Chipper Hours

[DDM]

Just out of Idle Curiosity How many hours Does your chipper have on it? At How many Hours did you start to have mechanical issues? I Have been looking at a few used chippers that have between 2600- 3200 Hrs And thought these must be about worn out.

 

[Stumper]

My Olathe reads 288.3. Since the machine is over 20 years old and I've put about 90 hours on it myself I suspect that it has either rolled over 10,000 hours or has a replacement hour meter. My Wood Pro doesn't have a meter but it has several years of serious use on it. What is there to wear out really? Engines can go a LONG time if maintained (oil changes et al.) The bearings last a long time if lubed and are not enormously expensive to replace. Ditto Hydraulic pumps and motors. Knives are wear items. Belts are wear items. If the machine is running when you buy it and the engine seems okay, it probably will go a long time. You can renew a LOT of parts before you get to the cost of a new machine. This is one of those things that depends on the owners attitude and preferences. Despite the conventional "wisdom" about used equipment "Nickle and diming you to death." I have not found it so. :angel:

 

[Nickrosis]

2200 hours on our Morbark 17. It's had a lot of work done to it, but it keeps running. More reliable than our new 13 Tornado. Autofeed's long been disconnected

 

[DDM]

Okay Because I presently own a Chuck-N-Duck and do not have much experience with a Disk machine. I'snt a Disk machine with the auto feed disconected a Beast to operate?

 

[Nickrosis]

You just keep a hand on the stop/reverse bar. When it bogs, you stop the wheels until the RPMs pick up, then you keep going. Pretty standard dealy. You always would do that before autofeed. We only have autofeed hooked up on the new one.

 

[xander9727]

My woodsman 15x has 65 hours on it and I've had no problems.

 

[Nickrosis]

Amazing! That's longevity, folks.

 

[xander9727]

What do you expect. I only run it 15 minutes on most jobs unless I have to do a lot of winching. It will take limbs faster than 4 men can feed it.

 

[a_lopa]

wouldnt touch em

 

[NeTree]

Let's see...

The Altec has 1800 hrs. No problems yet that weren't caused by "outside" factors. (Like driving a truck into the radiator...)

The Vermeer 1250's had 4,400;5,100; and 3,800 with no problems. (All had 6 cyl. gas engines).

The Bandit ... 140 hours, nothing BUT problems. Still down, and going bye-bye. Nothing runs like a Deere... my arse.

 

[kurtztree]

My whisper chipper has 3800 hours on it. No problems with it so far.

 

[Stumper]

Eric, You know the saying at ALLIS CHALMERS -"Nothing runs like a Deere-or smells like one."

 

[Sep]

Brush Bandit 250 with john deere engine, 3700 hours no problems. Nothing runs like a deere.



Sep

 

[Nickrosis]

Whoa, sounds like we could be in rut in this thread!

 

[xander9727]

I've never seen that happen before on this site!

 

[Xtra]

380 hours on my Morbark 2100D, 130hp perkins
- I've been using it for 5 months, 5 days a week (about 3 - 4 hrs per day) & have serviced the blades five times and change the oil every 100 hrs.

No problems so far.

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by Stumper
Eric, You know the saying at ALLIS CHALMERS -"Nothing runs like a Deere-or smells like one."

Good one!

 

[begleytree]

I have an old '90 model Morbark 209 with 4.9 I6 gas engine. No hour meter. I'd be afraid to say how many hours are on it.
Last year the radiator (stupid angle mount that catches all the leaves from the chip bed) never got blown out like it was supposed to (prob my fault) and blew the head gasket and cracked the head. I had a buddy with a 86 F-150 same motor, bought it wrecked for the motor for $100 and swapped it in.
No problems outside that. Of course the normal Hyd motor, lines, tires and a set of brake shoes. It was a rental unit for contractors before I snagged it so I knew it was serviced well. Runs every day smooth.... new blades yesterday. Today its eating 8" dia sycamore about 30 feet long off a (previously topped) removal, no auto feed, just feed it and walk away, let it eat. About 1 hour per dump load.
If the ones you are looking at are maintained, I'd not be afraid to go with one of them.
My$0.02
-Ralph

 

[Ax-man]

Rule of thumb -- 1 hr. on an hour meter = 40 mi. on an odometer.

If the chippers your looking are diesel discs, have had good maintence and not been abused and banged up, I would say they have used up about half of their useful life.

Key to buying used equipment is knowing the machines history and previous owners and how they treat their equipment. I've seen 2 to 3 year old equipment with low hours, but look like they have been in a war. If a chipper has come from a tree company that foucuses on production only, you can almost bet they don't do much maintence, outfits like this just use em up, then trade them off for new machines and the process starts over.

My two penny input, for what it is worth

Larry

 

[Robh]

I own a 1967 Mitts and Merrel with prob something like a millon hours on it. Ive owned it for 1.5 years now with no probs yet!!!!Rob