Chipper Advice on PTO Chipper

[RalphVa]

You'll want to be able to do this sometime.

 

[5030]

So you're saying the self contained units are more capable at a comparable but somewhat higher price? Or do you have to go way higher on price to get that better capability?

I am not familiar with self contained units other that the DR Chipper-Shredder (brand) types or the big units the tree guys use. I have assumed a pto unit would have significantly more capability than any DR Chipper type model and that the units the tree guys use would be crazy expensive.

I believe he means a hydraulic self contained infeed chipper not a powered one. You'd have to lay down quite a bit for one with an engine drive that had any capacity.

 

[RoyJackson]

So you're saying the self contained units are more capable at a comparable but somewhat higher price? Or do you have to go way higher on price to get that better capability?

I am not familiar with self contained units other that the DR Chipper-Shredder (brand) types or the big units the tree guys use. I have assumed a pto unit would have significantly more capability than any DR Chipper type model and that the units the tree guys use would be crazy expensive.

The Woodmaxx chippers, such as the WM-8H, have self-contained hydraulic feed and work really well

https://www.woodmaxx.com/product/woodmaxx-wm-8h/

I see they've gone quite up in price too...IIRC, I paid about $2800 for mine, 2 years ago

I have one and if your tractor has adequate PTO HP, it'll take 8" with no problem. Normally, I don't chip anything larger the 4-5 inches...

 

[sparker133]

I have had my woodmaxx wm-8 for over 7years works great..

 

[LD48750]

I have had my woodmaxx wm-8 for over 7years works great..

Been running my cheap ol' Chinese Jinma 8" chipper for 10 years now and will again as soon as the weather warms up.

 

[ning]

Someone mentioned chipdrop.com to me recently for a source of chips; I'm rural but there's a lot of professional chipping going on these days with storm cleanup and fire fuels reduction. Basically arborists use the site to find nearby locations to drop chips instead of wasting a lot of time going to the county transfer station and paying dump fees. I've gotten one drop from this, but there's also a spot on a road corner where they're obviously dumping for free (and people pick up for free) so it's limiting the usefulness of this site here.

I'm still on the fence about getting a PTO chipper; I suspect that my use would be somewhat short- to medium- term (regrowth trimming will be too small to really chip, and once I've cleared I don't expect to see trees needing chipping here any more), and the resale value of a PTO chipper is probably a lot lower (hard to sell) than a self-powered unit - then again, even the really little self-powered units are $8k for a 15-20 year old unit around here, $5k for an ancient chuck-n-duck. So far I've been keeping up with my clearing rate by burn-piling the small stuff (I cut 4+" for wood), but it's so dry that I'm expecting a super early burn ban this year.

 

[ericm979]

Yea I hope we get more rain this winter. I don't see many used PTO chippers for sale but the few I do see follow the trailer chipper pricing. You can probably sell a clean low hour unit for not that far off it's purchase price.

I agree that larger throat chipper is good even if you're only chipping smaller stuff. But the usefulness depends on what you are chipping. If it's pine/fir which grows straight and has branches that fold up nicely, the extra throat size may seem like a waste. If it's madrone or live oak which grows any way other than straight and is a lot stiffer, you'll be thankful for the larger chipper.

Larger chippers also have bigger flywheels and at least with the Woodmaxx and Woodland Mills, often faster rotor/knife speeds due to gearing or rotor diameter or both. That takes more power to turn but chips faster.

 

[5030]

Been running my cheap ol' Chinese Jinma 8" chipper for 10 years now and will again as soon as the weather warms up.

Cheap and hard to beat. Just a bit hard on your hands, feeding it.

 

[LD48750]

Cheap and hard to beat. Just a bit hard on your hands, feeding it.

Not that I notice.
It lives outside and seems to need more care & adjustments than it used to but, it still takes care of the leftovers from firewood & pasture trimming.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

plowhog, hope you don't mind a question. I am looking to buy a Wc-88 soon and would appreciate your opinion. I have a Kubota L4600, 44hp, 35 at pto. Would I be power limited?
Thanks

I've owned a WC88 for nearly three years now. Great machine. Our tractor then was a 47hp LG (now known as LS) and from memory it's PTO delivered around 38hp. We used it to chip prunings from olive trees. Average max diameter of pruned branches was around 100mm (4"), but the 8" capacity meant that it could accept main branches with smaller side branches no problems. The LG had no problems at all driving it for that application.

We occasionally over-fed it with just too much leafy material, too fast, and choked it, but we soon learnt it's "appetite". A mate with a WC68 commented that ours was much less prone to choking than his, so maybe the bigger capacity of the WC88 makes a difference there.

Our current tractor has significantly greater PTO hp, so now we can process not only the olive offcuts, but also bigger branches from fallen Eucalypts, scrub Wattle, etc.

With the ability to slow down the infeed roller to suit the stuff you're processing, I can't see you'd have any problems.