DR chipper - initial impressions

dbotos · May 6, 2009

As a follow-up to a previous thread ( http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=97641 ), I pulled the trigger on the medium size DR chipper (16.5 ft-lbs) with the extended discharge chute:

http://drpower.com/wood-chippers_engined.aspx

Took a little less than a week to get here and actually arrived a day earlier than the tracking had predicted (that was refreshing). Pickup at the truck depot was easy - they just forked the crate onto my trailer (even with the ramp tailgate down), I strapped it down, and away we went.

Assembly was easy as well - bust it out of the crate, connect the intake funnel with six bolts, and the discharge chute with two. Fill it with oil and gas and it's ready to go.

I wheeled it out into the back yard and started feeding it some decent-sized branches which it digested easily. Even fed it a little locust, which it did fine with too. It wheels around by hand rather well on flat ground and slight inclines, but I also stuck a 2" coupler in place of the pin hitch setup to tow it with the ATV (which I tried last night and works well). Wheeled it up onto the trailer last night and now I need to make a chip box for it, which will also sit on the trailer.

Here's what I like about the unit:

-B&S engine easy to maintain/repair/replace
-has handled everything that fits in the intake so far
-intake funnel has a nice wide angle to accept bendable side branches
-ability to wheel around by hand or tow
-discharge chute is nice for broadcasting onto ground or shooting into a container (tried it with a trashcan so far)
-can put it up on trailer and take to jobs for on- or off-trailer chipping
-good solid construction and greaseable bearings
-heavy flywheel takes about a minute to spin down after shutoff

I'll have to snap some pics of it up on the trailer once I get my chip box done.

bowtechmadman · May 6, 2009

Nice review...I put about 8 hours on my neighbors DR chipper and came to many of the same conclusions. Hope it continues to run well for you.

WildnCrazyGuy · May 6, 2009

I got apparently the same unit you got back in October 2008. A great unit for a homeowner that has trees in the yard. You can take the sapplings and get rid of them easily, any blowdowns, and my trees like to self-prune themselves during windy days, no problem. A great all around unit.

My mom and dad have one of the MTD chipper/shredders you probably see at Lowe's or Home Depot. Takes up to 3" stuff. Well, I used that for a while and wasn't really wanting to spend the kind of money this DR costs for what I thought to be similar, but maybe a little better in performance, but I was dead wrong. The DR is probably 10-15 times more the machine. Now, I still think it's overpriced by about 700.00 or so, and that's before they raised the prices this year, but hopefully over time, I'll forget about that.

I'm very pleased with my DR chipper so far. I do think the add on discharge chute should be a given. Why sell it any other way, other than to be something they can make a few more dollars on I guess. The only complaint I have really is the wide hopper. It's actually great, until you're not too careful while working around it and one of the sharp corners get's you. I'm gonna have to rig it with some kind of rubber cushions or something. I haven't gotten bitten bad yet, and it's one of those, get me once, now I know all about you things, so you're more carefull around it, but still those corners are SHARP!

dbotos · May 6, 2009

One of those MTD chippers is what the DR replaced. I agree - the DR is in a whole different leauge. Makes me appreciate the DR more having used one of those. I've yet to run into the corner of the hopper, but give me time.

Might be able to adapt some furniture-style corner protectors to it...

MonkeyMan_812 · May 6, 2009

Had a customer who had a bunch of damage. Ended up going back twice to do more work. I guess it cost him to much to have me do it all so he bought him one of those. Now he only calls me to drop trees for him. No cleanup, I like it that way.

dbotos · May 6, 2009

Well, it works in the rain too...

Coworker's neighbor had some branches they needed to dispose of and I needed chips for the lawn (I hate mowing - especially the hills - I'm going to cover the whole lawn in chips). It had been raining on and off this evening and I figured I could scoot over there in between showers. Well, apparently I picked a bad time cause the rain didn't stop. I was out there in my bright yellow poncho and forestry helmet getting rained on while I fed the chipper. I didn't get a chance to make the chip box yet, so I just shot them into a wheel-around 65-gallon trash can. Chipping on the trailer worked great - I'm sure it'll be even more enjoyable when I'm not getting soaked and the sun is out. :cheers: