Buying Advice PTO chippers

[rlfoisy]

I have a 50 tree orchard that I prune once a year. It takes me two weeks to prune and chip all of the branches. My small Bear Cat chipper died, and so I am faced with the decision of what to replace it with a new chipper. The people at Wallenstein tell me that my Kubota L 3010 does not have enough horsepower to run their PTO driven hydraulic feed units. Woodmaxx tells me that my tractor would be fine to run their hydraulic feed models. I see a huge difference in models made either completely or partially in China and the ones made totally in the USA. The Woodmaxx MX 9900 is made completely in the USA, but is twice the money. I have no idea if it is worth the extra money, and there are no on-line reviews for the MX9900. Perhaps for only using a chipper two weeks out of the year, I would be better off renting a bigger chipper for a few days than buying one. Or perhaps, since I only use it once a year, perhaps the Chinese made units would last me. I don't even know how long these units last. The one I just wore out seemed to be sort of self destructive.
I would really appreciate some advice from someone in a similar situation.

 

[davesl708]

Here we clear brush and dead trees twice a year. We rent a 9" chipper. Only a few hundred and get the wood ready before getting the chipper. Then there is no storage or maintenance.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A thousand acres of orchard tree's start half mile east of me, NO ONE here chips the limbs off their tree's...

ALL of them (including me) moves the trimmings to the middle of the rows and runs them over with their tractor/rotary cutter...

It's MUCH faster, much less labor and works just fine!

SR

 

[jeff9366]

I used a Wallenstein manual feed BX42s behind my Kubota for three years.

It never failed to feed pruned branches perfectly so long as the chipping blades (4) were reasonably sharp.

I chipped pruned Oak branches and grape vines, mostly.

Wallensteins are made in Canada.

 

[tractorslinger]

We are a full line Wallenstein dealer.



Parts - Sales - Service | Mutton Power Equipment - Fort Wayne Indiana

 

[Fiziksgeek]

If your only use is one time a year, renting sounds like the better option to me.

 

[tman1020]

I have a Chinese made six-inch PTO chipper. It is a chipping son of a gun when it's working. But it has been problematic I have had to upgrade the driveshaft that powers the feed wheel and have had to change some bearings and belts and I don't have a ton of hours on it. It is handy to have around for the price I paid for it. One thing I wanted to mention the last time I trimmed up apple trees I saved all the chippings they make fantastic smoker chips. Bag up a bunch of them after they've dried up reasonably and throw A handful of them in one of those little smoker boxes for barbecue grills. Could possibly even sell them.

 

[jloven]

I have owned a woodmaxx chipper for over two years and it has been great! I did a ton of research before I purchased and really liked the features as well as the price compared to others. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the hydraulic feed wood maxx line of chippers.

 

[oosik]

I used a Wallenstien BX42 for years with no problems. When I purchased my new Kubota I also upgraded to a Wallenstein BX62. I thin stands of Ponderosa pines and chip them whole. In a normal year I will thin and chip 750-900 small pines. I've never found a need for a hydraulic in-feed system.

 

[rlfoisy]

I think you are probably all right. I probably should not buy a chipper. I like the idea of running a bushhog over the trimmings. Some of the trees I prune grow up to two inch branches each year. Do you suppose I would be able to chop up those branches with the bushhog?