Woodchippers?

[ddivinia]

How much chipping do you plan on doing?

I have a bearcat with gravity feed and the chipper/shredder chute. It has been a good purchase. The gravity piece is a bit more than gravity. The blades actually pull it in. I was concerned about the gravity piece, but it has been fine.

I had a Jinma chipper before the Bearcat and it was the biggest pile of crap. I spent more time working on it than using it. Some people have had good luck with them, but I didn't.

How much chipper do you plan on doing?
How big is the material?
What kind of material.

What do I like about my bearcat? 1 bolt and I can open the unit. It is that easy. Many of the other units it is like open heart surgery to open them up.

Welded construction.

Blades are easy to swap. Reversible, etc. Get a supply of extra blades. Depending on what you stick in it - the life can change dramatically.

I would not be married to Frontier on this purchase. I have not seen one of their chippers, but there are lots of options. Dealer support does factor into it.

D.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Isnt the Frontier chipper just a green painted Wallenstein? If not Wallenstein, who really makes it?...

 

[OlderToday]

Isnt the Frontier chipper just a green painted Wallenstein? If not Wallenstein, who really makes it?...

Its a CX500 Series Champion Chipper from Pequea


NEWS RELEASE:
Pequea Signs Agreement to Manufacture Hay Tools and Wood Chippers for John Deere
2008-07-21

NEW HOLLAND, Pa., July 21, 2008 — Pequea, a Skibo company headquartered in New Holland, Pa., entered into an agreement with John Deere to produce rotary rakes, rotary tedders and wood chippers under the Frontier Equipment brand. The new Pequea-manufactured Frontier equipment will be available for the 2009 selling season.

Frontier Equipment will be available exclusively through John Deere dealerships nationwide. Pequea’s four-rotor and six-rotor TurboTedders™, 9-foot and 11-foot rotary rakes, and Champion wood chippers will add heavy-built hay tools and previously unavailable chippers to the Frontier line.

Pequea-manufactured Frontier products will be introduced at this summer’s John Deere Product Introduction meetings.

“The Pequea-John Deere agreement is an exciting opportunity to join forces with one of the world’s leading Ag manufacturers,” said Jim Mandes, national sales manager at Pequea. “We look forward to manufacturing Pequea’s high-quality hay tools and chippers to help John Deere expand the Frontier Equipment brand. The John Deere network of dealers offers us access to many markets where Pequea equipment was previously unavailable.”

Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Its a CX500 Series Champion Chipper from Pequea

Gotcha...I knew it was a "Reputable" brand chipper...all the Frontier stuff is from top shelf MFG's...Other then the $$, it makes shopping for equipment easy for the "un educated"....swing by Deere dealer and come home with a Guaranteed good attachment...be it a Rear Blade or Chipper...

 

[FRIZ]

"Its a CX500 Series Champion Chipper from Pequea"

Thank you.
Regards,
FRIZ

 

[orlo]

Friz:

I have a Dr Chipper/Shredder (4.5" cap) that I use on my 2305 and my 3720. It works well but if I did it again I wouldn't bother with the shredder. The shredder works well (and fast!) for small stuff but makes the unit about 300lbs heavier to store/transport, etc. The other thing is that I've used it enough that if I bought another i'd consider a hydraulic feed. If you find yourself stuffing limbs with lot's of small branches they prevent it from feeding in nice and easy. Maybe that's just me.

 

[ddivinia]

Shredder is great for throwing little stuff in there. You have to figure out what it will eat and not tear things up. Also, once you figure out your chipper - you will cut things the "proper" way to make life easy with the chipper.

D.

 

[amigauser]

I agree that hydraulic feed is nice. A lot depends on what you are chipping. I have owned two different BearCat gravity feed chippers and they do self feed pretty well with sharp blades. The problem for me was chipping up hard wood like maple with the right angle branches as they would not self feed without a lot of trimming. If you are primarily chipping soft woods like pine it is not an issue. If you plan on chipping hard wood plan on doing some trimming or getting something with hydraulic feed.

 

[Smalljobs]

Gentlemen,
I posted earlier. I've been using an old borrowed 6" Jinma chipper with auto feed. It easily eats a 5-6" soft pine with minor limbs attached. It will also easily eat a 6" trimmed hardwood. I had to replace a belt and it took a half hour with a Gates NAPA part. This chipper is half the price of others and you can easily find from Jinma Dealer, Wood Chipper , Compact Jinma Tractors and others.

 

[ddivinia]

Gentlemen,
I posted earlier. I've been using an old borrowed 6" Jinma chipper with auto feed. It easily eats a 5-6" soft pine with minor limbs attached. It will also easily eat a 6" trimmed hardwood. I had to replace a belt and it took a half hour with a Gates NAPA part. This chipper is half the price of others and you can easily find from Jinma Dealer, Wood Chipper , Compact Jinma Tractors and others.

Don't assume all the Jinmas are good. Some people have gotten good ones and a lot of people have not. Hit n miss Chinese quality.

D.