looking at used chipper tomorrow

[massarborist]

Hello all, this is my first post. I have been following the site for a few years. I am both ISA and Mass. Certified Arborist. Have a degree in horticulture/arboriculture from UNH. I have run a small residential tree and landscape business in central Mass for over 13 years. Tomorrow a local equipment dealer is coming to a job site to demo a used chipper. I saw it in person at the dealership, I just want to see how it works. It is a 2002 Morbark Model 2070 ten inch diameter, Caterpillar diesel engine. Needs a paint job, auto feed isn't working. I would be buying as is. Asking price is $7,500.00. It has been sitting on the lot for close to 18 months. Original price was $8,000.00. What do you guys think? I had an old chipper, actually a 1998 Morbark with a 35 Wisconsin gas engine. The engine blew. Cost for a replacement engine, new battery, tax, shipping, is over $5,000.00. The subcontracting for the chipping in the last three months has been ove $3,000.00. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[tree md]

How many hours?

Mobark makes a good chipper in my experience. Auto feed could be a pretty simple fix, yet complicated. Ours quit working and it turned out to be a short in the wiring. Still had to trace it which was a biotch.

Paid 11K for a 9", 98 Brush Bandit back in 07. It had been owned by a municipality and only had 3 hours on it. It had been garaged, was and still is in great condition.

If it has been sitting for awhile be prepared to replace all the hydraulic lines. Trust me, if they have dry rotted it will eat time and money having to replace them one by one on the jobsite. Best to just go ahead, bite the bullet and replace them all. They're pretty cheap anyway.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

[tree md]

Also meant to mention that you will get three times the life out of a diesel engine. Much better to go with the diesel.

Lot's of equipment on the market now. Lots of guys going out of business or just dumping their equipment (around here anyway). If your not in that big of a hurry you might want to keep your eyes peeled for a better deal. There are some smoking deals coming around now.

 

[bass_on_tap]

The dealer wouldn't happen to be Cleaves, would it?

 

[ronnyb]

You can find lots of equipment online at machinerytrader.com or treetrader.com.

 

[lone wolf]

I hate dealers they are liars as far as selling you something that needs autofeed tell him to get lost autofeed can cost about 400- 500 dollars.in an economy like this I would think you will have lots of machines to look at just my opinion .

 

[massarborist]

Chipper demo of the Morbark was this morning. Didn't like it. It had a dual feed wheel, the brush kept getting stuck on the lip behind the lower feed wheel. We were fighting to get the stuff in. The dealer was Cleaves. The salesperson was kind off to stay so that we could finish the job and I could get paid in full. I've tried treetrader, and get the machinery trader ads in the mail periodically. I'll keep looking. My old chipper, which is half the size of the one I tried today, works a lot better. Thanks for all your feedback.