Wood Chipper recommendations

[HEC]

Get one before prices go up as they hold their value really well . I sold my Woodmax 8m for close to what I paid for it after my projects were finished . I wish I had more of them as the phone didn't stop ringing until I took it off Craigs list . I'm 76 so I know all about the age thing . I really enjoyed using it though .

 

[Steppenwolfe]

No, PTO is certainly an option. I have a Kubota L3400 that's rarely used.

I have the Woodmax hydraulic feed, pto. Only have used it three times, if interested shoot me a pm.

 

[Jack Yuan]

I'm in need of a new wood chipper... Used won't do - the last (only) one I've bought before had a Tecumseh motor, and literally blew a hole in the side of the engine within 20 minutes. Of course, the Craigslist seller was no longer to be found. I have approximately 10 acres with thousands of 'sucker' pines that fall over after a couple of years. In the past I've collected them and burnt them, but with so much danger of a forest fire around here, I'd prefer to simply shred them. Leaving them to rot is an option, but not a desirable one for me.

My basic requirements are:
Max 5" diameter, normally 4" or less
Gas powered
Portable
If high hp, electric start
Under $2000

If you have any suggestions or recommendations, I'd appreciate receiving them.

Thanks.

Nova Tractor Wood chipper
What about these wood chipper?

 

[oosik]

COME-ON, Plowhog - - I may be old as dirt, but even I would notice if they wore bikinis. And NO they do not...........

The parameters set by the OP - particularly cost - almost guarantees he will have to look at a used unit.

You BEST face this situation head on - Gem99ultra - you have ten acres with thousands of sucker pines - you want to go cheap and spend your time futzing with a "third world" chipper or spend the necessary $$$ and chip your trees ????? There are several brands that will last your lifetime with proper maintenance and chip your trees until H E L L freezes over.

The choice is yours - - Choose wisely, grasshopper.

FWIW - I initially had a stand alone chipper. I forget the brand - it was green. It just would not handle the load - 750 to 900 - small pines every spring plus half a dozen day-long sessions during the remainder of the year. The chipping blades would dull rapidly - the engine would overheat - finally ( and thankfully) it grenaded.

That's when I doubled down and bought my first PTO chipper - Wallenstein BX42S. I upgraded to the BX62S in 2011 after I upgraded to my Kubota M6040.

Eight years - 900+ small pines( 1" to 6" ) each of the eight years - still on the same side of the cutting blades - still sharp enough to slice my finger in a heartbeat.

Only maintenance - two zerks and coat the knife blades in heavy grease when done each time to prevent any rusting.


The only thing I could ask for - - girls in bikinis..... delivering ice cold beers.

 

[DIYRedneck4065]

Woodland Mills Canada. Check out the WC68 Woodchipper. I have it on my L3901. Awesome products and people to deal with.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Woodland Mills Canada. Check out the WC68 Woodchipper. I have it on my L3901. Awesome products and people to deal with.

I did go ahead with the Woodland Mills WC68; delivered yesterday. Today I'm doing the final assembly. With all this rain we're (FINALLY) getting here in Mid-Georgia, it'll be next week before I get to try it out. I wonder if one can run wet logs through a chipper?

Woodmaxx was my initial first choice, although more expensive, but they didn't seem to be interested in answering their phone nor replying to two eMails requesting pricing, delivery, etc. Woodland almost immediately responded, and saved me $200. Delivery from Buffalo, NY to Warm Springs was 7 days after placing my order. Heck - that's Amazon kind of service!

I'll be chipping up at least 1000 small pines this Fall, running the WC68 off of my Kubota L3400. ****** girls and ice cold beer will have to wait :-(

 

[oosik]

Gem - wet logs will chip easier than dry. Water acts as a lubricant when chipping. Just be very careful of - nails, staples, metal fasteners in any old fence posts or the like and rocks, gravel, sand, dirt on anything else you chip.

Now - small pines are my forte. I thin my pine stands and chip almost that many every spring. That new chipper of yours will take on small pines just a kid eating a candy cane.

 

[TractorNH]

We bought a used tree company chipper through a Craigslist ad several years ago. Paid about $1500 for it and the 4 cylinder Ford engine sucked a quart of oil every hour of use but it worked well. A couple years ago we replaced the engine with a salvage yard one, same engine as a 1985 Ford Mustang 4 cylinder (salvage engine with about 80k miles cost us $500). It pushes about 80 HP and chips just about anything we can feed it.

The chipper itself is an Asplundh Chipmunk chipper. This is a Chuck-N-Duck chipper....you throw the brush into the chipper head and get the heck out of the way. The chipper head IS the infeed device. It will suck in a 4" diameter 25' long oak or maple sapling in about 8 seconds or less.

I don't have a picture of ours handy but this pic is very similar:

 

[Gem99ultra]

Gem - wet logs will chip easier than dry. Water acts as a lubricant when chipping. Just be very careful of - nails, staples, metal fasteners in any old fence posts or the like and rocks, gravel, sand, dirt on anything else you chip.

Now - small pines are my forte. I thin my pine stands and chip almost that many every spring. That new chipper of yours will take on small pines just a kid eating a candy cane.

Good advice; thanks!
Now I have to figure out if and how to cut the furnished PTO shaft to size. Lots of video's on that, and all are different methods. Hopefully I'll be sling chips next week when the rain stops.

Again, thanks to all of you TBN members for the tips and advice. With those contributions, I'll graduate from being a total novice to an expert by this time next year.

 

[oosik]

GEM - - WHOA!!!!! The owners manual with your new chipper should have EXACT instructions on how to shorten your PTO shaft - if its necessary. If you do not have exact instructions - - let me know - - I will attach exact instructions to a post here. Don't play silly games with the PTO shaft shortening. At the very least - it can cause serious damage to the chipper or your tractor.

 

[Gem99ultra]

GEM - - WHOA!!!!! The owners manual with your new chipper should have EXACT instructions on how to shorten your PTO shaft - if its necessary. If you do not have exact instructions - - let me know - - I will attach exact instructions to a post here. Don't play silly games with the PTO shaft shortening. At the very least - it can cause serious damage to the chipper or your tractor.

I sure did find the instructions, read them, and understood them. As well as a dozen other video's on youtube. All are a bit different methods in the measuring, but the results were the same. And I did for sure get the measurements correct for the cutting. It was the protective outer tube guard that ate my lunch.

The first of 4 times I took it off and put it back together, the large end caps just snapped right in place; no problem. Then that last time - it just would not go back together, no matter what I tried. Upon close inspection, I 'think' I broke the nylon bearing collar on both ends. At least they do pull apart very easily and won't snap in place.

I went ahead at put the sleeves on loose and chained them to the tractor for a measure of safety. I've also found that Tractor Supply sells replacement parts for that PTO as well. Mine seems to work fine, but I'd like it to be 100% correct and safe, so I'll take mine to TSC and see if I can buy the replacement parts.

PS - That Woodland WC68 is one hoss! I'm loving it!!!

 

[oosik]

Ha - - GOOD on you. I think I used my first chipper - Wallenstein BX42S - at least a dozen times before I realized there were grease zerks on the plastic PTO shaft cover. Soooo... something broke on that cover - - I just chained it on to one of the lower arms and went on about business. On my new BX62S I grease the cover/shield zerks right along with everything else.

 

[MNBobcat]

I have a Wallenstein PTO chipper rated for 4". It self feeds, too. I paid $1,900.00 for it. I'm likely going to sell it as I haven't used it for several years.

I found 4" to be plenty big enough. Anything bigger than that I keep to burn.

 

[NTG]

Delivery from Buffalo, NY to Warm Springs was 7 days after placing my order. Heck - that's Amazon kind of service!

Small world, I'm over in LaGrange. I too went with the Woodland Mills WC68 and mine is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

 

[sea2summit]

Anyone know the flywheel weight of the Woodland Mills WC88?

 

[oosik]

Anyone know the flywheel weight of the Woodland Mills WC88?

Excellent question - their web site specs list EVERYTHING except the weight of the flywheel.


However - I can give you an approximate weight - - my Wally BX62S flywheel - 30" x 1" = 197 pounds The Woodland Mills WC88 flywheel - 24" x 1" ~~ 160 pounds.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Small world, I'm over in LaGrange. I too went with the Woodland Mills WC68 and mine is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

You're going to like the WC68. Let me know if you want some training and/or experience in the cutting & stacking phase Seriously, if you need any help with the assembly, let me know and I'll come give you a hand.

 

[sea2summit]

Excellent question - their web site specs list EVERYTHING except the weight of the flywheel.


However - I can give you an approximate weight - - my Wally BX62S flywheel - 30" x 1" = 197 pounds The Woodland Mills WC88 flywheel - 24" x 1" ~~ 160 pounds.

I found the WC68 spec-ed at 120#, can't remember the reference sorry. Even at 160, four blades seems like it's going to ask a lot more of the PTO than the Woodmaxx with two blades and more flywheel.

I'm still in decide mode so no flaming please

 

[sea2summit]

You're going to like the WC68. Let me know if you want some training and/or experience in the cutting & stacking phase Seriously, if you need any help with the assembly, let me know and I'll come give you a hand.

How about a demo 20 miles east of columbus

 

[oosik]

I've only had one problem with the Wally chippers and it had NOTHING to do with flywheel weight. When I had the BX42S on the 26hp Ford 1710, the discharge chute would plug up because pine pitch would coat the inside of the chute. Solution - cut, stack and then let small pines dry for a year prior to chipping.

My new Wally BX62S does not have the pine pitch plugging problem - larger discharge chute - higher air flow.

One thing I have noticed, for sure. Heavier flywheel means smoother chipping. The difference between the BX42S vs BX62S is noticeable.

JMHO - but about the only advantage of going to any chipper that can handle anything bigger than 6" diameter stuff - heavier chipper flywheel.

Its a real PITA for me to drag and stack 6" diameter pine trees. I can do it for about two hours and then its break time.

If I had a chipper that could handle trees bigger than 6" butt diameter - honestly - it would not do ME much good - I could not drag the cut trees out to stack and chip.

If you need a real monster chipper - - Valby - - they have PTO driven models that have 600+ pound flywheels - will chip up to 10" material.