Chipper I just scored a Goossen Chipper...

[Scott in IN]

I just picked up a Goossen Chipper and Blower (after a friend noticed it along the side of the road with a "For Sale" sign) for $500. Once it was home I lubed up the bearings, reattached one of the plastic curtains and fired it up.

It shredded OK but the chipping wasn't so good. I checked out the manual and found that I probably had some dull knives. So I took the whole thing apart (which was necessary due to the blower) and found that one knife was broke in half and another was gouged pretty good.

Great... A new set of knives is around $127 so I asked my neighbor guy (who is a tool and die maker) if he could make me a knife. He said that he could (for free as I plow him out in the winter) but he'd have to use an oil hardening steel and it looked the original knives were made with high speed air hardening steel (A1 I think he said). Anyone see a problem with this and/or know where to get a cheaper set?

Lastly I'm missing two guards, part numbers:
#9 "Belt shield back"
#17 "PTO front belt shield"
As I want to get these replaced before I rip off an arm or something, can anyone measure theirs and post a picture of them so I can get the local sheet metal shop to make me up a set?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[weldingisfun]

I'll bet you can contact them and they can help you with the parts. Chipper Shredder By the way, this chipper is recommended for use with 18 to 25 HP max output. You didn't mention what you are using to power it up.

 

[Bedlam]

Personally, if you got that for that price and it runs mine, I think I could live with the 127 dollars more to make it top notch.
Can the knives be sharpened at all, for spares or use when you would chip or shred stuff that would be more abrasive?

 

[Scott in IN]

I've got a Kubota L3400, I just updated my signature.

As far as the knives yes they can be sharpened. I think I'm going to run it with the oil hardened knife made by the tool maker and see what happens. Worst case I'll order another set.

However, I still need pictures and dimensions of the guards...

 

[pennwalk]

You got a steal! I have always thought that the Goossen looks very similar to the Bearcat 554/70554 which is identical to the Woods 5000. Maybe the blades are the same. A funny thing that I have found is that the Woods parts are a little cheaper than the Bearcat. That may just be the different dealers. I would rather use the factory parts. I keep 2 sets so I always have a sharp set. My Bearcat 554 works best for the first hour of newly sharpened blades. I get maybe 10 hours. sometimes I can push it to 15. On my machine there are 4 blades. 2 inside and 2 outside and you can switch them to get a little more blade life. Mine are held in by grade 8 bolts which are secured with blue Locktite. The Bearcat site has pdf files of the manuals which include the parts diagrams. There have been a number of posts about this type of chipper/shreader here. It might be worth some time to go back and check them out.

Chris

 

[JRobyn]

Various places sell OEM and aftermarket blades - try Baileys - Chainsaws, Outdoor Power Equipment and Tree Care Supplies from Bailey's

- Jay

 

[Scott in IN]

Well, I finally got the new blade installed and the thing all put back together and all lubed up. I'm still working on the guard issue, which a friend is going to help me out with on the use of his brake.

Anyhow, I've noticed a number of "Tree of Heavens" around the place which are real bad news. Wanting to play with the chipper, I whacked the invading trees down with the chainsaw and then ground up anything under 2" in the chipper (over 2" goes in the wood stove, BTUs are BTUs). I then painted the stumps with "Supper Roundup" which kills the roots. The chipper ran great with the new blade, in fact I had to watch it or it would pull the wood in too fast causing the tractor to bog down. The shredder feature was great too as what I couldn't chip I just tossed in the top and it was soon reduced to chip/mulch.

It's some of the best money I've spent, if you are on the fence by all means get one. Chips are way nicer than big ol piles of ugly brush...

 

[BlacknTan]

Listen to your Tool & Die Maker friend! These guys are highly knowledgable.

The O1 Blade should hold up just fine.

 

[easygo]

Scott,

I have the same chipper minus the blower. If you still need some pix of the guards I can post some in a day or two. There are two or three pieces that cover the belt, pillow blocks and all. The company was bought by or merged with Harper Industries. If you do a search on Harper/Goossen they still make the exact same product and I'm sure the safety guards (and everything else) are available from them. Let me know and BE SAFE!!!! The guy I bought the chipper from "lost" 2.5 fingers in the machine!
My tractor is only 21hp an I thought it was due to the small engine size that it gets bogged down when I just drop a piece of wood in the hopper. The effort is not the feeding of the wood but having to hold back the larger pieces.

 

[Gittyup]

I also have this chipper in the bushhog brand variety. No blower on mine. You got a great deal on that. A new blower alone is like $1300. I bought a second set of blades for mine. Price was painful. I love the shredder. Eats up anything up to about 1". My 25 hp Kioti only bogs down on big 5" branches in the chipper.

The manual can be downloaded from the harper/goossen website. I think there are diagrams of the sheet metal in the manual too. I will also try to get some dimensions for you. But, it seems to me that there is a great deal of lead-way in the fit of these parts. Should be just as easy to take a few measurements from off the machine for fit and clearance. Make sure you cut some holes to access the grease fittings. The original covers aren't so good with that.

Like easygo says, be careful with it. Don't over load it. Always use a tool to clear and wear glasses and hearing protection at all times.

 

[teg]

I too, have the bushhog brand variety but no blower. Got mine used for $1200 - and the guy still had all 10 fingers when he sold it .

"..."Tree of Heavens" around the place which are real bad news..."

Scott in IN, Let us know how that Roundup worked with the stumps. Around here, it's better to try and kill the standing tree with Garlon 4... Cutting it down just gets the tree mad and will sprout everywhere. I've hit the sprouts and they are dead... I'm just waiting on the next round with the "Tree of Heaven" ...from h e l l.

 

[jinman]

Here is what the guard looks like on a Bush Hog. It's just a simple box. I'll try to measure it later today and post dimensions. Your Goossen is identical.

 

[Scott in IN]

Thanks guys but I think I've got the guard issue taken care of. The guards were like $120 from the manufacture and the local sheet metal shop wanted $150. One of my buddies has a brake and said he'd help me bend up a guard. I hope to get it done in the next week or so, I'll post some picts.

 

[easygo]

You will get the best deal that way. Just FYI the covers are made of 1/16 or 3/32" sheet metal. It will cost you about 1/4 of the quoted prices plus your and your buddy's time.

 

[Scott in IN]

Thanks to my buddies sheet metal handiwork and some fitting on my part, I got the belt guard on the chipper. As you can see, I didn't attach the front 3 sided PTO shield as I still need to take it back apart and tighten up the belt a bit. Once the belt is tightened, I'll stick the shield on and then reattach the PTO shaft and I'll be good to go.

I also included a pict to show what the chips look like and the dollie I bought a Harbor Freight for $15.

All in all I'm VERY happy with it..

 

[Scott in IN]

As far as the Tree Of Heaven (****), the Super Roundup I painted on the stumps within a couple of minutes of whacking the tree down seemed to work. No sprouts from the stumps and no sprouts anywhere around the stumps (it's supposed to get sucked down into the roots which kills the whole tree).

 

[teg]

Thanks, Scott... I'll try that next time. I'm on the third round of killing what's popped up. Not too much work but I would rather be doing other things . Been using a 6% solution of Roundup to kill the saplings.

 

[Scott in IN]

The Super Roundup is 50% and I use it full strength right out of the container. I'd say that your percentage is too low to be effective on stumps, on sprouts I'd think you could dilute it and be OK.

http://www.naturalresources.umd.edu/Pages/Tree_of_heaven.htm

 

[teg]

The saplings that pop up from the root system gets sprayed with 6% solution and it does the trick... they are toasted. I do have Roundup PowerMax which is also 50% active ingredient, and *IF* I end up cutting the tree down, I'll brush it on straight... right now I'm just using Garlon 4 on the base of the tree (about 14" in diameter) made a few cuts in the bark and brushed on a mixture (50/50 with diesel.) I'll see what it looks like next week.

 

[Scott in IN]

Thats way bigger than mine, sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck.....