Chipper Advice on PTO Chipper

[ericm979]

We have Sudden Oak Death here. Like an idiot I chipped a SODs killed tan oak near some live oaks I wanted to keep, and biggest best one died.

Now I either chip SODs stuff far away from any succeptible trees or cut it and crush it with the grapple into a slash pile.

 

[N80]

I think the primary pine killer here is the southern pine beetle. That should not be an issue with wood chips I wouldn't think but I've heard the beetles also introduce blue stain mold. Some of my logs have evidence of that (I think). I am not sure that by itself the blue stain mold would be a problem in the wood chips because I think it requires a vector to introduce it into a living tree. But, all of this is based on a quick internet search and I might be totally wrong on all accounts.

 

[RoyJackson]

I have a Woodmaxx 8H chipper with hydraulic feed...great machine
In my experience, it takes a lot of trees/branches etc. to make an appreciable amount of mulch.
My chipping is mostly fallen limbs, trimmed back branches and anything that has fallen. I do use the chips as mulch for around tree trunks
But, I wouldn't buy a chipper just to make mulch. I'd gather fallen trees, branches and such until I had a big enough pile to justify renting a stand-alone chipper. If fact, I'd go for a chipper shredder over a dedicated chipper. Proper planning makes this worthwhile.
I have my chipper ready to hook up during the warmer months into the Fall, then stored inside for the winter. That leaves it ready to hook up to the tractor 3 seasons of the year...but for me, it's strictly clean up work...the chips just being a nice output.
BTW, a PTO chipper with your (the OP) tractor's PTO HP would be limited to 5-6 inches...maybe a bit more if the feed rate is slowed downed quite a bit (FYI, my Woodmaxx has an 8" capacity, but except for one time, doubt if I've ever tried anything > then 6"). A rental unit would likely have greater chipping capacity

 

[N80]

A lot of the scraps that will come off the sawmill will be pine. I generally do not burn pine in my fireplaces. So, the chipper should make short work of the scraps and the resulting chips will be used for landscape beds etc. (I'm not talking about a fancy yard/garden. Just beds around the cabin and some shrubs.

My daughter will use cedar chips for her various animals.

Any scrap hardwood from the mill will be burned in my fireplaces or my daughter's wood stove.

 

[RoyJackson]

I’m sticking with the woodmaxx mx8800 simply because it made in the USA. That, and it has hydrostatic drive not hydraulic. Mostly cause it’s made in the USA.

I think it's assembled in the US, since the 8800 and 9900 (Daugen had one of those) are delivered fully assembled but the components are made in China.
The others, like the 8H unit I bought, are partially assembled (not sure if in the US or China) and final assembly is completed by the buyer

 

[RoyJackson]

Finally, not sure why no one seems to make one to run off of a set of remotes on the tractor. That would seem the most economical way to do it for those who already have remotes.

Probably not enough flow (GPM). I don't know what your Kioti puts out, but my Deere is 12-13 GPM
Same reason, BTW, your Quick Attach snow blower uses a PTO driven hydraulic power pack

 

[RoyJackson]

A lot of the "does not work at slow speed" problem of the 8H is because they use a flow control valve that is too large. It's a 20gpm unit but the system is 3 gpm. When I replaced it with a 4 gpm valve (per textbook and advice here) it performs much better. I can slow it down to a crawl and set it easily for any speed in between that and max. Unlike the original one which was either max or kinda slow but not really slow, and very difficult to set to anything in between.

Woodmaxx knows the problem with their unit but I think they can't get the lower flow valves in China.
Admittedly it's not a problem for many users, so maybe they feel it's not worth the extra cost to them.

Where'd you get the valve?

 

[grsthegreat]

I think it's assembled in the US, since the 8800 and 9900 (Daugen had one of those) are delivered fully assembled but the components are made in China.
The others, like the 8H unit I bought, are partially assembled (not sure if in the US or China) and final assembly is completed by the buyer

The woodmaxx web site states the 8800 and 9900 are made entirely in usa, but i bet its globally supplied parts.

 

[RoyJackson]

The woodmaxx web site states the 8800 and 9900 are made entirely in usa, but i bet its globally supplied parts.

Yeah, but as long as you're satisfied (as I am), I reckon we're happy
Drew (daugen) sold his 9900 when he moved back to Pennsylvania....somebody got a hell of a deal!

I've had my 8H for 3 seasons now, I guess. It''s not used a hell of a lot, but surely does a great job when I need it. I think I've got 25 hours or so on it now.

BTW, your signature line states you have a Jimna chipper...need to update that?

 

[grsthegreat]

No, because i still havnt got the woodmaxx. When i ordered it, they expected 6-8 months delivery and wouldnt take payment until ready to ship. When they were ready price had increased $1,000. So i cancelled order. Ill wait to see if price comes back down as steel prices drop next year…as they are supposed to. Until then, my jimna still works great, but changing knives sucks.

 

[RoyJackson]

No, because i still havnt got the woodmaxx. When i ordered it, they expected 6-8 months delivery and wouldnt take payment until ready to ship. When they were ready price had increased $1,000. So i cancelled order. Ill wait to see if price comes back down as steel prices drop next year…as they are supposed to. Until then, my jimna still works great, but changing knives sucks.

I know nothing about Jimna chippers, but I've been very happy with my Woodmaxx.
I even considered replacing my Frontier 3PH snowblower with a Woodmaxx, but if I'm going to upgrade, it's going to be a Quick Attach front mounted blower like yours

 

[grsthegreat]

I really likes the woodmaxx unit, and have heard nothing but great reviews about it. But ill see if price drops some next year. This year our fire hazard was so high that the banned working in woods most of the summer anyways. So would not have had much use with it this year anyways. I only used the jimna unit 3 days before i was shut down. I hope we get good snow pack this year. I never want to see a fire season like we had this year. A big one got within 1 mile of my house. We had to evacuate.

 

[bigtiller]

I think it's assembled in the US, since the 8800 and 9900 (Daugen had one of those) are delivered fully assembled but the components are made in China.
The others, like the 8H unit I bought, are partially assembled (not sure if in the US or China) and final assembly is completed by the buyer

Did you have a Bearcat chipper/shredder in the past? If so, what happened to it?

I had one for a long time but sold it and bought a Woodland mills wc68.

 

[ning]

Finally, not sure why no one seems to make one to run off of a set of remotes on the tractor. That would seem the most economical way to do it for those who already have remotes.

Probably not enough flow (GPM). I don't know what your Kioti puts out, but my Deere is 12-13 GPM
Same reason, BTW, your Quick Attach snow blower uses a PTO driven hydraulic power pack

I'm guessing the question is about running the hydraulic feed off of the remotes instead of a dedicated in-chipper pump+tank, not the actual chipping unit.

I've asked this question as well; I've only seen one unit described as such ( Nova Tractor BX102) which has and optional hydraulic power pack that can be added.

My guess is that there were enough tractors being used without remotes that the manufacturers initially determined it wasn't worth the bother to make some with and some without hydraulics, and even if many more tractors are shipping with remotes now, nobody's seen fit to sell a more stripped down version to lower the price point....

 

[RoyJackson]

Did you have a Bearcat chipper/shredder in the past? If so, what happened to it?

I had one for a long time but sold it and bought a Woodland mills wc68.

It was actually a Woods 5000...same as the Bearcat, different marketing. These are still being sold and they're great chipper/shredders for anyone with a 25 PTO HP tractor and occasional use

I sold it several years ago...wanted something with more capacity (the Woods was advertised to take 5", but realistically, 3-4 inches was the limit). Also, I wanted something with a discharge chute. There was a kit that could be mounted on the Woods chipper, but by the time I spent the $1000.00, I decided to add more money and go for the Woodmaxx
Also, the Woods required one to lift the limb, trunk, whatever; quite high for feeding it. The Woodmaxx, as I'm sure most know, just feeds horizontally

 

[bigtiller]

Those are the same reasons why I sold my Bearcat, it was a great product but a younger person gets to have fun with it now.

 

[RoyJackson]

Those are the same reasons why I sold my Bearcat, it was a great product but a younger person gets to have fun with it now.

The Woodmaxx, with the lower, horizontal infeed, makes it much easier to dispose of the bodies...

 

[ericm979]

Where'd you get the valve?

Amazon. It's NLA there. Surplus Center shows an 8 gpm valve: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Brand...lverine-Flow-Control-W-1950-8-9-8994-50-8.axd but no 5 gpm.

 

[JasperFrank]

What is your local market for two units - 15 cubic yards- of delivered chips/mulch? And how valuable is your time doing something else. I considered getting my own PTO chipper, a China made brand that was available for $1400 that could be run on a 14 HP PTO Tractor, and was very close to buying one. Just then, a neighbor bought a brand new, USA made chipper- Top O the Line Model for $2500, - for his 22 HP PTO Tractor. And for some weekends and several cases of beer as payment, we did some chipping using his tractor..... he didn't want to use my tractor as the power source.

I was surprised by a few things.

One, was how little you actually get out of a small 22 HP chipper for the amount of work you put into it. It would take us all day to put out 2-3 cubic yards, running his tractor at PTO speed all day. And figure in all the separation, and time to do that as feed stock for the chipper, and fuel costs, it all didn't pencil out with total costs and time and wear on the equipment. I can have 2 units, 15 cubic yards, of clean cedar bark delivered for 330 dollars. It would have taken us both working, four or five days to match this amount, and our quality of bark-chips would have been very low with all the different types of trees, and different states of the wood involved.

Second, in my area, you can burn non-usable stuff in a wood pile: Which is much easier.

In a pro-con decision list that I made out; it made more monetary sense to buy chips then it did to make one's own, if considering all the factors.

The economy of scale that a commercial vendor can put out, works to my advantage in the place I live in: The PNW.

 

[RoyJackson]

I was surprised by a few things.

One, was how little you actually get out of a small 22 HP chipper for the amount of work you put into it. It would take us all day to put out 2-3 cubic yards, running his tractor at PTO speed all day. And figure in all the separation, and time to do that as feed stock for the chipper, and fuel costs, it all didn't pencil out with total costs and time and wear on the equipment. I can have 2 units, 15 cubic yards, of clean cedar bark delivered for 330 dollars. It would have taken us both working, four or five days to match this amount, and our quality of bark-chips would have been very low with all the different types of trees, and different states of the wood involved.

Second, in my area, you can burn non-usable stuff in a wood pile: Which is much easier.

That's all very true...even with a higher HP chipper
Chippers, for me, are a convenience tool rather than a necessary one.
I was also quite surprised how little chips were left after a couple hours of chipping...maybe a bushel or two. But, what ever I got is used around the trees on our lawn area...that works fine.