Chipper I finally ordered a Wallenstein BX42 chipper

[roman]

Bit the bullet and ordered a BX42 today. After looking for months for used and something comparable new I decided it was time. I have read many useful informative threads on TBN about the small chipper and realized it was the one to buy. I also ordered a 4 way wegde for my Wallenstein 3 pth splitter.
It may be here in a week...I can't wait to see how long it will take me to chip the stuff I have down already.

 

[ayelvington]

You're going to love it! The wife and I will be chipping down a bunch of stuff in the a.m., and I know that it's going to take more time to wake up than do the chipping!

Enjoy!

 

[ctgoldwing]

Hi Roman,

I've had mine a few weeks now & have been very happy with it. This morning I cleared more small trees - mostly birch, beech & maple - that were pretty much overgrown with grape vines

My arbor might have fallen down but I have grape vines growing everywhere in the woods. After chainsawing thru the vines to separate the trees I chipped everything. On the L3400 it just chugs along on the 3" stock I was feeding into it. It seems to do a fine job on the small branches & leaves without jamming - always a good thing

I'll try to take some pix tomorrow as I have more to do.

 

[jbarker855]

Congrats on a wise purchase. You will not be disappointed.
-Jay

 

[smfcpacfp]

It will take you a while to figure out how exactly to prepare branches for chipping, if you have a lot of offshoot branches and once you do it should go easier. I always have my chain saw at the ready if some branches need extra help. Overall I am pleased with the unit.

Did you get the hydraulic feed unit?

 

[roman]

I didn't get the hydro feed unit- the posts I have read here and the dealers
advise jive, I don't need it. For what we are doing the self-feed will be fine. To be honest, I don't plan on having it more than a few years. Unless I fall in love with it.:thumbsup:

 

[2fast2]

Keep lopping shears at the ready for those side branches that block the branches from feeding properly.
Its easy, its fun, and after a few hours you'll be tired and beat to heck and wonder why you though it was easy and fun. :laughing:

 

[roman]

I can't wait to see how much "fun" it is...

 

[smfcpacfp]

Keep lopping shears at the ready for those side branches that block the branches from feeding properly.
Its easy, its fun, and after a few hours you'll be tired and beat to heck and wonder why you though it was easy and fun. :laughing:

I never thought of using my loppers for that task - good idea!

 

[roman]

The chipper works better than I imagined it could. It has chipped everthing i've thrown at it. It is going to clean up our yard much faster than waiting for the right time to burn,dealing with permits and cleanup.
I fully reccomend it !

Thanks to all for the advice and ideas!

 

[lostcause]

i've had a bx42 for a couple of years now, and it does work good for me with one exception - tops of leafy trees tend to clog it easily.

i can run solid wood through it all day without missing a beat, but when it gets to the tops, or even very leafy branches, it will often plug. what happens is that the tops have little solid wood, and the thin stems and all the leaves get in the flywheel, but they don't have enough mass to fly out the chute - they just flutter around and eventually too many get in there and they plug up by the chute opening.

my unit is power feed, but that really doesn't matter when it gets to the tops, i've tried controlling the feed, but the cutters will just pull the small tops in, regardless of feed speed. anyone else have this issue and find a solution? the only one i have is to try to feed a solid piece of wood in along with the top, so it has the wood mass to help pull everything out. this works pretty well, but you can't always be ready to feed at the exact time, so i don't consider this a real solution.

oh yeah, my personal $0.02 on power feed - this is my second chipper. first was an old pto driven chipper/shredder with manual feed. my belief is that nobody will ever buy a second manual feed chipper. some will buy manual and eventually sell it, others will end up keeping it, but anyone who decides to buy another chipper will always opt for the feeder the next time.

 

[FLHayman]

I have the BX62 and imagine it's similar. Wet leaves clog mine, too, if I don't chase them with some dry or semi rotted wood. What I do is force myself to let the fallen branches sit long enough to dry a little, then they don't clog. In Florida, we get Spanish moss stuck to every other branch, plus there are some palmetto branches that are very waxy. In both of these cases, I can deal with them as long as I chase them with pieces of easy wood branches The Wallenstein is super easy to clean out, in any case, with the hinged chute. Most of my clogs lately have been me holding back one incredibly knotty piece that 'may, or may not' make it through. I wait till the end and try it. On my old gas JD, they will often slow it down enough to start a problem, but with a more energetic Ford 5000 diesel, it will chew up anything I can fit in......so far.
One more tip is to keep the rpm up, and don't hold on to anything once you've put it in and it starts to chip it.