iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

pto wood chipper

Started by tree-farmer, December 08, 2016, 06:42:53 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

tree-farmer

Anyone have experience with a pto chipper?  Looking at a Wood max hydraulic unit. Looking for any feedback pro/con.
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

DonT

Hydraulic feed is a real nice option.

terrifictimbersllc

I have a Bearcat PTO chipper on my Kubota L2050DT, 20HP pto.  I believe the chipper is called a 4" model.  Chips in the side and shreds in the top. Does everything I need for yard type maintenance.   Sure beats a 5HP gas engine model I had for a short period which was practically useless.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Ron Wenrich

I have a Bearcat, as well.  I run mine with a 35 hp diesel and have stalled it on a couple of occasions.  I use it for cleaning out fence rows and cleaning up tree tops. 

I looked at the Wood Max but I wanted a shredder.  The hydraulic feed would be a good option.  What are you looking to do with yours? 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

tree-farmer

Living on 32 acres of wooded land I always have brush. Usually pile and burn on rainy days.Would be nice to chip and be done. I have a small 10 hp chipper, but Iis terribly slow and requires a lot of delimbing to get into feed shute. The pto version will take up to 8 in and has a large feed shute with hydraulic feed.$ 2700 is a lot of money, but I cannot take it with me I guess. Still pondering, hoped some one on here would have one to advise.
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

goose63

tree farmer I just bought one from Woodland Mills can't tell you how it works yet as its still on the truck getting here but when it gets here will be happy to give a report on it 8)
goose
if you find your self in a deep hole stop digging
saw logs all day what do you get lots of lumber and a day older
thank you to all the vets

terrifictimbersllc

I think I  paid about $2700 new for my Bearcat 4 " pto chipper. Compared to two 5HP gas engine ones I used before I was in chipper heaven.  I think you'd feel the same way about an 8" one with hydraulic feed if you limited the input to 4-5" material.   The Bearcat has two belt drive to the chipper flywheel and sometimes stuff gets under and fouls the belt up. With spare belts on hand and some care I have had no problems with it.
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

wesdor

I have a Wallenstein 3pt hitch PTO chipper.  When I bought it the dealer said to try it without the hydraulic feed and see if I was happy.  He gave me price with and without hydro feed and offered to add it if I felt it necessary.
Tried it and in my situation didn't feel like I needed the feed.  Saved a lot of $$$

I have a chipper and winch by Wallenstein and find them to be well made.

scgargoyle

I'm strongly considering the Wood Maxx as well. I plan to thin my woods over a period of years, and hate standing around tending a burn pile. Wood Maxx has a 200 lb. cutter head; much heavier then a lot of the competition. Having never even operated a chipper, I don't know how much that counts, but it seems impressive. Their video shows it easily chipping much larger limbs than I would chip. Our church gathers firewood for needy families, and they'll take anything bigger than a twig. I'll cut down the tree, cut off the slash, drag the usable wood out of the woods with the tractor, then come back and chip up the brush. Time will tell how many trees I can process in a weekend so I don't get ahead of myself. When I built our house, I had the contractor just dump all of the brush out back, and paid a lot of money to have him come in with a forestry mulcher to clean it up. I'd like to prevent that kind of situation again.
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

47sawdust

I had a 4''Patu non-hydraulic feed.It worked well but I found I really needed to have a 2nd person bringing the brush to me so I could just feed the chipper.I have since bought a grapple for the loader on my tractor and I use it to move debris to a burn pile.
Mick
1997 WM Lt30 1999 WM twin blade edger Kubota L3750 Tajfun winchGood Health Work is my hobby.

bill m

Without the hydraulic feed, the knife to anvil setting becomes very important for good operation. The only reason to not get the hydraulic feed would be lack of funds.
NH tc55da Metavic 4x4 trailer Stihl and Husky saws

crtreedude

I own the WoodMaxx, I have been very happy with it. I honestly was amazed on how well it worked. I have the 8" hydraulic - the feeder is great, totally worth it. A feeder will make you so much more productive, you get a limb started, and while it is eating it, get the next limb. The speed on the feed is adjustable, so you can work yourself to death trying to keep up.  :D

I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

I have had two chipper / shreaders from Troybilt. My opinion, don't bother with that size, unless you don't have that much to do. You won't believe how much you can do with a full sized chipper - I can fill a pickup with chips in about 20 minutes if the limbs are of decent size.
So, how did I end up here anyway?

thecfarm

Probably some of you guys have wood that don't rot quick. The only 2 that takes alot of time to rot that I cut is hemlock and cedar. Oak will last a long time,in 4 inch size,but a limb the size of my thumb will rot quickly.
I kinda looked at a chipper years ago. But as scgargoyle said,anything as big as a twig gets burned. But even before I started to live here and was burning all the small stuff I cut my brush into short lengths,really no longer than 3 feet.I do this when the limbs are on the tree. Yes,it takes time,but so does feeding a chipper. The reason I started to do this,so I can drive the tractor through the brush. A limb no longer than 2 feet should not do much damage to my tractor.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

crtreedude

I would think up north you would be right, you would burn most of what I chip, but for some reason, here in the tropics, we don't heat our homes...  8)  So I turn the brush into chips for my garden and trails
So, how did I end up here anyway?

Ed_K

 I have a Roberge 6" made in Canada, it doesn't have the hydraulic feed and like whats been said, you have to stay right there and feed it. I hate that and your hands will be numb for days if you use it on a big job. It hasn't been run now for over a yr, it'll have a power feed before I use it again.
Ed K

maple flats

I've had a 4" PATU in the past, and now have a 6.5" PATU, PTO powered off my tractor. I use it to chip prunings from my blueberry bushes and saplings up to about 4" diameter. The blueberry prunings are harder to feed than the saplings because they seem to get hung up if I don't cut off some of the heavier side branches. On the saplings I only need to cut off wide crotch heavier branches, the rest pull right in fine. My experience has been (about 20 yrs of use) that all it takes is sharp knives to make it so the sapling is pulled in by the cutting knives, if they start to dull you begin to need to push a little. I Often run it for 5-10 days a year and I get thru it with just 1 sharpening. I sharpen mine on a 4" belt sander using a fine belt. The knives are between 6 and 7" long and I hold the knife on the table with the cutting face flat on the belt, but I hold it slightly at an angle across the table. Mine has 4 knives and it might take about 3-4 minutes each to sharpen them. I usually have a bucket of water ready to keep it cooled.
When the knives are sharp I just start a sapling or a handfull if smaller ones in enough to engage the knives and then go get another and feed essentially as fast as I can at my age.
I suggest you try one without a hydraulic feed, even if you rent one of the make you are considering. As I see it, you only need the hyd. feed of you are trying to feed thick bunches of something like grape vines, they tend to need a feed and might benefit from stopping and sometimes even reversing the feed.
If I feed 3-4 or even 5" trees without any heavy wide crotches, they feed perfectly every time.
One thing that does dull the knives faster is dirty or punky wood.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

scgargoyle

Did you ever get a chipper? I just got my WoodMaxx hydraulic unit up and running. It works great! My tractor is a 50 year old Ford 3000 gasser, but it seems to have plenty of power. I was worried about whether the PTO clutch was in good condition, but it pulls it no problem. Assembly and set-up was easy- some assembly, and adjusting the 3 point hitch. I had to cut the included PTO shaft. I had mine shipped to my workplace to avoid the residential delivery charge. It was just about a press fit in my van, and it would have made a cat laugh watching me get that thing out of there with my engine hoist. :D

The unit itself seems very well made, despite most of it being from China. They do make an all-USA model, but it's way out of my price range. All the parts fit together well, and I thought that the assembly instructions were fine. Oddly enough, though, they supplied stickers that they called 'decals', and said to install with soapy water. NOT. They're stickers, and will slide right off if the surface is wet.

A few other things- Ford tractors must be very low, at least the PTO. I adjusted the legs on the unit as low as they will go, and it's still higher than the tractor PTO. Seems to work OK, though. Also, with the 3 point adjusted as long as it would go, the PTO shaft is at the very low limit for cutting the length. Seeing as Ford tractors are so common, I thought that there would be more adjustability. Still, it does fit; just no wiggle room.



I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

tree-farmer

Looks great. Waiting to see how the tax return looks.
Are you clearing a large area?

Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

scgargoyle

I bought 1/2 acre (for the road frontage) recently, and it's full of small trees and old pine stumps. You can see some of it in the background of the second pic. I'm trying to get it cleaned up so I can eventually mow it. I may have to hire someone to deal with the stumps, though. Once I get that in shape, I plan to thin my woods, a little each winter. I'll cut down the small skinny trees, haul the main trunk out of the woods for firewood, and chip the brush where it lies. Should keep me entertained for a long time!
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

scgargoyle

I gave it a work-out last weekend, chipping 42 small trees in short order. I found the limit- for my tractor, anyhow. I had a 6" Virginia pine, and it struggled with that size. That's where the hydraulic control comes in handy. You can stop or reverse it before the engine dies. My Ford was 38 PTO hp 50 years ago, but it's definitely tired. It ate 4" poplars with no problem, though. I was surprised at how much you can stuff into the chute. At first, I was trimming all of the side branches off, but found they will go, for the most part. My only complaint so far is that the hydraulic speed control doesn't seem to do much. It seems to run at the same speed regardless of setting until you drop it down to about '3', where it simply stops. I need to call WoodMaxx about that. That being said, the speed it runs at works fine, so it's no big deal.
I hope my ship comes in before the dock rots!

Russ

I was looking at the Green Machine. They seem pretty Great on their advertisements . They got dealers all over just not in USA. Has any one have information ? https://www.greenmech.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/38637_GreenMech_Brochure2017Update_LowRes.pdf

Ed_K

 How big of a machine are you looking at? If just a brush type shredder I would a Dr chipper shredder would be cheaper. I finally got rid of my hand numb'r to a guy over your way. He said it works great but he gets numb hands too.
Ed K

Russ

Search over for now, I picked up a Walenstien BX40. Works nice now I sharpened and adjusted the blades. I really wanted something bigger but I'm surprised at how well this works. Where's a good place to get new blades ?

Ed_K

 I got my blades and the towns chipper blades from Bailey's.
Ed K

maple flats

I can't help you for blades, My Patu 6.5 is 28 yrs old and the blades are till good, They've likely been sharpened 50X but there's still lots of adjustment left. I was a dealer for them back in the 80-90's never had to get any sets of blades for any of the units we sold.
About stalling your tractor, if the chipper has 4 blades remove 2 opposite each other and you likely won't have any issues. The owner's manual suggests that for marginally powered tractors on the Patu. I used to for about 4 years, back in the 80's chip using a 4" on a 20HP engine tractor. I didn't need to remove half the blades, but I didn't feed in anything over 3", then I sold that one and got the 6.5" Patu, and I chipped up to about 4" with that 20HP Ford 1500. Shortly after I got a 25 HP Ford 1700 and I then chipped up to 4" still. I generally cut larger than 4" for fire my evaporator.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

Thank You Sponsors!