lot of them out there. Just a thought.

I also like that the hopper folds up which would be nice for storage and for transporting it through the woods on the back of the tractor. Lastly, the cover is hinged giving you easy access to the knives for maintenance. The Woodmaxx appears to have a small access door which could be a pain if you drop a bolt while changing the knives.

The fold up infeed would be nice for storage, but the output chute catches more branches than the infeed it seems. The clearances are pretty tight on the blade access ports on the 8H. I'm not certain you could drop the bolts in there. As a preventative measure, stick a strong magnet right below the hole.

Right now the Woodmaxx is hard to get (they are always out of stock). Hopefully, I am able to get one soon. I think for now, I will wait to see if I am able to get one in the coming weeks since I won't really be using it until the snow melts, but if it ends up being too difficult, the WC68 may be a good alternative. With my luck, they will both be out of stock by the time I make a decision .

Call and get on their waiting list. They're made in batches in China and basically they call you when the container ship shows up! LOL Getting on the list doesn't require a deposit or anything.

 

[ngiovas]

The dual rollers work well and the gap and spring pressure is adjustable. The video of the Woodland Mills 8" being operated made it look like getting the single large roller to grab material is often significantly harder than getting the 8H to do it, and it's what made me go with the 8H. But there's a lot of aspects of the Woodland Mills design that I like better.

I saw a couple of videos where the reviewer commented on the single roller and that is what had me worried. Not that is a major issue, but they stated that sometimes it is difficult to get the single roller to grab some branches - especially softer or even rotten wood. They said the wheel tends to just grind at the wood rather than grabbing it. I don't think this would be happening all of the time, but it seems like the double wheels would make this less of an issue.