# considering a Vermeer 925 chipper, $4,000---- i need some opinions.



## MillerTreeMN (Jul 7, 2010)

sorry its alot to read... 


My current setup-

2006 F350 crew cab / long bed 4x4 6.0Diesel with mods

2010 dump trailer, 18 foot x 8 foot deck over

2009 John Deere 2320 4x4 diesel tractor with pallet forks, and a bucket attachment

2007 Rayco 1635 Super Junior stump grinder. 


whats missing? SOME sort of a chipper. i dont "mind" dumping brush in the trailer with the tractor, cutting it with the big saw to buck it down, and drop logs on it to pack it down... straps... take it to the dump. 

BUT................................. if i had me a little chipper... it would save ALOT of room, instead of fighting all the brush to fit in the trailer, we could chip into the trailer. 


so a friend of mine has a 2004 ? Vermeer 925 ? chipper for sale. now, i put the ???? signs cause its either a 925 or 935, but i thought he said it had a 25 horse power motor. anyways. about 425 hours on it, for....... $4,000 bucks. and i KNOW he takes pretty good care of his equipment. 


so, i know its a VERY entry level chipper... but, i could pull it into the trailer behind the tractor, and chip into the trailer with it. im also planning on buying an F150, so one person could tow the chipper with the F150, then id be in the F350 with the tractor and the stump grinder in the dump trailer, we would have everything i need at the job......

your opinions???????????????????????

thanks


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## arbor pro (Jul 8, 2010)

MillerTreeMN said:


> sorry its alot to read...
> 
> 
> My current setup-
> ...



$4k for any size entry level chipper is not a bad price if it's been well-maintained. That said, it's all a question of how much time do you want to spend 'babysitting' a small chipper and cutting stuff up smaller to feed through it vs going with a bigger infeed and spending your time dragging brush to it?

I've used 6" on up to 18" chippers and the right size to use depends on a few things: 

1) volume of workload - would you be able to take on more workload by going with a bigger chipper that gets the job done faster or would you just be sitting idly by waiting for more work to come your way? If the latter, the smaller chipper is probably fine. If the first, you'd probably make more money by going with a bigger chipper that gets you in and out of each job faster.

2) Location of workload - are you going to be driving the chiptruck and chipper on lawns that would get easily damaged by a heavier setup or would most of your work be done from driveways or roads that could support a heavier setup? 

3) Type of workload - are you doing mostly pruning of 6" and smaller debris or also doing a number of removals? If the first, a 6" or 9" chipper would likely be your best bet since most of the branches would likely be cut up smaller anyway and not require a lot of extra pruning to feed into the chipper. If you're doing larger removals, the smaller chipper will require more cutting up of debris and you'd likely make a bigger profit by just hauling everything in your dump trailer since you'd be having to haul the larger debris anyway - UNLESS, your cutting the bigger stuff into firewood and don't want to deal with the branches and firewood logs being tangled together in the dump trailer.

Now that I have an 18" chipper again, I will not be going back to a 12" or smaller again. Even for smaller jobs, the debris feeds SO MUCH FASTER with a large infeed machine vs a smaller one. And it's nice to be able to feed huge branches through without all the limbing. The downside is the big chipper requires a big chip truck which I now have to buy since by 1-ton just can't handle all the weight well enough.

I HATED my bandit 200+ (with narrow infeed) because it took so much babysitting and time to cut stuff up smaller vs an 18" machine. If I ever had to go with a 12" machine again, I would definitely get a 200+ or 1250 machine with a WIDE infeed table. I just don't think I would want a vermeer 935 or 625 as it would take too much limbing and frustration to get gnarly stuff through it.

Again, consider all 3 of the aforementioned questions I asked to help you decide which is best. If the 9" sounds right for you, then $4k sounds like a reasonable price. I just question how happy you'd be with it in the long run.


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## MillerTreeMN (Jul 8, 2010)

arbor pro- thanks for all the thoughts / insight

95% of my work is residential. sometimes we drag the brush out, sometimes we haul it on the forks of the tractor and dump it in the trailer or on the street. 

the guy who owns the small chipper says he RARELY has to haul brush out... the machine is small enough, people let him drive it into their back yards and chip into the woods / or in a pile and leave the chips. huge bonus there ! 



one thing i did not mention, is my brother has a Vermeer BC1400, and a sub contractor / climber friend of mine, has a Rayco 12 " chipper. the problem is, THOSE ARENT MY MACHINES and while i could always rent or borrow the Rayco- its parked 15 minutes from me, meaning i have to rent it ( $$$ ) then i have to pick it up, drive it to the job, and drive it back. thats over an hour just to pick it up and return it... time is money. 


so, while i do have LARGE chippers available, its not like they are parked in my drive way ready to go. they are "on call" so to speak, WHEN the owners are available. 

i could have used a chipper today, on all 3 jobs. 


i might borrow it for a week or so and see if i like it, or hate it.


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## MillerTreeMN (Jul 8, 2010)

and another thing is, even with only chipping what it can chip, and throwing the 8 inch plus sized wood on top of the chips... i have to think i would still be saving ALOT of room with the brush....


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## arbor pro (Jul 9, 2010)

MillerTreeMN said:


> and another thing is, even with only chipping what it can chip, and throwing the 8 inch plus sized wood on top of the chips... i have to think i would still be saving ALOT of room with the brush....



No doubt you'll save room. And it's certainly easier to feed brush into a chipper than to jump up and down on it in a dump trailer. Been there, done that. If the 935 is in good condition, buy it and give it a whirl for a year or so. The price sounds right. You'll understand what I mean by having to limb stuff up though. Maybe that won't be a problem for you but, for me, it got old and both me and my ground guy got tired of feeling 'beat up' by fighting stuff into my narrow infeed 200+. It was a great chipper but it just took too much work to get the larger material into it. Anything over 6" always went into the trailer.

Regardless of the log diameter capacity, the infeed table size makes a big difference and I just think it makes the job of chipping both brush and logs so much easier when you have a wide infeed that can handle some of the wide crotches without having to constantly trim stuff up. I don't mean to knock smaller chippers as they certainly have their place in our field. I just don't like the narrow infeed tables on most of them. 95% of my work is residential also. Last week, I cut down and chipped 4 large canada red cherry trees. No branch was over 8" in diameter but it would have taken us at least 2 hours with my old 200+ to chip the same pile we chipped with my 1800 machine in 30 minutes using my mini skid to feed it. No way you could feed that 200+ with the narrow infeed with a skid steer. Tried it, didn't work. 

The larger machines may seem like overkill on pruning and small removal jobs but it sure does get the job of chipping done fast and my ground guy sure is a lot happier with the bigger chipper than he was with the smaller one. Just a lot easier to feed the material. 

Good luck with the 935. I like vermeer chippers so I think it is probably a good machine and will serve you well. If the need arises in the future to go bigger, you should easily be able to sell it and get your money back out of it.

I would; however, do some more checking into the engine size. 25hp sounds too small for that machine. I've never seen one with less than 35hp and the 50hp is ideal from what I've heard.


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## outonalimbts (Jul 11, 2010)

*I bought a bandit 90 a few years back...*

My bandit 90 had a 37 hp Wisconsin engine, it did the job okay. The problem was that it wasn't well maintained at the landscapers lot I got it from. They didn't change the oil regularly, they allowed their laborers to maintain it, which they didn't and finally they processed all kinds of **** thorough it!!!

When I received it, it needed much to get it into shape- All for 5 K! We used that chipper for about 4 months when the engine blew, no oil... grrrr!

I have recently installed a 4 cylinder ford industrial, water cooled engine- 110 hp, wow what a difference! This little 9, chips like a vermeer 1000. 

I still must operate the feed lever myself as the groundies can't seem to hear the engine bogging down... but it works great.

To chip or not to chip isn't the question- If you are serious about saving labor time and willing to invest the money then a chipper is a perfect choice for your business! An ornamental cherry tree that is 15' tall and 20' wide will fill a 8x6x4 trailer full of material in lengths- the same tree chipped will take about 3X7x2 in the back of a truck with a few logs thrown on top!

Our little 90 is a great machine, if we need a bigger unit we hire one for the project no big deal... 

If you only need to cut trees down and not haul them at all then don't buy a chipper, however if you need to haul them a chipper is the way to go- you cut hours off your clean up time by loading brush into your truck as chips.

Take care, 

:chainsawguy:


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## arbor pro (Aug 3, 2010)

*well...*

Miller,

You ever buy that 935?


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