Woodmaxx DC-1260 or Jansen GTS1500 (or 2000)

[RutnBuck]

There's also the Woodland Mills PTO chippers. They are a different design than the Woodmaxx and are more compact, and on the 8" model the intake chute folds up making it smaller still.

It seems to me that a PTO chipper on a tractor would be more manuverable than a chipper trailer. I'm good at backing trailers but I can't get them to make as tight a turn as my tractor can.

The "trailer" models I am considering (GTS1500 and Woodmaxx DC-1260) are both towable with an ATV so I could get them into many areas of my woods. Right up to where I have most piles placed.

 

[RutnBuck]

What are you planning to do with the chips if dragging the material isn't efficient?

View attachment 642668

I will leave the chips in the woods to decompose. That happens rapidly here in Oregon. I agree with you about piling up material in advance and have been doing that. I currently have around 25 piles of various sizes in the woods but again, I cannot get my tractor to these locations with the loader on the front and a pto-driven chipper on the back. It's just way to long

 

[RutnBuck]

I spend about fifteen day every spring - felling & dragging to piles. The dragging is the pits. The chipping is the easy part. I wouldn't even consider chipping if the felled trees were not in piles. I will thin an area the size of a tennis court. When I'm done felling it looks like a giant game of Pick Up Sticks. Each spring I will thin eight to ten of these areas. Sometimes more.

My forest is so thick with blackberries and poison oak wrapped around trees that I cannot get into a lot of places without first clearing out the area with my Stihl (FS240) brush whacker. The problem is I don't make much progress because I learned early-on that you cannot go crazy in the stuff because all that poison oak gets flung onto you by the brush whacker so I have to wear rain gear to protect myself. You can only work so long in rain gear before sweating your tail off!!

 

[ericm979]

I'm quite allergic to poison oak. Using a brush cutter on it would be bad for me. I have had good results killing it by spraying a mix of 25% triclopyr in diesel on the stems. It does not take much, just enough to wet the stem for 18" or so. It works on PO whose leaves are way up in a tree. If I can't get to the stem I use a spray of 1% triclopyr on the leaves. If I can get the tractor to it I can pull it out of the ground or out of a tree using the grapple. It's better for me to do that when its dead or in winter when there's no leaves. It still has the allergin, there's just less plant to spread it around.

I do like @sea2summit does and pile material up to stage for chipping. That way I can keep the chipper fed.

 

[frogpond]

I have had a dc 1260e for about a year. I like it a lot. Heavily built drum-type chipper with large intake opening to take twisted or branching stuff, mostly self-feeding without a feed mechanism. I mostly move it around our hillt, jungley property with a hitch receiver clamped to the loader bucket of our bx25d tractor. You could also tow it down the road, max speed 35mph. Assembly was fairly simple, and it started right up. I really recommend the electric start and the axle expansion. There have been a few problems, but advice and free replacement parts have been amazingly quick and responsive. Great service! One was a nut vibrating off the tightening setup for the belt tensioner, resulting in mangled belts and tensioner spring. If you buy, take off the beltcover to make sure there's a locknut or put some loctite on it. While you're at it, replace the machine screws holding the cover with longer ones to make life easier. The other problem was that the safety shutoff switch died, so the motor wouldn't start. Again, they responded quickly with diagnosis and replacement info, and sent a replacement switch right away.
Not a defect, but it is a lot easier not to make a mess when you change oil if you use a 1/4 npt elbow and nipple and cap to extend the oil drain out to the side of the machine.
In general, i would buy it again. It's somewhere between the little homeowner machines and a real commercial chipper. It's practical limit is about 4" in hard vine maple, a little more in hemlock, doug fir, and cedar (here in the western Oregon rain forest. It very rarely bogs down or stalls, and it's not difficult to swing the intake chute over to clear a jam. I do recommend stocking the attached tool holder with appropriate sizes of ratcheting wrenches. I've put about 40 hours on it. Gas use is moderate, all afternoon on a gallon. It seems heavily built and reliable. I just don't like taking the backhoe off and on the tractor, as I use the backhoe a lot. Therefore, a standalone chipper works for me, and I'd rather put hours on the chipper motor than on the tractor.

 

[RutnBuck]

I have had a dc 1260e for about a year. I like it a lot. Heavily built drum-type chipper with large intake opening to take twisted or branching stuff, mostly self-feeding without a feed mechanism. I mostly move it around our hillt, jungley property with a hitch receiver clamped to the loader bucket of our bx25d tractor. You could also tow it down the road, max speed 35mph. Assembly was fairly simple, and it started right up. I really recommend the electric start and the axle expansion. There have been a few problems, but advice and free replacement parts have been amazingly quick and responsive. Great service! One was a nut vibrating off the tightening setup for the belt tensioner, resulting in mangled belts and tensioner spring. If you buy, take off the beltcover to make sure there's a locknut or put some loctite on it. While you're at it, replace the machine screws holding the cover with longer ones to make life easier. The other problem was that the safety shutoff switch died, so the motor wouldn't start. Again, they responded quickly with diagnosis and replacement info, and sent a replacement switch right away.
Not a defect, but it is a lot easier not to make a mess when you change oil if you use a 1/4 npt elbow and nipple and cap to extend the oil drain out to the side of the machine.
In general, i would buy it again. It's somewhere between the little homeowner machines and a real commercial chipper. It's practical limit is about 4" in hard vine maple, a little more in hemlock, doug fir, and cedar (here in the western Oregon rain forest. It very rarely bogs down or stalls, and it's not difficult to swing the intake chute over to clear a jam. I do recommend stocking the attached tool holder with appropriate sizes of ratcheting wrenches. I've put about 40 hours on it. Gas use is moderate, all afternoon on a gallon. It seems heavily built and reliable. I just don't like taking the backhoe off and on the tractor, as I use the backhoe a lot. Therefore, a standalone chipper works for me, and I'd rather put hours on the chipper motor than on the tractor.

This is GREAT feedback and exactly what I am looking for. You and I are working with the same Northwest chipping material so this is very helpful...thank you!! Now if I can find someone who has experience with the Jansen GTS1500 or GTS2000. I'd really like to hear reviews and experience on that machine as well.

 

[frogpond]

You're welcome!
And oops, I meant to say Washington rain forest.
By the way, although the Woodmaxx video shows the guy moving the machine around by hand, it really is quite heavy. I find it pretty cumbersome to shift it around by myself when not on a level, flat surface. In the woods, my wife and I can horse it around a little, but plan on doing any serious moving with your atv or tractor.
It is quite delightful to watch the machine rapidly suck in a 20 or 30 foot convoluted vine maple! Before this, we had an old Craftsman 9 horse chipper shredder. This is a totally different species of machine...we just gave the old one to a neighbor.