Vermeer 906 PTO chipper

[pclausen]

After seeing Piston's thread about the 606 Vermeer PTO chipper and the pictures of it and the feedback from his dad on how well it functions. I took a look at cl and low and behold, there was a hardly used 906 model available for sale 350 miles away in NC. I was going to take just my truck down to pick it up, but the seller called me last night and said that I better bring the trailer, because farmer next door's tractor would not lift it high enough with his FEL, and he didn't think the fork lift would be able to sit it in far enough in my truck bed. So rather than drive 350 miles and not be able to load it up, I made the trick with my trailer. Left at 3:30am this morning, and arrived around 9:30am. It took us about 1 hour to get his tractor backed up onto my trailer to sit that sucker down. Had to find a bank that was just right to where the chipper would not get hung on my dovetail.

Made the trek back and was able to snap a few pictures. I'll unload it in the morning the go over it carefully before putting it to work.

The paint has hardly been worn off in the chute area!

I wonder if tsc has "Vermeer yellow" paint to touch up a few rust spots?

 

[catdozer]

Very Nice! Congrats!!! Looks like it has been very well built

 

[pclausen]

Thank! Yes, it is very well built. I'll post some details pics tomorrow when I service it. For one, there are no belts. It has a real gear box between the PTO and cutting wheel/hydraulic pump, oh and it weights 2200lbs!!!

Piston, I wasn't sure if you got the manual with yours, but here are the recommended oils/lubes:

Hydraulic Fluid -- Vermeer VMF, Phillips Type HG or equivalent
Hydraulic Fluid filter -- 2683-001
Gearbox -- SAE 90 all purpose gear lube
Jack -- SAE 30 engine oil
Grease -- EP grease such as Vermeer LF Ultra or Shell Alvania

 

[pclausen]

I got the chipper unloaded this morning.

It was too tall to take into the shop suspended from the pallet forks, so I temporarily mounted it on the tractor so that I could back it into the shop. My tractor looks to be just about the right size to handle this chipper.

Once I got it in the shop, I popped the cover which exposes the cutting wheel. Also note the jack that comes with it. More on that later.

One of the knives was cracked.

Closeup once removed.

Fortunately the seller included a new set of knives.

The cutting wheel is 1.5" thick with a diameter of 30". The housing is made out of 1/2" thick steel.

There's a neat pin used to lock the wheel in place when working on the bolts holding the knives in place.

The assembly that holds the hydraulic roller is made out of 1" thick material!

The jack I mentioned earlier is used to raise the roller assembly to clear out a jam that cannot otherwise be cleared by just reversing the roller. It mounts on the side of the chute when not in use.

The hydraulic motor is made I Ross I think?

The gearbox is made by Hub City? and the hydraulic pump is a Prince. I really like that there are no belts to deal with!

I greased all the fittings and am in the process of draining the gear oil (which was very clean). The hydraulic fluid is very clean also, so I think I'll just replace the hydraulic filter for now and then put this thing to work. Everything about is just super heavy duty looking. I don't think I could wear it out in my lifetime even if I tried.

Even though this chipper has been used very little, it has unfortunately been stored outside its entire life from what I can tell. I'm wondering if I should go to the trouble to getting rid of all the surface rust on the cutting wheel and maybe brush it with PAR15 or something like that? As far as the surface rust on everything else, I'm still trying to figure out where to get the "Vermeer Yellow" paint. Any ideas?

 

[pclausen]

Cleared out some small stuff that was laying around the entrance to the new lot. It only bogged down a little on a couple of 7-8" logs but quickly recovered. Running 540E PTO. I'm sure that at full engine speed, it would not bog down at all.

It would probably take 3 or 4 people to keep this thing feed. Didn't have a single jam.

 

[Zebrafive]

That is a LOT of chipper. Makes my Wallenstein look like a toy.

 

[pclausen]

It is a lot of chipper for sure! I'm trying to figure out how best to catch the chips. I have a little dump cart that I pull with my lawn tractor. I tried catch the chips in that, but it was a big fail. While some chips did land in the cart, the tractor and the ground behind the cart caught most of them.

I'm browsing the local Craigslist to see what I can come up with...

 

[pclausen]

I found a 1970 GMC 1 ton dump truck. Guy was asking $1600, but got him down to $1200. Everything works, but it needs a little electrical work as the headlights come on as soon as you connect the battery. It also runs a little rough. But other than those minor issues, I think it was a good deal. There some rust holes in the dump bed here and there, but nothing that would compromise the integrity.

At some point in the past, someone cut out the high sides on the dump bed. I figured I'll add some pressure treated 2x6 wood panels to bring the sides back up again and then this should make for a great wood chip catcher. Heck, I can also see using it to haul dirt around with instead of doing it one bucket at a time. This was much cheaper than any used dump trailer I saw and none of those have the high sides needed to catching what a chipper spews out. Besides, I don't really want to mess with trying to back up my long bed crew cab truck in and out of the woods with a dump trailer attached. Hopefully after a tune up this weekend, it will purr like a kitten. Seller told me it had a 350 in it, but after checking the casting number, it is actually a 305. Not a big deal for what I'll be using it for.

Offloaded from the trailer.

 

[Kyle241]

Now that's a chipper!!! What a beast, congrats on a great find.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Congratulations on the chipper and truck! :thumbsup: