Vermeer bc1000xl worth looking at for around 10k?

[capetrees]

The suspense is killing me!:dunno:

 

[802climber]

The suspense is killing me!:dunno:

Haha, me too! Thanks for the advice. I checked it out the other day, I can't figure out why I did not take any pics.

Seems like a good starter rig, best I have seen for the money. I am strongly thinking of buying it next week, I am waiting to see if the bank will help ease the pain.

The chipper seems like a tight machine, I was happy to see that it lacks all the bells and whistles of the newer Vermeers.
Seems like the Autofeed probably is not working but it was hard to tell because I only got to feed some sticks and chunks through.
Around each knife pocket on the drum, there is a pile of recent MIG beads, to fix stress cracks. Machine chips strong and runs smooth. The guy at Vermeer said not to worry about it..

The truck is actually the last year that had the 6.9 but has had an old 7.3 put in. I forgot how the non-turbo ones ROAR. It is truly geared like a tug boat. Cab and frame, nearly rust-free, it really has almost no rust. The chipper box is covered in surface rust, picture the best homemade chipper box you've ever seen, and nothing more.
I was happy about the PTO dump, it dumps good, but not happy to find that it SLAMS back down....???

They are not perfect, but decent looking, probably a money-maker, best I have seen overall since I have been looking, and probably a good enough deal at New England prices, the guy says he paid over 20k two years ago for the pair........

I am still not 100% however......

 

[capetrees]

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The chipper seems like a tight machine, I was happy to see that it lacks all the bells and whistles of the newer Vermeers.
Seems like the Autofeed probably is not working but it was hard to tell because I only got to feed some sticks and chunks through.
Around each knife pocket on the drum, there is a pile of recent MIG beads, to fix stress cracks. Machine chips strong and runs smooth. The guy at Vermeer said not to worry about it..

QUOTE]

Stress cracks? For me, a guy that has thrown the blades from the chipper once, that is a major deal breaker. Stress cracks in a chipper drum, to me, is a big red flag. The guy from Vermeer said not to worry? Did Vermeer do the welding to assure you that it's not a problem? I've never heard of that being a non issue. My concern would be what if the crack actually brakes midway through a branch or log??:msp_scared: Nobody can tell when that could happen. Weld beads on stress cracks, in my mind, also throws the balance of the drum off and could prematurely wear the bearings. If the drum is the same one I just replaced, the cost to replace the drum, blades and bearings is around $6K.

 

[imagineero]

Yeah I'd be worried about the drum too... If it was repaired by someone who knew what they were doing it should be fine. If it was done by the guy or his mate if be concerned. The drums in vermeers have a bit of a history of letting go at medium hours on the internal baffles/supports.

As for the bin slamming down, that's an easy fix. Put an adjustable one way valve near the ram. They're adjusted by a screw type mechanism. If the screw is in the centre of the valve it adjusts flow in both directions. If its offset, it adjusts the flow only in one direction. You want the offset one, so the bin goes up at full force/speed, and comes down slower. You adjust the return speed with the screw.

 

[802climber]

Yeah, it was a red flag to me as well. The stress cracks were not on the drum itself, they were on the welds where each knife pocket is welded to the drum. No way of knowing how bad it had gotten prior to the "repairs" .... His buddy had piled up a bunch of MIG welds around each knife pocket, looked like he just popped the cover and hot glue gunned each stress crack. Definitely not a pro looking job. And it was like this around each knife pocket. Any future repairs to this area would require starting over with a ton of grinding.........

What the guy at Vermeer said is that most of the chippers they see have these same stress cracks, on the welds where the knife pockets meet the drum, and that they go for a very long time with the stress cracks left unattended. Sounds a little nuts to me. He seemed to think it was *good* that the guy attempted the repairs......... He said if it threw the balance of the drum off enough to matter then I should notice excess vibration....... It seemed like the machine ran smooth but I have no direct comparison. Vermeer also probably wouldn't mind if I gave them that 6k you mentioned. :msp_w00t:

Thanks for being critical, I definitely do not want to rush into this. Seems pretty easy to get burned in any price range other than NEW.......Just a matter of HOW burned..

 

[802climber]

I am now thinking it is not such a good deal for the money. I wonder what causes these stress cracks that I described? Just running really dull knives?

I am also thinking I might want to expand my operation to chipping out roadways in the winter, hurricane season, etc.
I would be chipping everything but the Logs.

Would a Bandit 250 be big enough for some storm work, but "small enough" for pruning during the regular season?
I am also looking at an old F450 instead of a 1 ton.
What on earth is the difference between a 250XP and a 250XL?

What is the big deal between a drum chipper and a disc chipper? Pro's and Con's?

Thanks!!!

 

[jefflovstrom]

I would get a Morbark 15,,good deals in California.
Jeff

 

[imagineero]

I am now thinking it is not such a good deal for the money. I wonder what causes these stress cracks that I described? Just running really dull knives?

I am also thinking I might want to expand my operation to chipping out roadways in the winter, hurricane season, etc.
I would be chipping everything but the Logs.

Would a Bandit 250 be big enough for some storm work, but "small enough" for pruning during the regular season?
I am also looking at an old F450 instead of a 1 ton.
What on earth is the difference between a 250XP and a 250XL?

What is the big deal between a drum chipper and a disc chipper? Pro's and Con's?

Thanks!!!

Everyone has to make their own decision, but the sooner you get something the sooner you'll be making money. If I had my time over, I'd have got myself any chipper, as soon as possible. It's not that chipping itself makes you much money, it's that it saves you so much time. I have not ever, and would never offer chipping as a service. There's no money in it. But if you've got a chipper, you can punch brush straight into it as you go, which really speeds up a job. Because of that, you can get 2 or 3 jobs done in a day, where as you might get 1 done without a chipper.

The root cause of the cracks is probably a design issue since most of the vermeers seem to get it eventually. I think the design of having the threads in the drum for the bolts is a poor design. Cracks are not really such a big deal, they're part of life. They just need to be repaired correctly. What that means (to cut it short) is using penetrant die to find the end of the crack, drilling that point out to relieve the stress, grinding the crack out to form a vee, a little bit of pre heat, and then a nice weld with plenty of penetration. A bit of post heat with a slow cool down helps prevent future cracking also. Without doing it properly, you just add additional stress to the crack and it keeps cracking.

The pros and cons of disc vs chip are like asking which is better; husky or stihl? It's a personal choice, but manufacturers all seem to be abandoning disc in favor of drum. I've run both and I prefer disc. With drum, your feed chute is narrow and tall, with disk it's wide and low. To give some sort of comparison on the chute, my 250XP is 12" high x 19" wide. My buddy's 1890 (18" drum) is 18"wide by 30" tall. Drums generally need less horsepower for the same size of chipper, which translates to less fuel usage. My 250xp has a 120 turbo, and my buddys 18" drum has a 140 turbo. That's not a lot more engine. Admittedly my chipper has the largest engine option, and his chipper has the smallest engine option. On brush, my 250XP blows his 1890 out of the water, it's unbelievably fast, and the wide throat is fantastic. 3 or 4 guys feeding it can't keep up with the machine. When it comes to logs however, even with both machines feeding the maximum log they can take, his 1890 has my 250XP for breakfast. Even with only 20 more horsepower, that drum just powers through enormous logs.

The reason why I like the disc is that it puts out a very consistent and nice quality of chip, but to balance that, you need to keep the knives sharper. Having really nice chip makes it easy for me to get rid of chip. The disc also throws the chip out a lot harder, and further. That makes it easy to fill your truck right up to the brim. Because the chip is more consistent and packed tighter in, you fit more chip in the same truck. How much? I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done it myself, but going form a BC1000 to a 250 XP, on the same truck, I get almost a half tonne extra in the same 12 cube bin! That adds up over time.

The 150/200/250 class machines are a real industry staple, and for good reason. They're real work horses, work well and last a long time. For the work I do, which sounds similar to what you do, I wouldn't have any machine other than a 250XP. I can do medium removals into my truck easy, without too much ripping. If I was doing a lot of removals or had land I'd buy a second truck and firewood all the barrels up, and just chip the brush. You'd get a huge amount of work done that way! It's still not a massive machine, and works well on pruning jobs. When I do bigger trees I still get my buddy in to contract chip. In the busy season he might chip for me 3 or 4 days a week. I don't have a yard, so I can't do anything with firewood. It still works out great having my medium size truck and chipper though. We chip all the brush as we go which is fast and efficient, then we stack the bigger stuff and he turns up in the afternoon and punches that into his 23 cube truck.

Shaun

 

[802climber]

Thanks, I really appreciate the info.

I just got a '97 f350 Powerstroke Dump with L-pack toolboxes.
Matches my pickup.

I am looking at a 2000 150xp from the Bandit Dealer

Clean looking machine with a good history
Fully serviced by dealer
"Low Hours" - (No hour meter)
80HP Cummins 4B, non-turbo .....

Was hoping for a larger machine but I think this one would hold its value at $11500
It would be nice to have the lighter chipper for my 1 ton chip truck...
Seems pretty good for a machine from the Bandit Dealer.

 

[imagineero]

Sounds like a good way to get your foot in the door mate, and as you said, you're not going to lose money on it so long as you look after it. I'd grab it and get yourself going. The 150 obviously isn't going to be chipping logs, but it's a great chipper for brush, right up to some good size branches. Anything that won't fit in the chute is firewood size anyhow, so long as you got room to do firewood it gives you some beer money in the quieter months. The 150 is pretty comparable to the BC1000 in weight and capabilities in my opinion. Be sure and take pics!

 

[802climber]

Here's the chipper, I have not been there in person yet...
View attachment 307115

My "new" truck...
View attachment 307116

Matches my baby...
View attachment 307117

 

[Mikecutstrees]

My BC1000 has 3K hours still running strong.

Mike

 

[mattfr12]

Get the bandit. the 250xp is probably the most reliable chipper we have ever owned. Not the biggest chipping but it has had almost zero downtime since purchasing it. Everything is 1/4 inch metal or thicker so if you can weld you can basically make your own parts and weld things that are stressing. We run Max it out to the point where the log just won't fit and I have only ever changed a clutch. Now I have been the only owner and have greased and changed everything daily. We sold one and kept one for smaller work so we don't have to drag a 2400 to prune. We have probably right around 2k hours.

 

[802climber]

Yeah, I am hoping to find a Bandit 200 w/ Cummins, not sure if that 150 is gonna pan out, but I hope it does.

If I had a bigger truck and more money, I would go for a 250 but I really can't go any bigger than a 200 for now because I am running a 1 ton chip truck in the mountains.

I would have bought that bc1000 if the drum had not been welded on, I also thought the single feed roller kind of sucked.

 

[802climber]

So I looked at financing higher and higher dollar machines.............

Ended up with a 1993 Woodchuck WC17 (12" disc) with John Deere 80HP non-turbo. 1300 hrs.

Town owned since new with all the records.
Engine and Radiator recently rebuilt by JD dealer because they ran it out of coolant..........

Its pretty rusty but for 3500 cash I'm not complaining. There are chuck+duck's and 6" chippers going for more around here.