Hi Todd:
I have a Jinma 6" woodchipper and couldn't be happier, I have over 800 LARGE pine trees and for the past couple years have been trimming the lower 8 feet of limbs from them The chipper eats those limbs like they wern't even there and up to 6" diameter. I have the top 8-15 feet of some of my pines brake off in the winter and I manage to push the whole thing into the chipper at once..It just eats it up.I've had no problems with it at all that wasn't of my own doing.It don't like stringy vines.they wrap around the shaft but not hard to remove.I drop it on a cart when not needed and push it into the corner. Chip Chip /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Something like a 4" Patu manual feed chipper will be priced at the high end of the range you mentioned. I had a Patu for a number of years and it was quite good. It would self-feed very well as long as I kept the blades sharp. Not like a power feed, but good for the price. The Patu is a direct drive unit, but in all the years I used it it NEVER plugged up, so don't let anyone tell you that direct drive units will plug up. I can't speak for others, but the Patu won't.
A couple of years ago I traded up to a Salsco 824 with hydraulic feeder. The power feeded is great and signifcantly increases productivity. But, ironically, the Salsco plugs up pretty easily, and it has a belt/pully system to speed up the flywheel. I've learned to go slow with leafy material to avoid backups, but it's not a good in this respect to the Patu. The power feed also makes the unit significantly more expensive ($5000+).
Valby has a good reputation, but I haven't used one personally.
The Jinma Chipper is a good chipper as long as it gets a good service prior to use......All bolts and adjustment do need to be inspected and or adjusted..... Either by the dealer or owner. All belts can be converted to U.S. belts etc.....
A good service perform to a new Jinma tractor is what makes it a good tractor for the buck.
Good luck on your search...there are many to choose from.
I'm now into my third season on my Chipper. It gets 15 hours of run time every spring and fall, and the occasional afternoon when the wind takes a tree down.
Other than basic maintenance it has been a workhorse. If it broke beyond repair today, I'd buy a new one tommorrow.
I just bought a Mighty Mac for my 4010 3 ph and have put 6 or so hours on it. It does up to 3 1/2" limbs. Wrote a review of it on this forum further down.
I have yet to have to shut it down to clear out from behind the screen. Used to have to do this 2 or 3 times almost every time that I used my Troy Bilt Tomahawk (8 hp, Briggs engine). Had to shut it down once because a big limb get a little twisted and was almost chewed up. Had to shut it down as I had to get my fingers down underneath it to jiggle it to get it back out.
Got mine for $1600 from my JD dealer. He gave me $100 off because they'd used it as a demo for some of the sales people to show how it worked.
The machine is very similar to the Troy Bilt. It requires similar mechanical work in removing and sharpening the chipper blade and removing and turning or replacing the hammers (hammers have 4 sides; generally only one side gets worn; you can turn them 3 times before replacing). The hammer replacement appears to be a tad easier on the Mac because the rods are held in place with cotter pin vs. roll pins that are a pain to remove and to take out on the Troy Bilt.
I've been looking to get a chipper for several months and have looked at many and read all these posts. I really wanted to spend my money at home, but had a budget to keep so decided not to be in a hurry. The other day I called the local JD dealer (Barnett Equipment in MT. Vernon, WA) just on the chance that they might have something used but good quality. They had a Goossen pto chipper shredder that had been used at a camp site, and sat outside for a few years. The paint was oxidized and it had some surface rust, but the chipper knives and flail knives were sharp and didn't look abused. Took it home, spent an hour cleaning it up and tightening fasteners, and hooked it up to the little Yanmar 155D. Don't know how fast that heavy flywheel spins, but it took the Yammy several seconds to get it spooled up. It was getting dark, so I didn't get to really wring it out, but it seems to work great. It appears to be built well-the screen is really herky. I paid $650 for it and the dealer said if I wasn't happy with it, to bring it back for a full refund. He said new ones were selling for $2900. Can't wait til tomorrow.
I bought my Mac from the local JD dealer, too. The Macs are JD green, too.
Went down and started my old Troy Bilt yesterday, as I thought a guy was coming to look at it. Put the battery on and gave it a squirt of starting fluid. Started immediately. It's about 15 years old and probably has another 15 years in it, if the person who buys it will maintain the hammers and chipper blade.
Was using my 35 year old Stihl chain saw yesterday. It started pretty quick, too. Would you believe they still sell the same 009L model, and for a tad LESS money than what I paid for mine?
