Bandit Chipper 90xp

Any one here ever use the Bandit 90xp...wondering how it is as a chipper, and what you paid..????

just bought 1

I just bought one on the east coast for 6g [2g to ship to the west]. 900 hours but only the Wisconsin 37hp engine. Hopefully it is as advertised. I was told by a dealer in the PNW that 12g was they wanted for a used BB90 with a 70hp engine with 1500 hrs. I have only heard good things about this model and brush bandits in general, [some do not care for wisonsin engines mind you]. I hope the folks hear can fill me in on the BB 90 idiosyncrasies as this is my first chipper.

Thanks for the info..

i have some experince with the bandit 65xl....their 6 inch chipper....i think its a pretty boss little chipper, for being 6 inches...it has a 35 hp wisconsin...seemed to be a very good engine to me...

so i think you got a good chipper going...

i too have only heard good things about the bandit...and my experince they are good

canyon, I have a 96 90xp with the 4cyl gm motor, bought it for $2800.00 but have done a lot of work to it, nice machine!!!! someone will tell you to go bigger etc... but a 9" limb is pretty large any bigger & its firewood!!

certain modifications were made to mine just for personal preference!! I actually will be selling mine after this season. it`ll be gone over this winter & ready for work in the spring ($4500.00) will take her!

reason for sale, Lookin to get out of the tree biz too many yahoos & cutthroats hard to stay legit & give your men a decent wage under the circumstances!!! thought about part time but its time to move on, going on 21yrs long enuff.

90xp decent machine!!

LXT...........

I might be interested in that machine lxt. I am in NJ and am looking to upgrade a bit from my BC625A. Let me know when I could see it.

price is great

I would have bought it but as you can see from my last post I just bought one in PA. Did you mount a winch to it? I assume you had the wisconsin motor. Any pointers on what you did to personalize/ fix your machine would be fantastic
Cheers Scott

Hey lxt,

I would be extremely interested in your over the winter sale. It can't much closer than being in PA.

A couple things I did was beef up the fenders(stock are junk) some extra bracing was also installed in certain areas as to reduce weld fatigue, Bandit`s radiators are a common problem vibration leading to leaks. Mfg recommends their rubber mount kit, I did it myself!!! replaced the international radiator with a ford rad $200 vs int $800 applied regular rubber mnts from local hardware store.

the rad kit from bandit was $1200 included taller rad which meant the cover needed shimmed & rubber mnts for rad. when all was said & done I accomplished the same thing for around $350.00 also where the rad filter is I fabbed a bolt on grill for easy removal so I can clean the rad when clogged.

NO Winch cuz the hyd. lines to the proportional valve(forward/reverse bar) would not permit it. Mine has the hand crank with chain on sprocket chute rotation. has a yoke pin & assembly for locking out the feed rollers, the unit has the ability to have the hyd. feed roller lift unit & as well the winch could mount here also.

the Gov. system was done away with as was the brain box!!! due to the fact no longer being made & the replacement unit is around $1500 I went simple with a twist/pull type throttle, set it at 2000rpm & go,drawback is one must alway be at the rev/forward bar but I think its safer.

the motor is a gm 3.0 marine motor replaced(brandnew) sept 05, belts are new, drum bearings new, carb is brand new & have the spare...very important with zenith carb machine these carbs are $8-$1200.00. I put larger tires on so no more specialty sizes!!!

I was in the process of having the sheet metal surrounding the engine completely redone & thicker gauge however the next owner can do that.

I stated above about the winch, I was going to place a winch(with fabrication ) to the top of infeed housing that way one could still get the feed roller lift assembly & not have to worry about not having either one(you could have both). hope this helped!!!

LXT.......................

thanks for taking

the time to write it out. the information is excellent. I will replace the rad mounts right away. Some o fthe information will make more sense when I have my machine in front of me.
thanks again
scott

I have a 97 model 90XP with a 4 cyl GM motor. The throttle is electronic and is a PITA we had to replace the carb last summer it was made by Zenith and cost 800. It is good for trim jobs, but too small for big removals. Keep the radiatior cleaned out daily. It will overheat every time if you dont. We started using a water hose with a spray nozzle to clean it out and if works well.

We had a lot of down time with the overheating, but now it works well.

I have a '96 90xp. It has factory winch (could not imagine a chippper with out a winch), wide fold up feed table, protected lights, large fuel tank and a 65hp wisconsin. Factory refurbished in 2003. What ever that means besides a service, paint over everything and decals. I paid $7800 two years ago.

This chipper rocks. The size and weight is perfect for my F350 diesel. I can get in some wicked spots in 4-low. I've rented the model 65's enough to know for the price this is twice the chipper. Motor is simple, dependable, air cooled, easy to find parts for.

I have seen them go on ebay with the 35 hp between $7-$10.

I could not imagine this chipper with less than 65hp. I wish I had the 80hp diesel version. With the 9"x17" opening with and dual feed rollers you can shove some wood into this machine, so much more than the 65 model, and they sell the 65 model with 35hp. The 65hp does all I need it to. I've worked land clearing where everthing under 6" gets chipped and had a skid steer feeding the chute full of poplars. Feed a 9" hickory log in and you need manually limit in feed to high rpms to prevent bog down to stall, I have no auto feed, I'd like to put a flow control valve on the feed rollers so if I was feeding in small stuff speed up, big stuff slow it down


Due to the fact there is no clutch/pto in the drivelive, the starter motor has to turn the whole system, fly/cutting wheel and hydraulics before getting the motor started. I had the starter motor replaced with one for an inline 6 diesel, she turns over fast. Been replacing all the hydraulic hoses, replaced the safety bar hydraulic valve. Put a modded model 250 chute on.
I'm going to sand blast and repaint, probably repower with another 65hp wisconsin (fully rebuilt $3300) unless I can find the diesel engine that will fit.

great info

thanks frash; good stuff.

I figured I would keep my eye out for a new motor myself, if I can get one for a deal great, if not I'm sure I'll make do. I like the idea of using a bigger starter. Did you upgrade the battery as well? I wont have mine for a week or so then I will have a better idea of whats up with it. Has anyone mounted an electric 12v winch instead of a hydraulic one. Costco has some 3G lbs for 70 bucks; seems like a cheap fix? I will try to add some pictures of my chipper feel free to comment.
Scott

wow! the wisconsin powered units are different lookin, sharp lil unit though!! I got this machine as most of my work is in tight access areas, also pulling the next size up chipper can be rough on a 1ton/pickup loaded with chips,tools,etc...

if any one needs(treepro) the zenith carb let me know I got mine brandnew(in the box) for $150.00 yes $150.00. It seems this carb was MFG for forklifts and other mill equip. in the late 60`s-early 70`s I went to an auto/electric parts provider gentleman there couldnt beleive that carb was used on 90`s machinery he said they quit makin them in the late 70`s early 80`s!! he has a bunch of em still in the box with manuals for set up,etc...

he said he cant sell them cause nobody uses them anymore!!! I told him to hang onto them(for personal reasons) he probably has 15-20 of em!!! so if anybody needs one I give ya his info!! nice ole timer!!!

nice machine mitchell.

LXT................

whoops rad mounts

Mitchell said:

the information is excellent. I will replace the rad mounts right away. Some of the information will make more sense when I have my machine in front of me.
thanks again
scott

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Looking at the pictures of the BB 90xp I have bought makes me suspect changing the rad mounts will be very easy as there looks to be exactly none.
I imagine you guys would recommend synthetic oil for any air cooled engine. My fathers on an amsoil tirade right now so thats what will end up in mine or I will never hear the end of it.

lxt said:

if any one needs(treepro) the zenith carb let me know I got mine brandnew(in the box) for $150.00 yes $150.00.
LXT................

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LXT,

I would be interested in talking to this guy. Specifically I am in need of the electronic box that controls the governor on my machine. Power great lakes says the company that made the electronic box is out of business and they are trying to find a company to outsource the rebuilding of them. Until then my 90XP is out of commission.

Any help would be appreciated

Paul

tree pro said:

LXT,

I would be interested in talking to this guy. Specifically I am in need of the electronic box that controls the governor on my machine. Power great lakes says the company that made the electronic box is out of business and they are trying to find a company to outsource the rebuilding of them. Until then my 90XP is out of commission.

Any help would be appreciated

Paul

Click to expand...

what motor do you have? My 1996 90xp with 65hp wisconsin has a mechanical governor.

by pass

tree pro said:

LXT,

I would be interested in talking to this guy. Specifically I am in need of the electronic box that controls the governor on my machine. Power great lakes says the company that made the electronic box is out of business and they are trying to find a company to outsource the rebuilding of them. Until then my 90XP is out of commission.

Any help would be appreciated

Paul

Click to expand...

can you not just by-pass the electronic control.

I finally have my 90 xp. Im going to put it to the test this morning....

tree pro, I did away with that gov. unit your right they no longer make it & I couldnt get it through the guy with the carbs either, heres the thing if your unit is like mine?

the black electronic box operates whats called a linear actuator not called a govnor, the company that makes that linear actuator & right now I dont have their name, I called them!!! thats not even supposed to be used for the purpose bandit has used it for!!! the unit in my chipper hasnt been made since 89.

I disconnected the gov & the black box their worthless, I also disconnected the murphy switch & ran all my gauges direct with inline fuses, the throttle control is worked by a twist lock throttle, ya know the red button push/pull or twist to set(dont know what name is used) I did this because the alternative was a fuel injected head with new brain box $2600.00?? I just set the rpms at 15-2000 & keep an eye on it.

heres a hint for motor parts & attachments got to a boat sevice center as that 4cyl gm is a marine engine, a local marina helped me tons!! when I get a chance Ill get the name and number of the gent with the carbs and PM it to ya.

LXT................

lXT

thanks for the advice! I thought about the twist lock throttle control last time I had to deal with this crap. My unit is a 97 and has the toggle switch throttle controls and they have always been a problem. I have so much money invested in this POS that I have become obssessed with making it run long enough to at least re-coup my investment, sell it and by another Morbark 13.

I am going to take your advice and do away with the linear activator to apply the KISS theory

I just bought an older 90 and am wondering if anyone knows where I can get a manual for it or if I really need one. I call BB today and they only have manuals for the new 90's and I don't know if it's applicable to this machine. This one is pretty old, 87 I think, it has no drop down feed table. I think I may make one for it and probably swap the engine as it only has a 30hp wisconsin. I was doing some PM (changing oils, plugs, checking knives, anvil) and I noticed it only has one cutting edge per revolution. Every chipper I've had or worked on always had 2. Are all the 90's like this or just the older ones. The only thing I can think of was it was made like this so a smaller engine could run it. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.