Price for Vermeer 625

ChrHerrman · Apr 4, 2011

I found a vermeer 625 6" chipper on CL with 600 hours. The machine has 600 hours on it but is "like new". It is for $4000. Is this a good price. I compared this to other listings and it seems pretty fair. Anything to look for before purchasing if it is a fair price. Also I can only afford a 6" chipper and I sell firewood, so I do not think I need a bigger one at this time.

BCbound · Apr 4, 2011

From what I've seen that seems like a decent price. Look it over with a fine tooth comb. That's a good price and sometimes things are too good to be true.

fishercat · Apr 4, 2011

Thats a good price.

Their auto feed controllers are junk. get an aftermarket one.

Keep the belt adjusted and the knives sharp and they do pretty good.

Scrat · Apr 13, 2011

ChrHerrman said:
I found a vermeer 625 6" chipper on CL with 600 hours. The machine has 600 hours on it but is "like new". It is for $4000. Is this a good price. I compared this to other listings and it seems pretty fair. Anything to look for before purchasing if it is a fair price. Also I can only afford a 6" chipper and I sell firewood, so I do not think I need a bigger one at this time.

That is a great price if it is in great shape. Does it have the older 25hp Kolher command or the newer 27hp. The older 25 hp motors frequently launched the magnets from inside the flywheel usually causing costly (3-4 hundred) damage.
other than that they are good machines if you are chipping small stuff. Let me clarify I too cut alot of fire wood but for home heating so I dont chip anything I can burn.
The thing I find less than desirable is the feed shute narrows down to 6"X6" and when you send a bunch of pine branches or a fork limb in it doesn't always go willingly like it would in say a bigger machine or a bandit 6" machine which has a shute that only narrows down to 6"X10". Same max limb size capacity but better feeding. I found rather than lean into the shute and wrestle with this, also an unsafe practice, I keep a small saw handy and just partially cut the fork on one side before feeding and problem solved. By partially cutting you don't make more pieces to feed like you would if you cut all the way through. After running the machine a while you will have a good feel for the few forks that need a little cut to help.

Hope that was helpful

ChrHerrman · Apr 14, 2011

Promark Chipper

Thanks for all the helpful input, but I actually bought a Promark 310 chipper instead. It is a smaller machine but was much less and a lot closer to home. It is rated as a 6" chipper but I would only run 4" stuff through it. Right know I am in the process of a tune-up and a paint job.

This one does have a small opening to the feed roller, but as you said I find it pretty handy to keep my MS 192t close by to cut the crotches and forks out. Obviously takes time but much better than loading the brush as I always did before. Again thanks for the help!

Scrat said:
That is a great price if it is in great shape. Does it have the older 25hp Kolher command or the newer 27hp. The older 25 hp motors frequently launched the magnets from inside the flywheel usually causing costly (3-4 hundred) damage.
other than that they are good machines if you are chipping small stuff. Let me clarify I too cut alot of fire wood but for home heating so I dont chip anything I can burn.
The thing I find less than desirable is the feed shute narrows down to 6"X6" and when you send a bunch of pine branches or a fork limb in it doesn't always go willingly like it would in say a bigger machine or a bandit 6" machine which has a shute that only narrows down to 6"X10". Same max limb size capacity but better feeding. I found rather than lean into the shute and wrestle with this, also an unsafe practice, I keep a small saw handy and just partially cut the fork on one side before feeding and problem solved. By partially cutting you don't make more pieces to feed like you would if you cut all the way through. After running the machine a while you will have a good feel for the few forks that need a little cut to help.

Hope that was helpful