Looking to buy chipper, please school me on these

[Goose IBEW]

I am in the market for a used chipper and really need to be schooled on these. The only one I have really known was an ancient chuck and duck with a round chute and a Detroit 3-53 diesel, no blower. I loved the sound of that old engine screaming and it was stone reliable but the chipper itself was lack luster at best. The adjustments for the base anvil were rusted tight, only was good for 3" branches. I think if I could have gotten the base anvil re sharpened it would have been a bit better. The leading edge was rounded off, not square. Onto the current topic:

I am mechanically capable and proficient at welding so a machine that needs work is fine but I rather steer away from ones that are difficult to work on.

I am leaning towards a diesel. I have a 100 gal transfer tank and believe it would be better to keep all of my trucks and big equipment drinking the same fuel. Cummins, Deere, Perkins? I know the 4B Cummins is a heck of an engine but how do the others stack up?

I am steering away from the c&d chippers as I do not want to kill amateur ground hands.

My budget is meek, in the $5,000 range but I have seen some diesel disc chippers in that range.

I am leaning towards a 12 inch auto feed disk chipper. Most wood bigger than 4" goes towards firewood, I was figuring on the 12" being a good size to swallow branches without excessive sawing to break them down.


Here is where the questions start. Brands???? Badger, Salsco, Morbark, Vermeer, Bandit, the list goes on. I was liking the looks of the Bandits but hear them getting trashed on older threads. Come to find out there are auto feed drum chippers now, how do these stack up against the disk units? Any insight is much appreciated.

 

[MyTreeServices]

I would stay away from salsco, worst chipper ever made, brush Bandit , vermeer, good old badger will do the job fine , in around your budget u might be able to find the old 9 inches for 5k 1986 to 1989,


good luck and be safe with that chuck and duck

 

[Goose IBEW]

Going to look at a 12" gas Badger in the morning. Its a one owner machine and the guy insists that he paints it for me, I get to choose the color. He has it painted his company color and doesn't really want his colors outside his company. It's a late 80's model with the 4 cylinder Ford industrial engine. He says it could use plugs and wires, muffler, in feed springs, and it has a automotive style air filter housing currently that he recommends changing out to a snorkel type assembly.

He bought new engine housing tins, fenders and tires for it to clean up its appearance a bit and has upgraded to two large Bandits.

I know I wanted a diesel but this one owner machine just may be what I need to get out there and do some real work. Carting whole branches is a huge hassle.:msp_thumbdn:

 

[Goose IBEW]

Picking up my freshly painted chipper tomorrow.

 

[Goose IBEW]

I got my chipper today

Here's a run down of what I got myself into:

1987 Badger ??400 chipper
Purchase price: $2700

4 cyl Ford gasser, Starts relatively easily, runs rather well. The coil cuts out occasionally, needs new wire harness to it. Needs new muffler, needs snorkel intake as seller described, some gauges need replaced, oil change, pressure wash as the engine was not painted. Some vacuum caps on carb may be passing air, radiator needs flush and refill. not too bad considering its age if you ask me. The governer needs a bit of attention. There is a 3/8-16 bolt that attaches a piece of linkage to it that pivots on the bolt. The inset on the governer is stripped, I'm hoping a heli-coil will fix this. There is a rather hokey home made throttle linkage made out of perforated flat stock, this will probably be replaced with a locking throttle cable when I get a chance but actually works rather well to my surprise.

Belts are serviceable, PTO engages nicely, chute rotates and operates as it should. Needs sharpening. The belt guard needs some hardware as it is just sitting there with nothing attaching it securely.

Hydraulic system: needs new fluid and filter, the feed rate adjustment is bypassed, definitely need this remedied. The lower hydraulic motor flops around as the infeed wheels rotate. This is my biggest concern as I do not know how this is assembled as of yet.

It has 31x10.50-15 inch truck tires on it. They seem rather soft for the weight of the thing but I haven't checked them for air yet. Probably gonna max out the air pressure and let 'em ride. The lights need to be re mounted and wired, getting the paper work and tag tomorrow. It was painted I.H.White, the color of my choice. Fair paint job, the machine has a lot of blemishes, as good as I expected for a quick spray job.


I figured I'd share my purchase, its strong points and its shortcomings so others can gauge what they are buying or selling. I am happy to have a disc chipper. For the price, it beats a chuck and duck for my application. Feel free to comment, good or bad. :smile2:

 

[MyTreeServices]

Look Like u got your hand full in fixing this thing u could a get a refurbish with a warranty for 5 g and they look brand new.


1998 Morbark Model 200 - Commercial Wood Chipper | eBay

 

[Goose IBEW]

Look Like u got your hand full in fixing this thing u could a get a refurbish with a warranty for 5 g and they look brand new.


1998 Morbark Model 200 - Commercial Wood Chipper | eBay

That is quite a good deal, too bad they seem to pop up AFTER you buy something. I installed a new muffler, changed the fluids, flushed the radiator, heli coiled the governor, installed a new coil harness, put the lights on, fixed all of the vacuum leaks, titled and tagged it today. About a hundred and twenty bucks for everything, not too bad.

I also insured and put tags back on the dump truck today. I extended the sides up to the height of the headache board and am headed out to do some tree work tomorrow. Guess I should start a new thread with some pics.

 

[Goose IBEW]

Blade and anvil maintenance

I dug into the chipper some more today. Luckily the back sides of the blades were still sharp so I flipped them. I also took the anvil out and as I suspected the leading edge was rounded. There were two sides still square so I flipped that around to a better leading edge.

There was like a 1/4 inch of space between the anvil and the knives. Isn't that quite excessive? I adjusted it as best I could. The inside edge of the outer blade I got to about 42-45 thousandths of an inch but that left the outer edge at over 65 thousandths. The inside blade was at about 65 thousandths all the way around. I am guessing my blades are out of square.????? I am hoping to buy 2 sets of blades in short order. I am guessing that I am on the right track with adjustment, we will see this week.:msp_thumbsup:

 

[Goose IBEW]

The blade adjustment was a huge success. I was throwing 8" pine in it and it handled it like a champ. The engine even runs cooler because its working less. I still am going to pull the radiator and have it cleaned, and put a new temp gauge on it. I need to get the intake to some cooler air as well, the filter is right on top of the carb, under the hot cowling, not the best setup. Pretty solid for an old rig though.