chipper choices for ocassional use, PTO?

[fearofpavement]

I have searched the forum for data on this but have a question. My sons are interested in having a part time tree service which will primarily involve takedowns. Hardwood trees can be cut up pretty small for firewood but loblolly and longleaf pines are often the kind of trees that people want gone out of their yard so they don't slice their house in half when they break.

That said, I am trying to come up with some type of chipper that is appropriate to the amount of usage they will put on it. (not very much) I have looked into the chuck and duck drum chippers and feel that for the money and capability they will be the best choice. One issue however is since we don't have a dump truck but have a dump trailer I am wondering about transporting all the equipment to the job site. So I am wondering about the following:

Does anyone here have any experience with pto chippers? Not interested in your opinion if you have never used one or have direct knowledge of them. I have a 50 hp diesel tractor that could run one. I like the maneuverability of them on the back of a tractor but don't want to buy something that is pretty useless.

Costwise, I think a good drum chipper would be less dollars but still collecting info. Thanks for your help.

 

[WVMtneer]

I have a smaller tractor than you and run a wallenstien bx42. I am very happy with it. I have used it for 3 years, it has a capacity up to 4 1/2 inches and i have run wood through that size. I have used it primarily for chipping rhodadendern up to 3"-3 1/2". It has a nice heavy flywheel with 3 knives that are reversable. I have not had to reverse them yet but I am real careful about not running dirty wood through it. The chute can clog when running branches through with a lot of leaves however it rarely happens to me now that I know to push the leafy branches through with larger branches, the wood chips clear the leaves.

The down side is not having hydraulic feed, you can add it but doubles the cost.

I am happy with mine for homeowner use on my 10 acres. -Keith

 

[Swamp Yankee]

I've run two

My neighbor and I both have PTO chippers. Mine is a Bearcat manual feed with 4 inch capacity. My neighbor's is a big 6 inch Farmi with hydraulic feed.

While his is faster and easier to use it's a bear to hook up and requires the tractor to have hydraulic taps to run the feed roll. His Kubota L came with the taps standard my B series doesn't have them. The Farmi is a big unit making the tractor dificult to manuever in tight quarters. It's also a heavy son of a gun we typically have to add weight to the bucket to stabilize the tractor. All that said it works great on hardwood and softwood. Hemlock and pine bows tend to plug up the discharge chute.

My Bearcat is no where near as fast as the Farmi because its manual feed but it is very easy for one person to attach to the hitch and is a more compact unit meaning you can get it through gates and trails a lot easier. It works very well with straight hardwood and softwood limbs, but it too plugs pretty easy when chipping hemlock or pine bows. The Bearcat does work well with a compact tractor. While technically we could hook the Farmi up to my B series I wouldn't want to drive that rig far or on anything but level ground.

In short if we have a lot of chipping to do we'll hook up the Farmi. If we're doing a fast clean up using the Bearcat makes more sense.

Hope this helps

Take Care

 

[Bill Becker]

I had one for 6 months to clean up brush on my property. It was not hydraulic feed. It processed brush and small wood slowly. When I started a tree service I bought a Brush Bandit model 90 disc chipper, much better performance and easier to transport.

How old are your sons? OSHA prohibits minors under 18 from operating powered wood processing machinery for commercial companies.

 

[fearofpavement]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I purchased an older Altec 12" drum chipper. It does a pretty good job but the larger diameter stuff has to be pretty short for it to not lug down too much. The one I acquired has the small ford 4 cyl. Looks to be a 2.3 liter Pinto engine to me but not sure since Ford also makes a 2.0L that looks almost the same that they put in mid 80's Ford Rangers.

regarding the ages of my sons they are currently 17 and 15. This will be their business once it gets under way. They are presently in the learning process. The chipper will get good use here on our property to clean up some Loblolly pines we are taking down and I see it as a better solution than even burning brush since we can only burn certain times of the year. Also green pine doesn't burn well and if I leave it dry up then I have a mess for weeks waiting for that to happen.

It didn't take me but a few minutes with the chipper to understand fully the "chuck and duck" nomer it has acquired. (I was already aware of it but the book learning became experiential learning)

Now gotta work on that rope climbing thing...