Dr wood chipper PTO driven

[Ezlivn]

I have an opportunity to buy a used one of these for $1,000. It sells for $2,700 new. This one also has the extended chute. Has anyone had any experiences with this make? DR seems to be a reputable name. Thanks for your help.

This would go on my JD 790

DR Power Equipment - PTO / 3 Point Hitch Wood Chipper Models & pricing - manual and elec start chippers

 

[RalphVa]

I believe the DR chippers are made by MacKissic. I have the TPH-122 smaller one. It is an excellent machine. It's SO much easier to maintain the chipper blade and hammers than a Troy Bilt is. Don't know whether the bigger machines have the same configuration of chipper blade and hammers, but it's likely done well.

I just bought a DR oil extractor that, in my searches, seems to be made by Pela. I also owned a couple of other DR pieces: battery powered lawn mower and the wheeler weed eater.

Ralph

 

[bobsphotos]

I have a DR 3 pt chipper for my 3320 and love it. It seems that it gets bashed some on the forums but I would buy it over again in an instant. $1000 is a steal as long as it is decent shape. I find that the blade needs to be changed after about 10-15 hours of chipping for best performance and spares can be bought for aboutt $50. I have 2 spares on hand.

 

[Deadman]

I like my DR 3 point chipper too. Its been dependable, but you gotta red- loc-tite the set screws into the keyed shafts and stuff, because it wants to vibrate that stuff loose over time.

Sharp blade is Key. Dull blade makes it work like crap.
Its not the easiest machine to "Feed", but its just fine for my needs. I'd buy it again if I needed to.

 

[bobsphotos]

I like my DR 3 point chipper too. Its been dependable, but you gotta red- loc-tite the set screws into the keyed shafts and stuff, because it wants to vibrate that stuff loose over time.

Sharp blade is Key. Dull blade makes it work like crap.
Its not the easiest machine to "Feed", but its just fine for my needs. I'd buy it again if I needed to.

Have to agree on that point. I had to do the same thing. I think chipping with a dull blade or chipping dry trees leads to a lot of vibration.

 

[Patches]

I too have an older DR PTO chipper. I bought the less expensive model with the bottom discharge. If I had to do it over, I'd opt for the chute model, as that eliminates having to constantly remove chip debris. Another aspect of maintainence is make sure you maintain the knife/guide clearance at the minimum 1/8th inch. This will make feeding much easier

 

[Ezlivn]

Thanks guys....I'm waiting on a response from that guy selling the DR. I hate when people don't put their contact info along with the ad on Craigslist.

Bob there is also a Woods 5000 chipper for sale in your area down in Palermo. Decisions decions. lolol My office is in Augusta so I may have to check that one out on my next sales meeting day.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[Ezlivn]

Bob I just checked out all your photos! OMG!!! lol Nice tractor and I can only wish to have as many attachments as you do.
And the KIDS....wow...I love em. I have the odd couple.....a Golden and a Pug!!

Great pictures!!! Thanks!

 

[RoyJackson]

...there is also a Woods 5000 chipper for sale in your area down in Palermo. Decisions decions. lolol My office is in Augusta so I may have to check that one out on my next sales meeting day.

Thanks for all the help guys.

I can't help you out with the DR unit (although when I looked at them a few years back...can't say I was impressed).

I can attest to that Woods 5000 though, since I bought a low hours machine last year. I paid a grand. Well built and robust. The downside is the Woods drops the chips directly below the machine (DR has a blower/chute). The Woods chipper was bought when I still had my 790. It was a good match.

Used PTO chippers aren't on the market too long unless they're unreasonably priced or a real POS...

 

[Ezlivn]

Thanks Roy......the Woods is $200 more than the DR but i think it may be worth it. Not sure on the condition of it as the guy has no pics of it. I'm not willing to commit to it without seeing it or at least some good pictures of it.
Woods 5000 for $1,200 and has no chute
DR for $1,000 with chute
Hmmmm

 

[NWL]

I don't have the DR chipper (I bought a Bear Cat), but I do own a DR Field and Brush Mower (bought new about 7 years ago) and I am very unhappy with the quality of construction of the machine. Springs break, shifting gears is clunky, can't take the mower deck off because the plastic bolt was stripped when I received the machine, etc. With all the hassles I've had, I hesitate to buy any other DR product.

I hope your chipper is built better than my field and brush mower.

 

[BATTY54]

I just picked up a Wallenstein BX42 off Craig's list. There are no belts to change, sucks the brush in like a power feed, unless it is really small stuff like pencil size.

I was really impressed with the company, I called them to see if the unit I was interested was still under warranty. The person answering (no buttons to push a real live person)the phone was able to tell me the date unit was built and a quick description of the model all in a few minutes.

The 4 blades make the unit run smooth on my 850JD I did run it down once when I ran a 16' dry cherry branch 4" through it, but it stopped feeding as the RPM's dropped and allowed the engine to get back up to speed to finish.


There was one in VT not that far from you for 1800 last week.

 

[ChuckinNH]

The Woods chipper you are looking at was made by Bearcat if that helps at all. My BX42 Wallenstein has a chute for discharge, and I really like that.

 

[RoyJackson]

The Woods chipper you are looking at was made by Bearcat if that helps at all.

Yep, and for some odd reason, Bearcat rates it for a higher PTO HP (Woods limits it to 30 PTO HP max, Bearcat rates it to 35 or 40 PTO HP).

From experience, as long as you have 20 or more HP at the PTO, these chippers will really hog down 5" branches and smaller trees.

 

[RalphVa]

I use the blue loctite on the MacKissic chipper blade. Think the red would be a bit extreme.

Have rotated the hammers once. A piece of cake compared to the hammering and swearing required to get the shafts out, etc. on a TroyBilt. The spacers always needed replacement on the TroyBilt, too. They're what locked up the shafts in trying to get them out. On the Mac, one just hammers the keeper pins out from the end of the shaft and more or less just push the shaft out.

 

[Deadman]

My DR CHipper HAS shook some of the Red Lock Tited parts off and lost them in the woods.
I think I found out WHY tho! When I bought my chipper, I bought 2 extra blades, so i can always have a spare on sharp. Well, they sold me the wrong length blades for it, and I was rotating in shorter blades and the blades were allowing small branches to go around the ends and actually go right thru the chipper without even being chipped up. :confused2:

 

[acs55812]

I had a similar unit and ended up selling it---as did the former owner,,,,,,,,here is what was disappointing, if you have a tree with a 3 inch trunk, you must trim all branches shorter than an inch to make the 4.5 inch requirement.

It was a major PIA to meet that requirement---think about it, your cutting/trimming and absolutely nothing larger than 4.5 total width can go in there----that's not really alot of material.

 

[jenkinsph]

I had a similar unit and ended up selling it---as did the former owner,,,,,,,,here is what was disappointing, if you have a tree with a 3 inch trunk, you must trim all branches shorter than an inch to make the 4.5 inch requirement.

It was a major PIA to meet that requirement---think about it, your cutting/trimming and absolutely nothing larger than 4.5 total width can go in there----that's not really alot of material.

I would have to agree with the above.
Sure, you can push fold and bend to a degree but a larger throat would be much easier to use. I am not trying to chip firewood sized stuff, I use it for cleaning up branches and the small throat makes it hard to use.

 

[Deadman]

^^^^^
That makes me mad everytime I use mine too.
I only run green stuff thru it, because I can bend the smaller branches over and jam them down in there, but it can be a pain on real branchy stuff.
I usually just grind up the easy stuff, and throw the odd stuff in the woods, which is kinda defeating the purpose of a chipper. :confused2:

 

[rbcsaver]

I have a DR 3 pt chipper for my 3320 and love it. It seems that it gets bashed some on the forums but I would buy it over again in an instant. $1000 is a steal as long as it is decent shape. I find that the blade needs to be changed after about 10-15 hours of chipping for best performance and spares can be bought for aboutt $50. I have 2 spares on hand.

Not to nitpick Bob, but what is with the exposed PTO shaft? Seems dangerous, unless I'm missing something.
regards,
Steve