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Wood Chipper - To Buy or Not To Buy?

Started by Jeronimojc, September 22, 2015, 10:13:02 PM

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Jeronimojc

Hi, I am a first timer here, looking for your thoughts on this wood chipper for sale. 

QuoteThis 12 in drum style Woodchuck 121 by Steco/altec is in great running order with an industrial ford 300 gas motor. We just did a bunch of chipping and it worked flawlessly. This is older but with no electric clutch ect has very few parts to go wrong. Only $3900 FIRM priced to sell. Comes with a Pintle receiver for your truck too! Pintle hitch and 6 way round light plug.

As for me, I am a recent forest owner in the Pacific Northwest. I've been doing some thinning (brush cutter and chainsaw) and I can see myself accumulating a bunch of slash. It would be great to own a wood chipper, but the fact is it isn't an absolute necessity at this point and I also want to buy other equipment (tractor with brush hog or flail mower). So any wood chipper I buy at this stage would have to be a good deal. 

What do you guys think of the price of this old wood chipper?  Any pointers on what things to look for if I decide to check it out?

Thanks!
Jeronimo

beenthere

Might already be sold. Google "This 12 in drum style Woodchuck 121 by Steco/altec is in great running order with an industrial ford 300 gas motor." and all the hits come up empty... and there are a number of hits with the same exact wording.

If not sold, I'd first check out that the 300 gas motor is in good running shape, and then look for bearing wear, feeder parts wear, and chipper and blower wear.
Also, find a dealer where you can order parts before buying.  Just my thoughts.

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

BargeMonkey

 Ford 300 6cyl is a good engine, there's alot of those in chippers. If you had pictures of how clean it was maybe 3900 might be worth it, but would have to be CLEAN for that kind of money. Maybe someone else can say different but a drum chipper isn't to friendly to feed by hand, we had one and it went down the road, I would go watch it run for 1-2 hrs before hand, I bought a 12" woodchuck diesel with a 4BT for 3500 in mint shape a few yrs ago, with feed rollers. A place to check to compare prices is "machinerytrader.com", look thru the chipper section.

lamimartin

Quote from: Jeronimojc on September 22, 2015, 10:13:02 PM
Hi, I am a first timer here, looking for your thoughts on this wood chipper for sale. 

QuoteThis 12 in drum style Woodchuck 121 by Steco/altec is in great running order with an industrial ford 300 gas motor. We just did a bunch of chipping and it worked flawlessly. This is older but with no electric clutch ect has very few parts to go wrong. Only $3900 FIRM priced to sell. Comes with a Pintle receiver for your truck too! Pintle hitch and 6 way round light plug.

As for me, I am a recent forest owner in the Pacific Northwest. I've been doing some thinning (brush cutter and chainsaw) and I can see myself accumulating a bunch of slash. It would be great to own a wood chipper, but the fact is it isn't an absolute necessity at this point and I also want to buy other equipment (tractor with brush hog or flail mower). So any wood chipper I buy at this stage would have to be a good deal. 

What do you guys think of the price of this old wood chipper?  Any pointers on what things to look for if I decide to check it out?
Thanks! Jeronimo
If you plan to buy a tractor, you may rent a wood chipper to process batches for now and eventually look for a tractor powerfull enough to power a variety of accessories on the 3 points lift of the tractor, hydraulic or from PTO. Every time you buy a new motorized tool, cost and maintenance cost increases. You may save a lot of time and money by picking attachments that are driven by you tractor's engine. Engines that are rarely used or underpowered do not last as long as a tractor's engine. Considering the extra maintenance and storage space required otherwise, you may soon realize that just any good old farm tractor, especially with a loader, are very useful to maintain a bush without breaking your back.

Personnaly, I found out that adding a 3 tons PTO driven winch on an old 2 wheel drive farm tractor saves me a lot of trouble because I can reach the fallen wood with the cable causing minimal damages to the forest because the tractor remains on the access path. With a winch, I don't need an newer and more expensive 4 weel drive tractor where I live. If I ever get stuck, the winch is powerful enough to pull me out of trouble in no time. This tractor's winch and loader combo makes my maple bush maintenance very easy. If I ever buy a wood chipper, I will look for something I can drive out of my PTO.

Keep in mind that wood chippers require blade changes and perfect balance to work properly.  They must be capable to feed in large diameter stuff to make it worth the trouble. The larger the opening, the higher the price.... except if you have the required power on your tractor.

Maybe, your tractor's dream might be a better idea than you even tought.

Good luck

Martin




1964 Oliver 550 tractor, 41hp with custom loader and roof. Interforst SW6600 PTO driven 3tons winch. Stihl MS660 for Logosol M8 Sawmill and Stihl MS261 for firewood.

Jeronimojc

Thanks guys.  Not what I would call CLEAN, but thought the price was good.  I didn't think hand feeding this chipper was a concern. I'll do some reading. 

Good suggestion Martin. PTO driven chipper was my plan A, but haven't found a good deal on a tractor.

I'll try to attach pics of the chipper.

No luck. This is it for now:


https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=190254#top_display_media

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=190255#top_display_media

https://forestryforum.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=190256#top_display_media

beenthere

Jeronimo
You have three pics in your gallery. Now to put them in your post, get them up in another window and click on the one you want to post. It will enlarge and then SCROLL down to where it gives two choices to insert image in your post. Also can copy the URL line and paste that in as well.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

lamimartin

Quote from: Jeronimojc on September 22, 2015, 11:16:57 PM
Thanks guys.  Not what I would call CLEAN, but thought the price was good.  I didn't think hand feeding this chipper was a concern. I'll do some reading. 

Good suggestion Martin. PTO driven chipper was my plan A, but haven't found a good deal on a tractor.

I'll try to attach pics of the chipper.

No luck. This is it for now: (...)

It is amazing what a 41HP, 1964 farm tractor can still do... I got mine for a small fraction of the cost of newer units that were not as powerfull. Spare parts are amazingly easy to find, as long as you pick up a model that used to be quite popular. I don't use my tractor often enough to justify the extra cost of a newer machine, a diesel engine or 4x4 option. Newer units offer the convenience of more hydraulic power than mine, but I've got plenty of power to handle just any log I must carry around, for my sawmill or firewood.  With the loader and my 3 points scraper blade, I can do my own path maintenance and snow removal. I could even pick an old PTO driven snow blower If I needed to. I even found a very affordable PTO driven 25KW generator that can power my whole house with up to 61A continuous in case of extended power failures. I know my tractor's engine will start if I need it. I'm not so sure about an independent power generator that I would practically never use. This generator could also power my welding machine anywhere I want. The versatility of my tractor makes it worth every maintenance penny I put on it.

I wished I found some industrial tractors of the same age that has more rugged front end, but a higher capacity loader is not very useful if you don't have a 4x4 traction. I've got all shop manuals and parts diagrams, which makes maintenance much easier.

Again, it all depends on what you intend to do with it, and what type of access roads you have, but even a very simple farm tractor can do a lot for you.  Farmers no longer use anything that old and small today. They often keep them as spares for a while until they get something newer and bigger. I found mine without much trouble and even found a spare one for parts a few months later.

Personnaly, I would be very reluctant to buy such an old wood chipper with an engine of unknown condition, considering the maintenance cost will probably exceed what you would pay for occasionnal rental.

Good luck

Martin

1964 Oliver 550 tractor, 41hp with custom loader and roof. Interforst SW6600 PTO driven 3tons winch. Stihl MS660 for Logosol M8 Sawmill and Stihl MS261 for firewood.

timberlinetree

We started with a chuck and duck. They are loud and vines/crochy pices are no fun but not to much to them and not as heavy as disc chippers for towing and get the job done.The best part is they are fast!  Work safe!
I've met Vets who have lived but still lost their lives... Thank a Vet

Family man and loving it :)

Jeronimojc

Update:  I went to check out the wood chipper. That thing is a beast!  It is powerful and frankly scary.   I see what BargeMonkey was referring to. You have to throw whatever you want to chip at the hopper and step back. There is no reverse on the drum, but I can't imagine anything getting stuck in that thing.  Once the drum grabs something it is gone!  As much as I love machine raw power, I couldn't make an offer on this thing without taking my time to think about the safety side of things. 

Thank you all for your input.

Puffergas

I sold my PTO chipper a few years ago. It didn't earn it's keep. Sometimes less is more.
Jeff
Somewhere 20 miles south of Lake Erie.

GEHL 5624 skid steer, Trojan 114, Timberjack 225D, D&L SB1020 mill, Steiger Bearcat II

beenthere

Quote from: Jeronimojc on September 23, 2015, 08:03:25 PM
Update:  I went to check out the wood chipper. That thing is a beast!  It is powerful and frankly scary.   I see what BargeMonkey was referring to. You have to throw whatever you want to chip at the hopper and step back. There is no reverse on the drum, but I can't imagine anything getting stuck in that thing.  Once the drum grabs something it is gone! As much as I love machine raw power, I couldn't make an offer on this thing without taking my time to think about the safety side of things. 

Thank you all for your input.

Just remember that if your coat or clothes are caught on a stub when it "is gone", that you hope not to be "gone" along with it. Does yours have a stop bar in case of emergency (i.e. you are caught) ??
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

WH_Conley

If I had to make a choice and was on a budget I would go with the tractor. The slash will rot and the brush will grow. Only one requires no labor or money involved.
Bill

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