DIY PTO driven wood chipper.

[bmaverick]

I've seen 2 or 3 gas powered wood chippers in the 8hp range or better converted with the motor removed and a PTO interface added on youtube. Howbeit, those were done in eastern Europe where things are like a wild bizarre type of a zombie looking machine. Then there was the guy in NC who did his own clean welding, clean painted making it looked very professional.

With all that said, anyone ever take a wood chipper, drop out the wimpy or dead motor and make it powered by a PTO from a CUT type tractor? Got some images to post too?

It seems that I can pick up an 8hp wood chipper off of Craigslist for under $300 any day of the week and make a conversion. PTO driven types usually cost big bucks. One thing I do notice about self powered chippers vs. PTO, the self powered usually have 2 cutting blades and the PTO types have 3 mounted on the flying wheel. That's really not hard to do.

 

[s219]

I can't imagine this would be a good idea. The small gas powered portable chippers have really wimpy construction, probably inline with their expected power source. They are way way way lighter duty that PTO units (I own a Wallenstein BX-42). PTO chippers tend to have a real big flywheel and everything else is beefy as well. Big bearings, heavy steel, etc. I'd almost suspect a powerful tractor could destroy a converted portable chipper.

 

[mikester]

You can certainly do it it you have the time, money and inclination.

I found it was cheaper to buy a pre-made Chinese 8 inch PTO chipper than to buy the parts to fabricate it myself.

You could probably drop in a hydraulic motor as a simple replacement if you have one kicking around. Probably just as easy to buy a cheapo 8HP Chinese gas motor for under $200 and save wear and tear on the tractor. That way you save money on duct tape.

 

[bmaverick]

You can certainly do it it you have the time, money and inclination.

I found it was cheaper to buy a pre-made Chinese 8 inch PTO chipper than to buy the parts to fabricate it myself.

You could probably drop in a hydraulic motor as a simple replacement if you have one kicking around. Probably just as easy to buy a cheapo 8HP Chinese gas motor for under $200 and save wear and tear on the tractor. That way you save money on duct tape.

I've seen pixs and info on this forum of a person taking the exact same Baker 8HP Commercial wood chipper and converting it over to a PTO driven unit. Yes, this would work for a CUT of under 40Hp. It is a really beefy unit. I've tore it down and inspected the metal gauge, flywheel size and the rather large chute.
The trouble is, the guy didn't give any step-by-step methods of how it was converted. I've tried to reply in that old thread, but no response from late last year. I do know, I need to have at least 3 cutting blades to make it practical for a PTO drive vs. 8Hp. My Yanmar has a 4-speed select PTO, thus with the engine RPM and the PTO selection, I can tune the tractor to spin the wood chipper at a respectable speed.

Those 5hp or so called 8hp MTD and Harbor Freight units wouldn't stand well with a PTO on them. The Baker has the spindle shaft on some really beefy bearings and the back end already sticks out a good distance to incorporate a PTO. I just need to figure out how to dis-engage the 8hp Tecumseh engine by letting it free wheel or remove it entirely on the other side.

 

[Kenneth S]

A 40hp tractor would probably have more than enough power to run one at an idle. You need to find at what rpm the 8hp spins the chipper at, then see what the pto shaft speed is at idle then gear it accordingly, but that may, or may not be practical. It would take some tinkering with engine/pto rpm, pto rpm. The engine shouldn't need to be run at 540 pto rpm on a small chipper like that.

 

[oosik]

I've owned three chippers in the 38 years out here. The first was a green gas powered something. It died when it quit chipping up my aluminum soda cans. What a wimp. Then a Wally BX42S - now a Wally BX62S. The original "green thing" would have flied apart and self destructed if I hooked it to either of my tractors. Fortunately - I quit drinking soda before I bought my first Wally.

If you want a stand alone chipper - buy one. If you want a PTO chipper - get one of those types. Mixing the two types will lead to a disaster.

 

[Langanobob]

Interesting idea. I have seen some pretty heavy duty gas engine powered chippers. Bearcat is one that comes to mind. I have an 8HP chipper shredder and it could use more power but I think it would be simpler to just put a bigger engine on it than convert it to PTO. I have way too many unfinished projects to tackle a PTO conversion myself but please keep us updated if you decide to proceed with it

 

[RalphVa]

I've only had a TroyBilt Tomahawk (8 hp), MacKissic for the Gravely (no chipper, only hammers) and now a PTO MacKissic the last 14 years. The Tomahawk is basically the same machine as the MacKissic and is actually heavier construction than the TPH-122 PTO unit but has very whimpy spacers between the hammers. I you replaced the Tomahawk spacers with MacKissic ones, it would be a good unit to convert to PTO but the TPH-122 just wins hands down in being very easy to maintain. If you really want a PTO unit cheap, I'd look for a used TPH-122. It would be very easy to fix any problems on it.

Ralph

 

[arto98607]

.............................. 8HP Commercial wood chipper ...................

That's a joke right?

 

[bmaverick]

That's a joke right?

That is the decal on the machine from the manufacture and on the cover of the user manual. I know, there are 12Hp and a few rare 16Hp machines out there that could be defined "commercial".

What I do know is this, it's nosier than most of the machines out there, maybe that's the commercial part of it. LOL Plus it clogs too much unless the branch funnel is set just right.

 

[iointerrupt]

I'll admit I tried this conversion and failed.

Was a TroyBilt Tomahawk I got for free. Engine was not worth fixing, and I prefer PTO-power anyway.

So I tore it all apart, added 3pt hitch arms, top link connection.

Added a pulley and bearings to support it, PTO shaft and more bearings. With the biggest pulley I could find on SurplusCenter, I still could only get it up to about 2900 RPM. Figured that'd be enough.

And right before I went to test it, I realized, that the whole thing was now spinning backwards. And I don't know about your tractor, but on mine the PTO isn't reversible.

So, tear it all apart again, redesign the mounting for the chipper blade so it can be mounted backwards. Carefully set the flywheel up in the milling machine and drill new mounting holes for the blade. Grind off the old blade backstop and weld on a new one in reverse position.

Finally big day comes, time make some chips! And...it's utterly bone jarring. It seems to be striping the wood in long lengths, not making chips. Worse, it likes to violently eject any sticks feed into it right back out the feed chute at the operator. I suspect the low RPM wasn't helping, but who knows what else might have also been wrong.

Time to admit failure, this isn't going anywhere good. Stripped off the good parts, sent all the rest down the road to the scrap yard.

Buy a PTO chipper, re-designing a gas-powered one to be PTO powered is a rabbit hole that you don't want to explore. I know.

 

[bmaverick]

I'll admit I tried this conversion and failed.

Was a TroyBilt Tomahawk I got for free. Engine was not worth fixing, and I prefer PTO-power anyway.

So I tore it all apart, added 3pt hitch arms, top link connection.

Added a pulley and bearings to support it, PTO shaft and more bearings. With the biggest pulley I could find on SurplusCenter, I still could only get it up to about 2900 RPM. Figured that'd be enough.

And right before I went to test it, I realized, that the whole thing was now spinning backwards. And I don't know about your tractor, but on mine the PTO isn't reversible.

So, tear it all apart again, redesign the mounting for the chipper blade so it can be mounted backwards. Carefully set the flywheel up in the milling machine and drill new mounting holes for the blade. Grind off the old blade backstop and weld on a new one in reverse position.

Finally big day comes, time make some chips! And...it's utterly bone jarring. It seems to be striping the wood in long lengths, not making chips. Worse, it likes to violently eject any sticks feed into it right back out the feed chute at the operator. I suspect the low RPM wasn't helping, but who knows what else might have also been wrong.

Time to admit failure, this isn't going anywhere good. Stripped off the good parts, sent all the rest down the road to the scrap yard.

Buy a PTO chipper, re-designing a gas-powered one to be PTO powered is a rabbit hole that you don't want to explore. I know.

View attachment 598705View attachment 598706View attachment 598707

Thank you for the heads up. That is some really good info.

With my Yanmar, I have a 4-speed PTO. 540, 6XX, 8XX and 1080. It has an over-run clutch too.

With the Baker chipper/shredder, it's rotating shaft sticks out of both ends. So, an engine can mount on either side.

As for the ...

Worse, it likes to violently eject any sticks feed into it right back out the feed chute at the operator.

... mine had done that since day-1. I then took the 2 blades off, sharpened them and then readjusted the entry chute. It stopped that trouble. The chute angle to the rotating blades is critical to prevent your trouble. The chute mounts with grade-5.5 bolts, lock-washers and has slots for alignment. When it's not aligned, it's a violent machine with the 3-inch branches.

The 2900rpm is your tractor engine speed for a 540rpm PTO I would assume. Having a multi-speed PTO really comes in handy then. Or in your case, any old CASE Ind or Woods gear-box for a PTO pull behind mower would have worked for you instead. Or even a gear box from a PTO driven auger. You were soooo close on getting it to work right.

 

[ThisJustin]

This is an old thread, not sure if anyone is checking back but I was thinking about trying this too.

I have an old MacKissic, it's a monster. It rivals some large 3pt pto driven models I've seen, weighs over 100lb and it doesn't have an onboard engine. It's meant to run with the pto from a Gravely but in my opinion, it's a bit too large for the Gravely.

It would be an easy conversion seeing as it already has a PTO drive shaft connection, just need some mounting points.

 

[ThisJustin]

Actually, here it is - from their website

 

[Stomper]

I'll admit I tried this conversion and failed.

Was a TroyBilt Tomahawk I got for free. Engine was not worth fixing, and I prefer PTO-power anyway.

So I tore it all apart, added 3pt hitch arms, top link connection.

Added a pulley and bearings to support it, PTO shaft and more bearings. With the biggest pulley I could find on SurplusCenter, I still could only get it up to about 2900 RPM. Figured that'd be enough.

And right before I went to test it, I realized, that the whole thing was now spinning backwards. And I don't know about your tractor, but on mine the PTO isn't reversible.

So, tear it all apart again, redesign the mounting for the chipper blade so it can be mounted backwards. Carefully set the flywheel up in the milling machine and drill new mounting holes for the blade. Grind off the old blade backstop and weld on a new one in reverse position.

Finally big day comes, time make some chips! And...it's utterly bone jarring. It seems to be striping the wood in long lengths, not making chips. Worse, it likes to violently eject any sticks feed into it right back out the feed chute at the operator. I suspect the low RPM wasn't helping, but who knows what else might have also been wrong.

Time to admit failure, this isn't going anywhere good. Stripped off the good parts, sent all the rest down the road to the scrap yard.

Buy a PTO chipper, re-designing a gas-powered one to be PTO powered is a rabbit hole that you don't want to explore. I know.

View attachment 598705View attachment 598706View attachment 598707

WOW thats too bad it didn't work out, You did a great job on it. looks great

 

[CalG]

Actually, here it is - from their website

View attachment 601938

That unit is the smaller of two PTO driven chipper/ shredders offered by MacKissck.. The large one has served me well for many years now.

Knife to anvil clearance is an important aspect to good performance on all chippers. The TPH 185 included.

MacKissic Inc.