Chipper Chipper Shredder Thoughts

[mason156]

I have recently acquired a Kubota L4600 and I have started to generate a tremendous amount of material that I would like to chip/shred. Most of the material is brushy/leafy stuff such as tree tops, vines, invasive bushes, etc., but eventually there will also be a substantial portion of the material that are tree limbs 3" diameter and under.

I am trying to decide on what is the right chipper/shredder for my needs. In particular, I don't know whether a PTO-drive unit is a better choice or whether a stand-alone unit will be more useful.

Eventually I have to get rid of all the trees, vines, and prickers that are trying to take over the 20 or so open acres we have in CT.

Cleaning up the tops of the trees that we take down in the remaining 100 acres of woods is less of a priority - but would be nice.

Here are the questions as I see them (which could be totally wrong)

PTO vs. tow-behind unit with it's own engine.
Just chipper v. chipper/shredder? I'm not sure about this distinction.
Feed style (gravity v. hydraulic)
Capacity / beefiness versus price/cost
Importance of replacement part availabilty.

If anyone with real-world experience could help me with these decisions I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[TerryR]

My views:

PTO vs. tow-behind unit with it's own engine.

Assuming you are working on you own property and not traveling around the county, I think a tow-behind is a total waste. More money, another engine to maintain, and not as handy to get into tight places.

Just chipper v. chipper/shredder? I'm not sure about this distinction.

A chipper works great on small trees and branches. Less so on messy brush.

Feed style (gravity v. hydraulic)

Power feed is great if you are planning on using it daily, or have tons of money, and aren't worried about maintaining all the moving parts. For most homeowner use, manual feed is perfect.

Capacity / beefiness versus price/cost

Better is always better. Light-duty equipment is a pain and generally a waste of money. Even if you plan to burn anything over 3" for firewood, you still will need to chip un-burnable stuff like pine, and it's easier to feed forked branches with a unit with a higher capacity, say up to 6".

Importance of replacement part availabilty.

I've never needed parts, but do pay attention to maintainability. For example, how hard is it to access the chipper blades, because you will need to sharpen them with some frequency.

 

[jeff9366]

I have started to generate material I would like to chip/shred. Most material is brushy/leafy stuff such as tree tops, vines, invasive bushes, etc., but there will be tree limbs 3" diameter and under.

I am trying to decide on a chipper/shredder. I don't know whether a PTO-drive unit is a better choice or whether a stand-alone unit will be more useful.

Here are the questions as I see chippers:

1. PTO vs. tow-behind unit with it's own engine.
2. Just chipper v. chipper/shredder? I'm not sure about this distinction.
3. Feed style (gravity v. hydraulic)
4. Capacity / beefiness versus price/cost
5. Importance of replacement part availability.

Why not add your tractor to your TBN profile, for permanent reference, viz respondents?

Wallenstein chippers and shredder/chippers from Canada are the premium tractor chippers.

LINK: Wallenstein Outdoor Power Equipment
(Read about SHREDDER/CHIPPERS Vs. CHIPPERS.)

I ran a Wallenstein Chipper behind my Kubota B3300SU for two years. The first year chippers are fine. The second year when the blades begin to dull (Wallenstein has four chipping blades, cheap chippers have one or two), sap has collected throughout, and close knife/drum tolerances have opened a tad, chippers become maintenance intensive. My recommendation: Burn, do not chip.
Bagged chips/mulch from Walmart or Home Depot will be cheaper than chips you produce from your own waste material.

If you must chip, rent or call in a mulching service.

1. Chipping requires a lot of power, 25-hp AT THE PTO, MINIMUM. Two powerful engines cost more than one powerful engine. Two powerful engines require twice the maintenance of one powerful engine. Most tractor engines are diesel. Most chipper engines are gas. Ethanol blend gas goes stale in 90 days.
Stand alone chippers with diesel engines cost more than your tractor and a PTO chipper combined.

2. From your description you need a dedicated SHREDDER/CHIPPER.

A chipper (only) is for trunks with some stubby branches. A chipper will clog every ninety seconds attempting bushes and tree tops. Wallenstein makes the only chipper with a rectangular opening to the drum, a BIG advantage over square opening feeds.

3. A Wallenstein manual/"gravity" feed is completely functional. No need for hydraulic feed ON A WALLENSTEIN.

4. Higher capacity machines cost more. How do you value your time?

5. Wallenstein chippers have few parts. An instance of where you pay more for a well conceived, simple design. Wallenstein parts are readily available from distributors, shipped UPS. Several web based companies offer high quality chipper knife sharpening service. Shipping, outbound + return, costs as much as the sharpening service. (Wrestling out an 85 pound drum with four dull knives still sharp enough to cut human flesh easily, from the guts of ANY chipper, is no fun.)

((Worse is a chipper with a drum LIGHTER THAN 85 POUNDS.))

6. You never want to operate a chipper under time pressure. A medium size Wallenstein can turn a human arm into mulch and hardly slow down. (Safety glasses, hearing protection, no unbuttoned sleeves, no gloves with gauntlets, no scarves nor bandannas, no dangling belt ends, no hats with neck cords. First aid kit, with big wound pads, on the tractor. NO CHILDREN NEAR.)

 

[Scooby074]

I have a stadalone chipper/shredder. Best pieces of advise I can give is to get the biggest intake you can get (branches get hung up and jam on small openings) and get something that is power feed.

Old school chuck and ducks can be had for about the same cost as a Wallenstein give or take (nothing against wallenstein, they are great products) but the old C&D will go through a lot of brush/wood fast for the money. Dangerous though and you got to keep your head about you at all times. That said, power feed chippers are much safer and can handle larger wood easier because they slow the feed rate down. With careful shopping they can be found for reasonable money as well

 

[ultrarunner]

So far we have found using a chipping contractor cost effective for the Christmas tree farm.

There is an old retired fireman that hires out with two helpers or we provide the help... he is very reasonable and can chip either 16 or 18"

Doesn't matter what we throw at it... it gobbles it up... even a winch for heavy stuff... I think last year we had two visits and we provided help and paid the the chipper man $300 each visit...

There was nothing comparable we could have rented... did try renting a smaller machine before with mixed results... had to do more prep and reverse feed too many times.

 

[RoyJackson]

I've owned a Woods 5000 (rebadged Bearcat unit, can't recall the model number though) for several years...6-7, at least.
The 5000 is an outstanding machine for property clean up just as Mason156 describes.
I found I use the shredder more than the chipper (60:40 ratio is my estimate). The chipper capacity is 5", shredder will take up to 3/4" or so.
The only "downside" is mine doesn't have a blower chute. The chips drop below the unit. A blower (which is an option and some TBNers have them) would be nice, but not worth the extra $1000.
Mine, bought used, is PTO driven. It's rated for 15-40 PTO HP. I've ran it between three tractors with PTO HP ranging from 24 to 46. You can get a 5000 with an engine...


The picture isn't of my chipper/shredder. Just got this off the internet.

And do look for used chipper/shredders. I got mine of Craigslist) for a grand. Use Search Tempest too increase your search area.

 

[joecdeere]

I really like the PTO drive ones, but I like being able to keep the tractor working while the chipping is on going.
I picked this up about 8 years ago, with less than 300 hours on it. Was bought by a local college to cleanup after an ice storm.
Workers we afraid of it so it got traded in to the dealer I was working at. Our owner didn't want the liability of selling it, so I bought it for the $2,600.00 that was allowed on trade.
Just couldn't pass it up! Will chip up to 6", but a lot happier with 4-5" and less.

 

[TerryR]

The first year chippers are fine. The second year when the blades begin to dull ...

Blades dull regularly - be sure to get a machine that offers easy access to the blades.

My recommendation: Burn, do not chip.

My recommendation: Chip, do not burn.

Quicker, easier, and no need to tend the fire until it goes out, then deal with what didn't burn.

A chipper (only) is for trunks with some stubby branches. A chipper will clog every ninety seconds attempting bushes and tree tops.

Funny, I've chipped for hours on end with my manual feed BearCat doing all sort of limbs and brush, and never found clogging to be much of an issue.

5. Wallenstein chippers have few parts. An instance of where you pay more for a well conceived, simple design. Wallenstein parts are readily available from distributors, shipped UPS. Several web based companies offer high quality chipper knife sharpening service. Shipping, outbound + return, costs as much as the sharpening service. (Wrestling out an 85 pound drum with four dull knives still sharp enough to cut human flesh easily, from the guts of ANY chipper, is no fun.)

With a well designed chipper the blades are easy to access and remove. On my BearCat taking one bolt out and tipping the blower chute aside exposes the blades.

Sharpening the blades isn't hard. You can do it with a bench grinder if you are very careful to not overheat them. But a slow wet-stone sharpener does a better job. The blades should be double-sided, so you only have to actually sharpen them every other time they dull.

 

[bigtiller]

I'm not sure you would be happy with the 5" to 8" a lot of us put on our tractors, chipping branches is a lot of work. You are talking about 20 acres now and 100 acres later. I think a 'home owner/farm owner" size unit may not be what you need. You may be better off getting into the industrial size stand alone chippers to ease your workload. Kind of like the Vermeer that joedeere pictured only bigger.