whadja do today?

[dbl612]

Thanks. Yeah, I don’t know if I’d let them talk me into a gas jobber. The impression I got was that they don’t really make much on the Diesel engines, and they just try and sell guys on the gas cuz it’s a lot cheaper and easier to make a sale. That and the under CDL thing with the gas. It’s still no diesel, no way. The feed system on those things is mind boggling, though! I got mine with the welded gate and the bumper things that make machine feeding easier (forget what they call them). I do have to have a guy keep an eye out backing into a steep driveway, but it’s not too bad and worth it in my opinion.

Glad to hear you’re doing well too! EAB is in full swing here as well. I think some people think I’m crazy for buying all this new stuff, but with all the dead trees around, I figure is there ever gonna be a better time to try and get a little somewhere? Like Jerry said “sometimes the cards aren’t worth it to have, if you don’t lay em down”.
View attachment 779117

gas chippers are just a problem waiting. will never replace the durability of a diesel chipper

 

[bck]

Tier 4 final. Your salesman is full of ****. I have had one issue with mine to speak of and it was just a code that Deere was concerned with when I called about it. Something was causing it to run rough at idle. I didn’t even notice. I can find out exactly and get back to you. It’s in the shop now (coincidentally) but it’s just a cold leak in the coolant system that got worse (hopefully). I think it’s just a hose on the coolant return, but I’d have to take the whole hood off to get at it and it’s under warranty, so I just dumped it off for Deere to deal with (still have my 250).

My bucket has all that crap too and no issues (other than fuel filters plugging from bad fuel when I first got it) in almost 1000 pto hours.

I can’t speak for cat, but that has been my experience so far with the Deere and Cummins in the bucket. Like I said, salesman always have their own agenda. I never just buy whatever they have handy. Lol

 

[bck]

gas chippers are just a problem waiting. will never replace the durability of a diesel chipper

Tier 4 final. Your salesman is full of ****. I have had one issue with mine to speak of and it was just a code that Deere was concerned with when I called about it. Something was causing it to run rough at idle. I didn’t even notice. I can find out exactly and get back to you. It’s in the shop now (coincidentally) but it’s just a cold leak in the coolant system that got worse (hopefully). I think it’s just a hose on the coolant return, but I’d have to take the whole hood off to get at it and it’s under warranty, so I just dumped it off for Deere to deal with (still have my 250).

My bucket has all that crap too and no issues (other than fuel filters plugging from bad fuel when I first got it) in almost 1000 pto hours.

I can’t speak for cat, but that has been my experience so far with the Deere and Cummins in the bucket. Like I said, salesman always have their own agenda. I never just buy whatever they have handy. Lol

Totally agree. My dealer had a gas morbark they tried really hard to sell me. Thank got my instincts kicked in, I almost bought it. Just didn’t seem right though and glad I didn’t. I called another morbark dealer and asked about the new diesels and they said they’ve had zero issues in their two rental units. Most issues are operator error, like not filling the DEF fluid.
Like MDS said, the dealers are going to try and sell what the have sitting in the lot. They already bought it from the manufacturer.
Time will tell, but I think the gas chippers will come and go and quickly loose value once it’s off the lot. The tier 4 final has only been in off road equipment for a couple of years. If the technology isn’t ironed out yet it will be eventually. Plus the new tier 4 diesels are impressive power houses!

 

[bck]

Also, a new gas chipper costs more than a diesel did a couple of years ago. WTF, dealers and manufactures are pushing them because they are making very healthy profits.
And sales men are just salesmen. Most of them have no experience out in the field. Don’t be fooled by them.

 

[gorman]

Bought a 462 this afternoon. Gotta set the computer tomorrow morning

 

[NCTREE]

It’s an impressive chipper by far but yes I’m still skeptical of a gas engine, they are too new to know the longevity. The cost of a diesel is a good 20k more so the gas alternative does look enticing an seems like an easy sell for a dealer.

 

[gorman]

This new saw rips. Same power as the 461 but much much lighter. I would highly recommend it.

 

[mattfr12]

Chipper found this treasure in an arborvitae trunk yesterday. The drum is mangled. Thank good the knife didn't make it through the chute or housing....

Dude that's a nightmare. I had a pin off a clevis once, and a decorative flower pot holder get in before and luckily only chip blades. Im terrified we are gonna loose a blade on a 20xp or 2090. I honestly try not and chip the bottom 10ft of any trunk wood because of this. A good metal guy can probably work some magic with that drum.

 

[epicklein22]

Worst part is, we just had that drum rebuilt about two years ago, had some cracked welds in it, and resurfaced the knife pockets, put new bearings on drum and handful of other stuff in the process. Had roughly $7k into that, not counting labor we did ourselves. If I remember right, a brand new drum from bandit was almost 8k alone.
No idea what that chunk of metal was. Last couple feet of trunk was too big to chip, so I cut in three slabs about 8" each, very last one had that right in the middle.
Already been talking to local bandit dealer last couple weeks about getting a new 19xpc. So much for trading this in on it.....

Give landmark machinery in Michigan a call. They can fix your drum.


Also, if anyone needs chipper parts....landmark knows their stuff about all brands of chippers and most of it is in stock. Prices are good too.

 

[Ben84]

Give landmark machinery in Michigan a call. They can fix your drum.


Also, if anyone needs chipper parts....landmark knows their stuff about all brands of chippers and most of it is in stock. Prices are good too.

Thanks. They do nice work, actually had them do some work on it a few years ago, it had a bunch of cracked welds on the knife pockets, they re did all the work on it, balanced afterwards, etc great customer service too. I think @Trevor B is on here once in a while.

 

[Ben84]

Got a morbark m15 to demo tomorrow. Has 174? Perkins on it. It's a 2017 model, low hours but priced right. Anyone have any input/ opinions? Hardly see morbark chippers around here at all, but since they bought out rayco, the local rayco rep deals with them now too.

 

[gorman]

2017 is when I heard they addressed the issue with cracks forming in the metal on the chipper body. Should be good.

 

[tree MDS]

It’s an impressive chipper by far but yes I’m still skeptical of a gas engine, they are too new to know the longevity. The cost of a diesel is a good 20k more so the gas alternative does look enticing an seems like an easy sell for a dealer.

Yeah, I ran across some paperwork from my chipper the other day. They itemized the JD 173 at $34,450. The JD was like $3500 more than the cat - down from something like $7000 more at one point a few years back. So the Deere wasn’t as pricey an upgrade as even the dealer thought. (This was all two years ago)

I wanna say that gas jobber was like 16k. I think that’s when I was like “wait a minute... you just said it was a 350 chevy, how the hell can it cost 16k”!!?? Lol. I forget what they said, but obviously there’s more profit getting spread around on the 350’s (at least that’s the impression I got).

Then there’s the torque of a 350 Chevy vs a big diesel. There’s no way a gas engine can hold a candle to the diesel. Chips all puking out the end of the chute...

 

[tree MDS]

So I just finally got my chipper back from Deere. Turns out Superior or bandit put on a hose made of the wrong material coming out the bottom of the coolant bottle. They said it wouldn’t compress so couldn’t be tightened anymore. (Sounds weird, I know). While they had the hood off they found that two plugs had worked their way out of the pollution muffler thingy, so was leaking there. I guess they’ve seen this before with the chippers. Guy says they’ve stayed in once they put them back. Fixed that and did a complete regen for me (just to clear all codes). All warranty work so far. Just FYI on the new engine experience.

 

[bck]

Got a morbark m15 to demo tomorrow. Has 174? Perkins on it. It's a 2017 model, low hours but priced right. Anyone have any input/ opinions? Hardly see morbark chippers around here at all, but since they bought out rayco, the local rayco rep deals with them now too.

Is it a tier 4 ? I just bought a 2014

 

[bck]

There are still low hour tier 3 / 2 diesels out there. I wouldn’t be afraid of tier 4 but the price is out of control. Period. By the time you pay all the finance and state tax... Get a line of credit set up and hop on the nicest low hour machine you see. They go quick but they’re out there.

 

[tree MDS]

Is it a tier 4 ? I just bought a 2014

What'd ya get?

 

[bck]

What'd ya get?

2014 M15R. CAT 142 hp

 

[tree MDS]

2014 M15R. CAT 142 hp

Nice.

I can see what you're saying about the whole used chipper deal. I guess it depends on how you look at things and where you're at, etc. I looked at the new chipper like "hell, it's only 10 or 15k more than I paid for my 5500 ram chip truck, so that seems reasonable enough". I mean guys buy super duty fords all the time for plowing and just let them rot out after ten years or so. You look at it that way and the chipper doesn't seem that pricey - at least not to me. Plus it's a key piece of equipment.

 

[gorman]

2014 M15R. CAT 142 hp

Watch out for those shafts shearing off. Everyone I know who runs a morbark has to deal with the infeed and drum shafts snapping.