chipper which to buy which not to buy

[CalTreeEquip]

That's what I thought and that's my point. Bearing go, if you don't catch them they will ruin the axil. With the older BC1000's you can't replace just the axil you have to replace the whole drum. That is just one of the design flaws of the machine, one that I believe they have corrected. They are good machines for the money, no doubt, and I have seen plenty with high hours on them that have never had a problem.
I have also seen a few with really low hours that have smoking engines and bad bearings and drums, sometimes with catastrophic failure.
It along with the BC1400 and BC1800 I will not buy without first inspecting thoroughly first.
Compare that with a Bandit which I am always happy to buy, sight-unseen, with low hours.

 

[BTL]

We have an 04 Bandit 254 with a winch and 2600hr and it chips extremely well. The machine has the 140hp Perkins with the extra wide feed system and we tow it with a gas. We are about to put the machine are up for sale for a bigger one after having it for 2 years. I know the large ones can get tricky to pull with smaller engine trucks but they make up for that in raw power. The easy of use and efficiency of a large chipper for a 2 man crew is incredible. Like the gentleman above said buy the most power with the lowest hours you can.

BTL

 

[TimberMcPherson]

A diesel powered 6" chipper with sharp knives / properly adjusted anvil will do a lot more than the general opinion expressed here. And it will tow a lot easier behind a small truck, and be easier to back up into tight spots. And cost less to operate and maintain. (And is totally inefficient if the job requires a 12" chipper.) I only wish I had a larger machine on maybe 1 outta every 10 jobs I do.

Chippers like all equipment are equally valuable or worthless dependent on there environment including

Budget
Tow vehicle
chip box size
fuel costs
dumping access and costs
size of crew
value of firewood
drive on access
drag out access
support machinery
off road use
storage
Parking
Size of trees
species of trees
nature of work
access to servicing
cost of labor
etc etc etc

Theres no point owning a 18 inch if you cant tow it, get it up driveways, or only do light trims part time

And theres no point owning a 6 inch if your doing massive roadside dismantles with a large crew, crane and excavator.


The right size chipper will be money in the bank, the wrong one will sink you.
Its your work environment that will decide which.

(but dont go near the 6 inch vermeer, its anorexic)

 

[AshTree]

1 Ton Dual or Single Wheel?

If your running a Dual One Ton you can manage the bigger stuff, but unless your truck is built Rock Solid a 12" chipper is a lot for a One Ton, Day in Day out, it can be hard on the truck especially full loaded. Best Chipper is the one you can afford bottom line but I would have an old, trustworthy and seasoned treeman with you when you go to look at stuff. He has nothing invested in the machine and will help you keep your head cool and also not let you pass up a good deal. I recently helped a friend get back up and running with a truck a chipper and he was under a lot of pressure and I had to help him along through the process.

He got a 1 Ton Dually Dodge Cummings and he just picked up a Bandit 150, nice set up and the chipper was in good shape for its age. To be honest, most of what vermeer is selling... Its junk, it's poorly designed, under-built and a nightmare to fix. Bandit or Morbark are Great Units, I've owned 3 morbark chippers and can tell you they are built like tanks, made for the abuse we put can them through... Bandit's are built lighter but they do not comprise quality.

You have to look at how many removals you do to figure the size of machine you need. You may also think about how often your able to access trees from the front and weather your taking or leaving wood most of the time. That's all critical in how much chipper your going to need, but whatever you buy MAKE SURE ITS DIESEL. That is an absolute, any gas chipper will be slow and ineffective and possibly very problematic down the road, if it's infeed is too large for the motor the motor will go. You may hear a few other opinions, ignore them, just look at the rpm / torque curve chart for gas and diesel engines and you'll begin to understand.

Also, a 65xp with a diesel is a great startup chipper, just try to avoid the Duetz Diesel, it's not a good engine long term, Hatz or Lombardi is much better for that sized unit, small CAT's are also junk, stay far far away from them. I know a lot of guys who have built themselves from the ground up with a 65xp, just make sure its diesel, and your core business is not doing removals most the time, other wise bigger is better and then get a bigger chipper. Look up what you can tow and what your local bylaws are for trucks and wieght ratings and that too.

 

[Broken Branch]

We have a Vermeer 1230, its a 98 model with 1900 hrs, always towed behind a one ton with no issues. It is for sale now due to getting a 17" morbark for all these eab removals. Asking 7000 , pm me if you would like more info.