Yet another chipper question

[ning]

I've got a few acres wooded brush - a little manzanita, too much poison oak, and a ton of scrub oak, and a decent number of pines as well; and I'd like to clear most of it.

It's on a hill, ranging from about 10°-20° slope.

I've been making some slow progress, a few hours here and a few there; I'm basically pulling what I can out of the ground with my tractor, or cutting as close to the ground otherwise; cutting to length, and hauling to my burn site anything smaller than 3" (bigger oak is put to the side for later processing as firewood).

Pines are limbed and the slash is burned, and either I leave large wood to rot or keep for firewood.

I don't like the burning and would like to chip, so I've been considering (for years now... I'm slow at buying ok) buying a chipper for the tractor - something like a Woodmaxx or Woodland Mills, 8" with hydraulic feed rollers. 8" is much larger than I'd be chipping, but much of what I do need to chip is far from straight.

So the question, finally - occasionally I see ads for towable units like a Altec 610DC (currently for sale somewhere in tolerable distance) for sale... it costs 2x how much the tractor mounted unit does, but I'd imagine it's got a pretty decent resale in a year or so once I'm done with it? Meanwhile, I'm not sure how much ongoing chipping I'll need once I've cleared this area and the resale of a tractor unit is probably iffy.

Any thoughts on the resale notion?
Is that altec (25hp Honda), or a similar sized Bandit or Vermeer, similar to a 30hp PTO chipper - or better or worse?

I know someone's going to say "rent" but the idea of making enough piles over the course of a week or more to justify a rental, and renting a chipper for $90 for 4 hours (including most of an hour getting it home and then back to the rental shop), and finally pulling those piles apart to feed the chipper just doesn't thrill me. I'd rather buy (similar concerns led to me buying a backhoe for my tractor). The rate on 12" chippers is $175 but I don't think my material needs one. The idea of using a full day rate on a chipper is a non-starter (too many accumulated piles, too much work in one day chipping).

And slightly off-topic, are the new(ish) CARB rules about diesels impacting diesel powered chippers as well?

 

[user 159780]

Have a similar scenario but with ash tree debris that was overwhelming. The use was to be restricted to private property, no towing over the road.
Considered all the options mentioned in your post, settled on a used BC1000XL. It was an Ebay beater machine that chipped okay but was not much to look at.
Over the past few years I changed out the fenders, replaced the drum bearings, fixed the wire harness chewed by rodents...etc.

Now that the chipping is about done I'm trying to decide to sell or keep. I see similar BC1000XLs listed in worse condition for about 2X what I paid.

I previously owned a Vermeer BC935, ran it about a year then sold it for what I paid. Kicking myself for selling it, it was small enough to fit in the garage, the BC1000XL is not.

I'm not in the tree business but a PTO chipper would not be much use to those who are. IMO

 

[ning]

Short term I'm going to do some clearing for a couple weeks and build up piles that hopefully won't be too tough to pull apart, and rent a 6".

Basically see how well those work, see how tough it is to manage piles (I won't crush them together with the tractor the way I do when I'm burning, but I'm concerned that the scrub oak will still be all tangled together making it more of a chore to chip).

If that goes really well I may just do the rent method; if the chipping is good but it's hard work dealing with piles (making them, pulling them to the chipper, pulling them apart) I may buy a chipper... if the chipping sucks because of what I'm chipping, maybe I'll just light the forest on fire go back to burn piles.

 

[eraforest]

I'm liking our Wallenstein BX-62 chipper, but it doesn't have a feed system for a controlled cut. The Kubota L-4600 tractor has adequate power, but running it up to top speed, ~2300+ RPM is noisy and fuel consumptive. You're on your own property, so running around with the tractor (and loader or grapple) should serve you well. CARB won't apply if you keep the (diesel) equipment on your own property if you opt for the towable chipper. And storing the 3-pnt chipper won't require much space.

 

[JimR]

I have a Valby hydraulic feed 3pth chipper. I believe it will do up to 5 inch diameter. This unit works works great on dried branches. It does not like the small ends of green branches and will clog up the exit chute.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I'll just chip in with 2 observations... buy bigger than you think you need, and I can't remember the last time I heard of anybody selling a chipper for less than they bought it for... used equipment market is stupid right now.

 

[KonaMauka]

For the last 6 years we have been clearing invasive trees from an 11 acre farm. We have burned and we have rented a chipper.
It takes a solid 3 hours plus, all in, to fetch and return the rental. The largest at our local rental house is a Morbark x7. Great chipper, but constantly got jammed with 6" logs with a slight bend. Adding the value of my time, fuel in my truck and opportunity cost, it measures up to a serious expense. I started the hunt to purchase a chipper as I still have a couple years more clearing and the orchard gets pruned every year. Nearly 5,000 trees with Plans for 5k more. Assuming I chip once/ month or more than 12x annually over the next 2 to 3 years, I would have spent 50- 75% the cost of a trailer mounted diesel powered chipper.

6 months of research narrowed my focus to 9" tier 2 diesel for its sub 5k weight class but clean viable units were few. I expanded my search to 12" units watching the total weight carefully and also looking for Morbark, Bandit, and Altec. Ultimately, the best value I found was the DC1317 from Altec. I was given good review of the Kubota engine options and overall positive feedback on the machine.

Pricing seemed to be about 25k for a decent 'looking' unit and 12 to 18 for something of questionable condition.

Not wanting to be in the chipper restoration business, I opted to buy a low hours unit from Bauer Tree Equipment. Matt was very helpful on the phone and reccomended this machine for my need for no fuss, get to work on day one condition.

25K plus 4500 shipped to port 3 hours from my farm, a lost day of work and $150 in fuel, we have a much needed asset for the farm. Many thanks to Matt. We will certainly be a repeat customer.

Today is the first day for chipping. Let the fun begin.

first photo is as shipped with exhaust turned down and chute removed and secured.

 

[KonaMauka]

a chipper for the tractor - something like a Woodmaxx or Woodland Mills, 8" with hydraulic feed rollers. 8" is much larger than I'd be chipping, but much of what I do need to chip is far from straight.

I use the tractor to drag logs loose to the chipper. Once I have a grapple attachment, I'll be able to pic them up and set at the chipper. A mini ex with a roasting grapple is the best for this, but that's a 50 to 100k investment.

I bring this up because I like the chipper to stay in one spot while I use the tractor to move material. I often have help feeding the chipper while I drag and stage with the tractor.

So the question, finally - occasionally I see ads for towable units like a Altec 610DC (currently for sale somewhere in tolerable distance) for sale... it costs 2x how much the tractor mounted unit does

The pto 3 point unit doesn't have a diesel or gas motor, fuel, electric and cooling systems, trailer, axles, etc.

I know someone's going to say "rent" but the idea of making enough piles over the course of a week or more to justify a rental, and renting a chipper for $90 for 4 hours (including most of an hour getting it home and then back to the rental shop), and finally pulling those piles apart to feed the chipper just doesn't thrill me.

Exactly why I just purchased as mentioned above.

And slightly off-topic, are the new(ish) CARB rules about diesels impacting diesel powered chippers as well?

The new machines have all the emissions equipment as new diesel trucks do (as far as I know) my local dealer said you can't idle them and emissions issues are same as new vehicles. That was enough for me to look at the used market and either get more chipper for my dollar or spend 15 to 20k less depending how you look at it. See my post above about balance of weight and capacity. Getting the chipper where you need to work may be a concern. There are places on my farm where the slight incline and the weight of the chipper would cause us to get stuck as the ground cover is not strong enough to resist the torque needed to climb so even my compact 4x4 gets stuck. All trees harvested/pruned in that area will have to be transported the 5 to 600' up to the driveway for chipping.

Stuff to think about.