advice on wood chipper

[outofmytree]

Bah humbug! Splash out on a 1590 and smile as you feed whole trees though her!

Or maybe not. Towing 3700 kg isnt something you would want to do with a pick up and the throw on this baby would would push your truck into the river!

Hey I'm just proud of my baby ok?!?! :greenchainsaw:

 

[D Mc]

D Mc.
Thats the show i want to put on. Nice looking truck and chipper. How do you get the chips out of your tuck? Shovel? That was my idea, just a little more work at the end of the day, i can do that.

As you have figured out, we use the Loadhandler to unload chips and wood. Been using these for years and they perform as advertised. We will go through approximately 2 drag sheets per year which cost about $20/each. They will easily unload anything you can fit in your pickup.

For those of you who have the dismal experiences with the 625, unless you have tried operating it with the auto feed disconnected, you still don't have a realistic idea of what it is capable of. With 4 inch limbs and sharp blades you can set the feed roller at its fastest setting and it will flat out devour brush and make landscape quality chips.

Dave

 

[bighugetrees]

We should be able to agree on this: Bigger chipper will eat more. Needs more people to keep it in the material. Needs bigger truck to catch all the chips. Needs more work to keep busy and in the money.

Bigger can and is often better, but not always. But I am more the turtle and not the rabbit.

Thank you.

 

[mikemcC]

We have a Rayco 6'' chipper with the 35hp motor on it and its not a bad little machine. It does take a lot of cutting when you have a lot of crotchy material to chip. Its not a bad machine for when you are just starting out. We recently just picked up a bandit 150xp with a jd deere diesel so our little rayco will be going up for sale soon.

 

[Rftreeman]

I think he'd be ok with the 625, I have an old 12" chuck & duck that kicks ass and a friend has the 625, it works well if you know it's limits but if I have the brush cut right my chuck & duck will run circles around that 625.

 

[wiseman]

Well thanks again for all the insight. I think I'm going to wait and see what comes up for sale in my area. I'm sold on either the Racyo or Vermeer. The chuck n duck just doesn't seem to fit with my attitude towards safety. And I'm not going for production as much as quality, I get enough kicks during the week doing big removals. I will look into the Loadhauler as well, my father said they aren't worth the #### you put in them, but he's kinda negative.

 

[fishercat]

we started out with a 625 and still have it.

works great for chipping brush.they need to be fine tuned by folks who know them well.it has saved out hides on some big jobs when the big machines crapped out.it beats the round bacon out of a Canadian liberal versus hauling brush away whole.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Find a 6 inch bandit if you can, its 3 times the machine of the rayco or vermeer.

 

[fishercat]

i do agree with this.

Find a 6 inch bandit if you can, its 3 times the machine of the rayco or vermeer.

Bandit always seems like the better option.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Bandit always seems like the better option.

Most of the time unless you happen to live in NZ. They sell a few that come out of the factory with faults so bad they would not dare sell them in there home market in the US. A few owners in NZ have paid big bucks for NEW bandit chippers (and we are talking about 25K USD for a 6 inch here) from an official bandit agent to find they require work done to them in very short operational time just to operate them. The agent here has been doing miracles to keep people happy, but bandit seems to do NOTHING to back him up. Happened with 6's and 9's so far. One owner I know of had to have one of a pair of blades adapted because a normal matching pair on his machine wouldnt work because the cutting wheel hadnt been made right. So he has to do this with every blade change.

NOT GOOD BANDIT. (yeah I bring this up every time just to remind bandit that just because they have swept the mess under the carpet, its still going to be found and dealt with my someone)

 

[BewtifulTreeMan]

My advice

If you must make it work with your f150, I say get a trailer.

I have a 12'x8' single axle trailer, it weighs about 800lbs empty (It was my first peice of equipment). I can cram a ton(or more) of slash in there and all I need to do to unload it is throw a rope across the trailer before I load it, tie a running bowline around the slash, and then tie a bowline around something at the dump, drive forward til the slash comes out, push it back a bit with the truck/trailer, untie the rope, and I'm on my way. Usually I am in and out of the dump in under 15 minutes and it costs me $30 or less in dump fees. Or I can lie and say it's from my house in the city - then its free, but i try not to do that too often!

I got my trailer for $1000 new (this was 6 years ago, might be a bit more now). You could probably tow something like a 14' double axle trailer with an F150 - put some high sides on it and cram maybe 5000lbs of slash in there!

Nice thing about a trailer is; towing 3000 lbs is much easier on your truck then hauling 3000lbs in the bed of your truck. Thats about what a full load of chips in a long box with 4' sides weighs - 3000lbs. Plus you still have the bed of your truck for tools!

I currently use a 1 ton landscape dump with plywood sides, a big 16" chuck and duck chipper for every job, plus a 3/4 ton pickup and my old trusty trailer for hauling wood on removals. The trailer still comes in handy for hauling slash on certain jobs - like juniper bush removals.

Even Small 12" chuck and duck chippers weigh close to 4000 lbs - thats gonna feel pretty heavy even when your truck is empty. When you have a full load of chips you better drive really slow and leave your self plenty of time to stop.

As far as the 6" vermeer, I would say save your money and put it towards something more productive.

Everybodies circumstances are different. It depends on how you can effeciently dispose of chips/slash. Good luck and make sure you have fun with it!

wow that was too long

 

[arbor pro]

Good used 1-ton with dump bed (flat or with sides) and under-body tool boxes for saws & rigging gear: $8k

Used bandit 150 or 200 series disk chipper: $7500

Custom-built chip box out of treated wood and 3/4" plywood (repainted every 2 years and lasts several years if built well): $300 - the space between the chip box and pickup cab is for my mini skid steer with grapple.

Total investment: $15,800. Monthly bank payment: $300.

$ saved each month by using this setup vs a 6" chipper and load handler or scooping out the chips: 15-20 hrs @ $65/hr labor rate = $1300 (if you were working on other jobs rather than waiting for the chipper to chip or scooping out chips rather than dumping them off).

The amount of work you have lined up will dictate what equipment to use. If you can do more jobs in a month's time by using the bigger equipment then, go bigger. You'll make more money in the long run. On the other hand, if you find that you have nothing better to do with your 15-20 hours per month than to wait for your 6" chipper to chip and to scoop out chips from your pickup bed then stay with the smaller equipment. You'll make more money that way.

When I first started out, I used a 6" chipper and chipped into my pickup bed with plywood lined around it. I did that for my first year just so I could appreciate the 12" chipper and dump truck I bought the next year. I then wondered how I ever did without a 12" chipper and dump truck. It's simply 4x more efficient than the other setup.