PTO chippers- self feed vs hydraulic feed?

[Huskerfan]

This topic has been beat to death on the forum. Get a hydraulic feed unit. Choice is yours but it is the difference between day and night.

Agreed. That is the bottom line

 

[Fiziksgeek]

This topic has been beat to death on the forum. Get a hydraulic feed unit. Choice is yours but it is the difference between day and night.

I disagree. For a guy like me, who uses his chipper a handful of times a year to maintain a suburban lot, the extra expense of a hydraulic feed unit doesn't make sense. I'd rather spend that extra money of another attachment or two!

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Has anyone mentioned the safety advantages of hydraulic feed for this size chipper?

 

[Captain Dirty]

I have no first-hand experience with with an hydraulically-fed chipper. I decided to to save the extra expense that I could not write off, to eliminate the risk of mechanical breakdown and cost of repairs to the feed mechanism, and rationalized that I was fit enough to feed the machine. So here are my experiences with the "self feed", "gravity feed", or "chuck and duck" chippers.

Weight and power matter, but knife sharpness is paramount. A sharp set of knives will "pull" a limb; dull knives require more feed pressure than gravity alone.

Knife spacing matters. A larger gap between knife and anvil will pull more readily than a small gap. However, a big gap requires more power/will bog down faster; it is chipping the log rather than shaving it. Also the chips are larger which may not be desirable for some uses, (but big chips will rot faster than slash).

Shape of the limb matters. Straight logs go right in (watch the promotional videos), limbs with branches may hang or wedge in the taper of the chute. Wallenstein's oversized rectangular openings handle crooks and forks that won't go into exactly-sized holes without further trimming.

Some other, more obscure factors from my experience:

Physical size. Of course you don't want to grossly mismatch the PTO HP to the chipper's requirement, but check the height of the PTO. I strapped 8 x 10s to the skids of a Wally BX42 for better PTO shaft angles. That meant each piece was lifted an additional 10" to the feed hopper.​

Design RPM The resilient, especially green, twigs (1/8" and smaller) get by the knives and are discharged as a "bird's nest". At 540 RPM I frequently had jams with the Wally that necessitated shutting down, opening the chamber, and clearing the jams. The friend from whom I had borrowed the machine claimed no problems, but he ran at 1000 RPM. The Salsco 627 I bought is a 540 design, and so far has far, far fewer jams feeding the same type of branches.​

Design details. The discharge chute of the Wally tapered from side to side becoming narrower at the top. This may have contributed to the jamming mentioned above. The sides of the Salsco discharge chute are parallel.
The Wally has a hinged in-feed chute that secures with a pin; the Salsco in-feed chute is bolted in place.
The Salsco has a "wrong-way" lap seam near the bottom of the in-feed chute that annoyingly catches many limbs.​

The short list above is by no means exhaustive. Any prospective buyer can beat himself to death googling "3 pt chipper" plus "Tractor by Net", "Arborsite" and many other forums not to mention the vendors' web sites. Generally it boils down to "you get what you pay for" and how much you can afford to pay. Buried in the marketing hype, reviews, and general comments on those many forums and web sites are a few pearls that may apply to your situation.

 

[rd_macgregor]

My self-feeding BX62 sometimes feeds larger branches too fast and will stall the machine (or shear a pin). A hydraulic feed would give me better control over the feed rate...holding back the throughput of these larger pieces and reversing jams, but my annual use is too low to justify the considerable extra expense.

 

[wawajake]

I have a BX 42 Wallenstein, use maybe a dozen times a year (each time a pickup truck load of chips is result) and the chipper draws in 90% of the wood I put in it , I walk away and get next piece while it is going.....and like others stated only small stuff needs help and you do that by following small stuff with big stuff and it all gets pulled thru. Save your money unless you have tons of chipping you expect to do.

 

[s219]

My self-feeding BX62 sometimes feeds larger branches too fast and will stall the machine (or shear a pin).

That suggests you need to adjust clearance between the rotor blades and anvil blade to be smaller. If the clearance is too large it will feed too fast and cause those symptoms.

 

[Code54]

Has anyone mentioned the safety advantages of hydraulic feed for this size chipper?

That is a VERY good point. it is nice to control the intake and if something happens you can stop the feed instantly.

I went from a BX42 which was a good chipper to a Woodmaxx Hydro-feed unit. The hydro is a LOT nicer for big wood, long wood and twisted wood. If you are throwing basically straight couple inch thick stuff in the chipper then hydro is no really needed and maybe worth the saved money. When you get into the Woodmaxx units the Hydro feed is not crazy expensive and makes it a lot easier to justify.

 

[vsteel]

I disagree. For a guy like me, who uses his chipper a handful of times a year to maintain a suburban lot, the extra expense of a hydraulic feed unit doesn't make sense. I'd rather spend that extra money of another attachment or two!

But the people on here who are talking self feed vs hydraulic price often reference the Wallenstein 42 which has a price of ~$3250USD and a lot with a hydraulic feed reference the Woodmaxx WM-8H which has a price of ~$2800USD

I have also noticed that in general the people who love the self feed have more HP. Throw 70HP on that self feeder and you don't worry about anything, have 20hp then there are some issues.

To me hydraulic is 1000 times better than self feed (even if I had 70hp I would still go with hydraulic). If you want really cheap get a hatchet and chip it by hand, price isn't everything.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

But the people on here who are talking self feed vs hydraulic price often reference the Wallenstein 42 which has a price of ~$3250USD and a lot with a hydraulic feed reference the Woodmaxx WM-8H which has a price of ~$2800USD

I have also noticed that in general the people who love the self feed have more HP. Throw 70HP on that self feeder and you don't worry about anything, have 20hp then there are some issues.

To me hydraulic is 1000 times better than self feed (even if I had 70hp I would still go with hydraulic). If you want really cheap get a hatchet and chip it by hand, price isn't everything.

Well sure, everyone has to decide what brand/features they prefer and what price they are willing to pay. I was willing to spend more money on a chipper without hydraulic feed to get the brand I was happy with, there are others I strongly considered. I have just over 19hp at the PTO on my Massey Ferguson GC1720, and have no problems with the materials I feed through my Wallenstein. I have a nice mix of New England hardwoods, Maple, Ash, white Oak, etc. You're mileage may vary.

If you are happy with WoodMaxx, by all means, get Woodmax and get the extra features!