Running My Manual Feed BearCat 554 Chipper

[Gordon Gould]

I've seen some recent advise that a chipper w/o hydraulic feed is not desirable. My BearCat is manual feed and honestly feel hydraulic is not necessary on it. I have never run other brands so I don't know about them. I put a video at the end so you could see how mine works.


The top of a backyard pine blew out in last weeks big storm. It broke where it got weevilled many years ago and 3 leader came together.

Stuff that comes down in the woods I am happy to let sit and rot but stuff around the door yard I usually chip all the branches and burn the rest in the fire pit. I dragged the top to where I could blow the chips into the woods.

I bought my Carry-BearCat 554*** used about 15 years ago and have always kept it in the garage so it is like new. Have done nothing but sharpen the knives. If the knives are sharp it pulls stuff right in. It will take 5-1/2" wood but to me 4" is fire wood. I am running it on a M5640 tractor and made a short video of starting to chip up that top. The bigger branches are 3-1/2" in diameter.

gg

 

[bigtiller]

I had 2 of them there chipper/shredders, I kept each one for about 8 years before selling them. They sure are LOUD!

Now I have a hydraulic fed one and it's nice and quite. I can even hear the tractor running.

 

[oldballs]

Enjoyed your video Gordon.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Gordon Gould]

I had 2 of them there chipper/shredders, I kept each one for about 8 years before selling them. They sure are LOUD!

Now I have a hydraulic fed one and it's nice and quite. I can even hear the tractor running.

Thanks oddballs


They are indeed loud. I think the reason is that the fly wheel is spinning so fast. The direct drive pto chippers (most) spin at 540 RPM. The BearCat has an internal belt drive which increases the speed and inertia of the fly wheel by quite a bit. Never measured the pulley diameters but the increase is significant. Another advantage of the belt is that it acts like a slip clutch and protects the pto.

gg

 

[TmbrWlkr]

I've seen some recent advise that a chipper w/o hydraulic feed is not desirable. My BearCat is manual feed and honestly feel hydraulic is not necessary on it. I have never run other brands so I don't know about them. I put a video at the end so you could see how mine works.


The top of a backyard pine blew out in last weeks big storm. It broke where it got weevilled many years ago and 3 leader came together.

View attachment 704436

Stuff that comes down in the woods I am happy to let sit and rot but stuff around the door yard I usually chip all the branches and burn the rest in the fire pit. I dragged the top to where I could blow the chips into the woods.

View attachment 704437

I bought my Carry-BearCat 554*** used about 15 years ago and have always kept it in the garage so it is like new. Have done nothing but sharpen the knives. If the knives are sharp it pulls stuff right in. It will take 5-1/2" wood but to me 4" is fire wood. I am running it on a M5640 tractor and made a short video of starting to chip up that top. The bigger branches are 3-1/2" in diameter.

gg

That 50 hp PTO on your M5640 sure doesn’t hurt the situation either! I am using a l3400 (29 PTO hp) to power a Woodmax, and I find that the reversing hydraulic feed feature very helpful when chipping gnarly hardwood limbs.

 

[Gordon Gould]

That 50 hp PTO on your M5640 sure doesn’t hurt the situation either! I am using a l3400 (29 PTO hp) to power a Woodmax, and I find that the reversing hydraulic feed feature very helpful when chipping gnarly hardwood limbs.

You are absolutely right. But actually that was the first time I ran it on the M5640 which is fairly new to me. Before yesterday I have always run it on a 27 pto hp L3010 which admittedly was a little more work because I had to hold back some on bigger pieces that wanted to self feed to fast. I recognize how your reversing hydraulic feed helps with that. Most complaints that I have heard are that w/o hydraulic feed you have to continuously push the stuff in manually. A lot of work. I was just trying to show how the BearCat unit self feeds.

I am not saying that hydraulic feed is not a good thing. I just feel for my 554 and the stuff I chip it would not be a big benefit. Hydraulics rob some of your chipping power too.

Here is the L3010 at work

gg

 

[TmbrWlkr]

You are absolutely right. But actually that was the first time I ran it on the M5640 which is fairly new to me. Before yesterday I have always run it on a 27 pto hp L3010 which admittedly was a little more work because I had to hold back some on bigger pieces that wanted to self feed to fast. I recognize how your reversing hydraulic feed helps with that. Most complaints that I have heard are that w/o hydraulic feed you have to continuously push the stuff in manually. A lot of work. I was just trying to show how the BearCat unit self feeds.

I am not saying that hydraulic feed is not a good thing. I just feel for my 554 and the stuff I chip it would not be a big benefit.

Here is the L3010 at work

View attachment 704492


View attachment 704493


gg

Are you Totally loving the increased loader capacity on the M5460 - do you run a grapple? Increased loader capacity is the main reason I am upgrading to a Kioti dk4510 - I run it in the woods a lot an load logs on my sawmill etc.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Are you Totally loving the increased loader capacity on the M5460

That might be an understatement

Used to have to do it this way

Then back under and push it up

Good thing my time isn't worth much -

Good luck with the Kioti DK45. Nice tractors with great hydraulics.

EDIT:
So I don't mislead you - I don't cut stuff that big very often.

gg

 

[ericm979]

Pine or fir is the easiest tree to chip. The wood is soft and the branches are at an acute angle so they fold up as they go into the chipper. The hardwoods we have are more difficult with live oak being the worst. The branches go all different angles, the wood is hard and the branches stiff. And instead of smooth needles that slide right in, everything on the live oak is prickly and grabby. The power feed helps a lot more for that than for fir.

I've got manual feed and power feed chippers and the power feed works better in every respect. Since I got the 8H I only use the manual feed chipper to run its hammer mill on leaves in the fall.

The Woodmaxx 8H power feed is 3 gpm with a 1500 psi relief, which equates to a max of 2.6hp. Since it never trips the relief, it's not even using that. It's worth the power to not have to push stuff in or trim it as much.

 

[bigtiller]

Thanks oddballs


They are indeed loud. I think the reason is that the fly wheel is spinning so fast. The direct drive pto chippers (most) spin at 540 RPM. The BearCat has an internal belt drive which increases the speed and inertia of the fly wheel by quite a bit. Never measured the pulley diameters but the increase is significant. Another advantage of the belt is that it acts like a slip clutch and protects the pto.

gg

Yep, that and the 72 shredder blades flailing around a 16" disk.