Chipper Which woodchipper would you buy if you had +/- $2,500 to spend?

[clarksvilleal]

One thing Mr. Hunky will have to watch (assuming he still frequents TBN) is the maximum PTO rating on a $2500 chipper. His Massey is (per his post) 48 HP. Assuming that's engine HP, he's probably got 40-44 PTO HP.
That is probably more PTO HP then most of the chippers described here can handle (except for Dead Horse's Valby).

My Woods 5000 was about $2500 new and is rated at 30 PTO HP maximum. Bearcat makes this this chipper/shredder for Woods and I believe they rate it a bit higher. BTW, I bought this chipper/shredder used for $1000. Dead Horse is right...there are some great deals on used chippers, but they are few and far between for PTO driven units.

Why would more PTO HP be a problem? As long as you have a shear pin on the machine or a slip clutch on the PTO to protect the BX42 just in case the machine gets jammed or overloaded, I don't see how more HP can be bad. Maybe there's something I don't know, though; I'm certainly not an expert in this area.

The BXM32 came with a shear pin on the PTO shaft where it attaches to the BXM32 to protect the machine, and they pack a few extras with it as well. I would bet the BX42 uses a shear pin, too. I haven't had one break yet, but I'm thinking about getting a slip clutch at TSC so I won't have to worry about it.

 

[Mr Super Hunky]

Okay, major change in direction here. Let me explain:

I "borrowed" my neighbors pto wood chipper to give one a try. My original experience was nuts. Torn ear, sore shoulders etc. NO, I'm not a wimp, pretty buff actually...(good looking too!), but the REAL problem with the chipper I had borrowed I discovered today while tearing it down to do a looksie. What did I find?...... part of a broken blade (loose) AND part of a broken anivil!. (Good thing nobody was lookin down the chute!).

Even though a piece of one of the blades (end piece) was now removed as well as a part of the anvil, I couldn't resist but too sharpen the remaining blade as well as the rest of the busted piece and put it all back together.

I was not going to do much chipping for all kinds of obvious reasons but I just had to see if it worked.....and it DID! Pretty good too!

I fed a baseball bat sized branch with a moderate push and it chewed the sucker like a famished beaver. It appears the only thing this old chipper needs is a new blade and anvil.

It comes with a Bondioli & Pavesi Inc U-joint drive shaft directly hooked up to a large metal flywheel with two cutting blades (8 x 1 7/8). There are NO belts and NO gear reduction. Simply a big metal wheel with a shaft in the middle of it.

I have no idea what brand this thing is but maybe someone can identify it if I post up some pics.

Like I said, it seemed to chip great behind my big Massey Ferg 30e.

I'm going to pay the guy tomorrow as he will sell it to me for $150 bucks.

I'd love to own the Wallenstein BX-62 but when it comes to money, I get weak!. A perfectly good working pto chipper (needing new blades) should be worth at least $150 bucks right?

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow if someone can help me identify what this thing is I would greatly appreciate it.

BTW, anyone know a good source for new chipper blades?

 

[RoyJackson]

Why would more PTO HP be a problem? As long as you have a shear pin on the machine or a slip clutch on the PTO to protect the BX42 just in case the machine gets jammed or overloaded, I don't see how more HP can be bad. Maybe there's something I don't know, though; I'm certainly not an expert in this area.

I can't answer that...that came out of the Woods manual. If fact, when I bought my 4400 (35 Engine HP, 30 PTO HP), I e-mailed Woods to confirm the rating was maximum PTO HP. Never got a response but I did confirm (either in the manual or the Woods website specs) that the rating was 30 PTO HP.

I'm going to guess the PTO ratings have something to do with an initial shock load or vibration...but that's just a guess.

 

[clarksvilleal]

I can't answer that...that came out of the Woods manual. If fact, when I bought my 4400 (35 Engine HP, 30 PTO HP), I e-mailed Woods to confirm the rating was maximum PTO HP. Never got a response but I did confirm (either in the manual or the Woods website specs) that the rating was 30 PTO HP.

I'm going to guess the PTO ratings have something to do with an initial shock load or vibration...but that's just a guess.

Initial shock is a potential problem even when the Tractor PTO is well matched to the Chipper. The BX42 has a 110 lb. Rotor, the BX62 a 180 lb. rotor. The BXM32 has a 70 lb rotor plus a (weight unknown) shredder drum with 27 swinging shredder knives. Those machines - and presumably any good heavy-duty chipper or chipper/shredder - have a lot of mass to get moving. So what I do (which is m/l what the BXM32 manual recommends), is to engage the PTO with the Kubota engine running at about half speed, being careful not to suddenly pop the clutch, instead releasing it smoothly. Then once the chipper/shredder revs up I gradually increase the engine speed up to the normal operating RPM.

If you engage the PTO in that manner it should eliminate most of the shock and avoid problems. If instead you are foolish enough to, not having read the manual, rev the tractor engine up to speed and then pop the PTO clutch, well, then you deserve what may happen to the tractor transmission and/or the chipper as a result .

 

[RoyJackson]

Initial shock is a potential problem even when the Tractor PTO is well matched to the Chipper...

If instead you are foolish enough to, not having read the manual, rev the tractor engine up to speed and then pop the PTO clutch, well, then you deserve what may happen to the tractor transmission and/or the chipper as a result .

Good advice for any time of PTO driven implement (especially rotary cutters).

 

[cycle_gator]

Just a word of advice from someone who has run ponderosa pine branches/trees through to make about 30 yards of chips with a Jinma Chipper.

1.) Unless you plan to do a lot of chainsaw work on the branches, you best have a power feed. Hydraulic is excellant, but adds cost. Gravity, or self feed, unless you hand stuff and struggle every branch down the feed chute will not work well with said pine, it is just a characteristic of the beast. The mechanical feed on the Jinma works, to a point, but it is not all beer and skittles.
2.) Chip it green if you can, even a branch that has set for a month will be more difficult to chip.
3.) Wear protection, a screened face mask with integrated hearing protection is ideal. These things are loud and they will shoot chips back out the feed chute at you, I guarantee it. Also you likely already know this; Pondersa Pine bark will scrape your skin right off your body if you let it. Good heavy gloves and a heavy shirt are musts.
4.) The Jinma has also chippped several piles of pruning from friut trees without issue. Looking back on it now, after 1 1/2 years, I wish I would have bought a used independent unit with its own motor and a hydraulic feed. The Jinma is okay, but the separate until and hydraulic feed would have been a better value, overall. I once rented one for a week and that cost me about 3/4 the price of the Jinma, but it was a grand machine.
5.) My advice, do not even entertain a unit that is not rated to chip at least 6 inch material.

Hope this is helpful, I still have three acres of dog hair ponderosa to thin out and limb up to limit the available wildfire fuel load. It is slow work. Good heavens those things got lots of branches. Seems like after I limb them there are three times more branches on the ground than I cut off the tree. Oh, yeah, good luck!

 

[clarksvilleal]

Just a word of advice from someone who has run ponderosa pine branches/trees through to make about 30 yards of chips with a Jinma Chipper.

1.) Unless you plan to do a lot of chainsaw work on the branches, you best have a power feed. Hydraulic is excellent, but adds cost. Gravity, or self feed, unless you hand stuff and struggle every branch down the feed chute will not work well with said pine, it is just a characteristic of the beast. The mechanical feed on the Jinma works, to a point, but it is not all beer and skittles.
2.) Chip it green if you can, even a branch that has set for a month will be more difficult to chip.
3.) Wear protection, a screened face mask with integrated hearing protection is ideal. These things are loud and they will shoot chips back out the feed chute at you, I guarantee it. Also you likely already know this; Pondersa Pine bark will scrape your skin right off your body if you let it. Good heavy gloves and a heavy shirt are musts.
...
5.) My advice, do not even entertain a unit that is not rated to chip at least 6 inch material.
...

1) Same is true for the BXM32. Pine is problematic because often the branches are set at too wide an angle to feed in with gravity feed, although if it is all green they sometimes will bend and flex enough to get them to feed OK.
2) Definitely go green if possible. It is night and day feeding dry vs. green wood into my BXM32. And I'm sure the dry wood is much harder on the chipper blades as well as my hands.
3) AMEN, Bro'! I wear a Petzl kevlar helmet with attached metal face screen and attached ear muffs, and I wear Kevlar gloves, and kevlar chainsaw chaps. I have been saved more than once from being whacked in the face, ears, hands or head as branches whipped around when I fed them into the hopper - particularly dry branches being fed into the shredder hopper. I have also like an idiot walked right in front of the discharge chute :ashamed: as it was spewing chips, and other than a little dust in the nostrils no major ill effects.
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5) 6" capacity is overkill for me, since I cut up anything 4" or larger for firewood. But I understand that others don't want/need wood that small for firewood and 6" would be a time-saver for them.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

I looked at an assortment of used pto chippers in the 4 to 6 inch range, all manual feed. Most were traded in by owners who upgraded to hydraulic feed chippers. This convinced me to go this route from the start.
I just ordered a BX62r with hydraulic feed hopper. Around $6,000.00 Cdn.
Optimum pto hp is 60 to 70 for this model, so should be good with the JD 5425.

I was told, if the rotating teeth can grab it, it'll devour it!

I have a lot of Austrian pines and Norway spruces that need to be thinned out due to over-planting 20 years ago, and I don't want to have to deal with pre-pruning of off-shoots. I want to just feed it and stand back!