Need advise on a chipper

RichardS · Sep 22, 2010

Hi, I"m brand new to the site.

I live in the foothills above Los Angeles. Most everything on these hills is Chaparral. Tons of small bushy plants that usually have 3 to 4 inch bases.

I currently have an older Bearcat 71620 6" gravity feed chipper with a 20 hp Kohler engine on it. The Bearcat will handle anything I feed it but it takes a huge amount of time forcing all of the brush into it with a large stick or anything else i can find.

I need something relatively small (less than 6' wide) that can grab this stuff and feed it without having to spend all day forcing it into the mouth of the machine. I was looking at a Vermeer 600 XL and a Bandit 65 XP. I could go for a larger machine as long as it doesn't exceed 6 ft in width but it can't be too heavy in that I pull it with a Newholland skidsteer.

I just got through a long thread on this site where it seems that a lot of people out there have had feed problems with the Bandit 65.

Knowing what I'm looking to do, any advise would be very much appreciated. One more thing...if the size of the material exceeds 4", I'm fine with just cutting it up with a chainsaw.

Thanks very much,
Richard

treeoperations · Sep 23, 2010

my 65 has single feed roller and have no issues, ive used a 65 with double feed rollers and when you run them with blunt blades they smash the material and thats when it jambs in the bottom feed roller.

a 65 is WAY easier to feed then a vermeer. i sold my (new) vermeer to buy a used 65.

derwoodii · Sep 23, 2010

treeoperations said:
my 65 has single feed roller and have no issues, ive used a 65 with double feed rollers and when you run them with blunt blades they smash the material and thats when it jambs in the bottom feed roller.

a 65 is WAY easier to feed then a vermeer. i sold my (new) vermeer to buy a used 65.

Agree Bandit 65 is better than Vermer 600 by a long way. Try n get the diesel if can afford and more recent models had better bigger knife sizes.
Auto feed on 65 is great too, stuff n leave it to feed itself while you gather more.

RichardS · Sep 23, 2010

Thank you both very much for the information. There's a Bandit 65 XP out here with 17 hours on it and a warranty for $12,500. Seems high compared to a used one but I really don't know what these go for brand new.

Thanks again,
Richard

treeoperations · Sep 23, 2010

RichardS said:
Thank you both very much for the information. There's a Bandit 65 XP out here with 17 hours on it and a warranty for $12,500. Seems high compared to a used one but I really don't know what these go for brand new.

Thanks again,
Richard

i aint sure on your pricing in the states as i dont live there, but if i convert it to kiwi dollars id say thats a pretty good deal depending on the build of the machine, what motor, is it got 2 feed rollers, auto feed? what else it got?

a height adjustable discharge would be damn handy, mine shoots to high.