Chipper Jinma Chipper Local or not?

[LSmith]

I am looking seriously at a Jinma Chipper for my Kubota L3400. But I got a few questions that I can't answer from the existing posts.
First- I am aware of the PTO issues with the L3400. Mine works fine but other than a brush hog and a PHD I haven't used it hard. Will a chipper put a strain on it like a tiller or is it about like a brush hog?
If I can pry the money out of my wallet, I have two choices. I live in central Mississippi. There is a Jinma Dealer about 3 hours away near Memphis. The dealer is Circle G Tractor Sales, Inc. I can't find any info on him other than his web site and there is some mention of him on the forum for parts there are no comments on this forum positive or negative. The positive side of buying there would be no freight.
Then there is Ranch Hand Supply & Affordable Tractor. They both have a stellar reputation on this forum and if I understand correctly they do some pre-adjustment to the chipper prior to shipment. Right now I'm leaning toward buying from one of them and just accepting the shipping cost as piece of mind.
What do ya'll think?

 

[Ductape]

I say buy from either Ranch Hand or Affordable.......i'm guessing Affordable is closer to you? Even with shipping you will find them plenty competetive.

 

[Ranch_Hand_Supp]

Hi LSmith,
Afforable & I sell the ORIGINAL Jinma wood chipper.

Circle G's chipper show on his web site is not Jinma . It is a Jinma copy (WC06).

We service / prep 99% of the ones we sell and have had good service out of them. They do need a good prep before they are put to work and It does make a difference.

Ronald
Ranch Hand Supply

 

[Rara Avis]

Hi LSmith,


Circle G's chipper show on his web site is not Jinma . It is a Jinma copy (WC06).

Ronald
Ranch Hand Supply

Geez...a COPY of a CHINESE COPY...I bet that is an interesting product...

 

[Ranch_Hand_Supp]

Geez...a COPY of a CHINESE COPY...I bet that is an interesting product...

Sorry Paul, I missed / missing your point via my post ??


Ronald
Ranch Hand Supply

 

[AlanB]

I bought from Circle G, I still have not set mine up yet.

I was very satisfied with the service they gave, but know nothing about the chipper yet.

From my impression of reading many of the posts though, it looks like several of the improvements that I see folks doing, are incorporated on the Circle G chipper.

 

[AlanB]

Setting mine up today, and if you asked me right now, I would have spent the extra money and bought Ron's.

Looked (I thought) everything over pretty good. Fought with this and that, had to move my mounts because of PEC system.

Really fought with that short little driveline, not much room for error there.

Did check my blade to anvil clearance and it all looked ok.

Well apparently, I missed the grub screws on the pillow block retainer peices.

Fired it up and it looks like my cutter head walked forward into the anvil.

Took me a while to figure out what was going on. Found one grub screw smashed and some marks on the bearing behind it. I have a feeling that little chinese guy had problems with that one tried left hand drilling it out, and as the man said it is about as hard as the back of supermans head, so no go on drilling it.

Going to have to drizzle a bit of weld on it when I get settled down and in a better mood, try and back it out then. Not sure if it is loose or semi tight right now.

Man, it is just frustrating, I guess I am paying for being cheap. Then again, if my time is worth anything, it is not that cheap.

Not sure what I would do if I had it too do over again at this moment. May be a little better tomorrow if I get that screw out and get it going, but right now, 8 hours in, I am a little less then pleased.

 

[Ranch_Hand_Supp]

Sorry for your luck AlanB,

I am sure Circle G will help you with warranty parts if needed.

Do continue to inspect the machine. I have not serviced / preped a WC6 but there are least 3 things out of a list than needs attention on everyone of the Jinma chippers we prep before we ship.

We know our prep effects our price but, we sell to the market that does not mind servicing the chipper ..... they just want to use it when they receive it. There is a market for everyone. Buyer or seller.

You will get it going..... if not already.


Ronald
Ranch Hand Supply

 

[AlanB]

Thanks Ron, I let it sit yesterday as it was Hanna and I were mad at each other after a day of working on that thing, and it just was not worth getting mad about.

When I am calm, and feeling better, what I have to do too it is not that big of a deal.

What is aggravating too me, is I had read a note somewhere about those screws, and someone had said they just had one in theirs, and I had looked to make sure I saw 2 in each slider thing, but did not take the extra minute to cinch them down, or to pull them and locktite them. Then again, cinching down grub screws in bearings is not really normal "setup" on most machines, but I have a feeling it is a bit more so on the Chinese stuff.

I think all I will need is a 6mm grub screw, I looked at HF yesterday and somehow they keep a kit of standard set screws, and no metric............. Hmmmmm how many of the peices of equipment that they sell do you think need standard vs. Metric hardware. Go figure.

Calling Circle G in a second to get their take on the matter, I see the grub screws and set sleeves keep the disc from going "forward" (towards the chute) but I do not see what keeps it from coming "backwards" towards the PTO, I think the shaft is raised in front of the "forward" top bearing, but did not mic it. Is that correct Ron on the Jinma?

In the FWIW, I tend to go over my machines fairly well, and just figured on paying myself too do it. I like to know how they work, that way when they break, and they all break, I know what to look for and how to fix it.

I also figured with the PEC's that I would have to diddle with the mounts, and I did.

I also am not sure I fully understand the pillow block greasing. It appears to me to be a shell bearing inside the pillow block, not sure if there is a grease channel and hole there or not, but it would appear that I am greasing between the shell and the outer bearing race. My thought was that if what I thought was the case, when it failed, I would figure it out at that point.

And man oh man, I had read about the grease fittings, but had no idea someone would put something as useless as the little brass points on there that they did. I just swapped them out for some "high Quality" chinese ones from my favorite HF kit.

One good thing about the value of the dollar dropping, it makes it more economical to bring manufacturing and other services back home to the US.

 

[AlanB]

Spoke with Circle G and apparently I have the only one that has ever given a problem, but he said there is always a first

They had not been into one, and were not very familiar with what I was trying to describe, but my feelings are they would help me with whatever I need as far as parts etc. goes, but as far as having been into one, and taken them apart etc. etc. I was on my own.

At this point, I just need to spend another hour or two on it and get it what I think is right. May have to come back to TBN knowledge depot for more specifics but it is really all pretty straight forward.

Will try and grab a pic or two as I go along.

 

[Ranch_Hand_Supp]

Calling Circle G in a second to get their take on the matter, I see the grub screws and set sleeves keep the disc from going "forward" (towards the chute) but I do not see what keeps it from coming "backwards" towards the PTO, I think the shaft is raised in front of the "forward" top bearing, but did not mic it. Is that correct Ron on the Jinma?

QUOTE]


Yes, on a Jinma Chipper.



Ronald
Ranch Hand Supply

 

[AlanB]

Thanks Ron, meant to measure last night and got running in circles and did not do it.

Need to get it down in the shop and too the welder. Maybe tonight, but right now the lawncare business is the all important consumer of time.

 

[AlanB]

Well, did not have time to fix it, but had 10 minutes while Hanna was backrunning to pick me up and looks like there is about a .020" step in front of the bearing between the Cutter head and the bearing, so that is what keeps it from driving towards the PTO.

Now, just have to get it down to the shop, and the old piece out, and I will probably dimple the shaft a bit to give a bit more bite to the grubs.

Got to get the tractor back from the job it is on first though.

 

[AlanB]

Wow! am I slow

I thought I was working right along on this and find myself slipping to page 4

So, when your tractor is at the job site, it is less then convienient to move these chippers, but we can usually find a way to accomplish the job if we just keep looking. We pressed Lil into service to move the chipper to the welder in the basement instead of moving the welder to the chipper. Pic 124

Crud, Ok, got to resize the photo's. Be back later.

Short version,

Got it in the shop, welded a nub on the grub screw, welded a nut on the nub, backed grub screw out.

Cleaned up all the threads and replaced all the grub screws, took a 1/4" bit and drilled a dimple in the shaft where the grub screw lands, could be a stress riser, but think it will be ok.

So, bit of blue locktite, dimpled shaft, chased threads so the grub screws will go through (I think that was the problem) and I think that end of things is done.

Now I need to take off the infeed chute, and reset the anvil, replace the infeed chute, get the tractor home, set drive line length for the final time, neaten up the coupler on the driveshaft so it slides on nicer and put this thing too use.

 

[Bill Barrett]

Hey Alan, what the heck is a grub screw?= set screw?

 

[AlanB]

Hey Alan, what the heck is a grub screw?= set screw?

Yes, actually incorrect term on my part sorry. I think technically a grub screw is actually the one used to set the clearance / drag etc. on the lathe so there is no play. I should have said set screw.

 

[AlanB]

The neighbor came over last night and gave me a hand taking off the infeed chute and we re-installed the anvil and set the gap (about .030" on the close blade) and then got the chute back together.

Maybe get the tractor home next week and give this thing a run.

 

[AlanB]

Well, got the tractor home from the jobsite, she who must be obeyed let me borrow it for a day or two I think because she wanted the yard cleaned up

Parties you know....

Anyway, sat down and did the final diddling with the chipper on Saturday, spent another hour or two getting everything what I felt was "dialed in" drive lengths correct, dry run a bit, sheilds back on etc. etc.

We ran it for about 4 hours on Saturday, Hanna and I both feeding it.

It worked well for what it is.

We are somewhat spoiled by being around the big Vemeer's, I think my buddy's is a 24" and that kind of taint's you to what you expect.

That said, it will do every bit of the 6" stuff we threw in it (mostly just for testing) and the stuff I got it for, the long straight saplings etc it just gobbled up in short order.

The problems were when we tried to use it as a shredder and bushy, leafy things would hang on the sides, and claw on trying not to go down the chute, but then again, that is not what it was designed to handle.

So, it will do what we intended, should reduce a bit of the stuff coming into the yard, as well as help clear the yard up, at the same time it will give me some chopped up organic to add to my clays and help break them up a bit.

All in all happy with it now. I hate the amount of time I had to spend on it, but I knew that some was going to be spent going in, and if I had to do another one today, there would be less head scratching as I have a better understanding of them now.

Now the test of time comes up.

 

[Charlesaf3]

could you compare it a bit more to the big vermeers? thats what i'm used to and wondering if the 3pt would just not work for me

 

[AlanB]

The biggest thing that struck me, and may be something I change on mine.

On the big one's I have fed, the drive rollers are on the two sides, standing vertical, and they both drive.

On my jinma or whatever it is, the feed roller is on the top in a horizontal position.

It is pushing "down" against a flat plate of steel, ie, one side of the stick is being driven, one is dragging against a plate of steel.

My first real modification would be to put a roller assembly down there so it was pinching between two rollers, I do not think the lower roller would need to be driven, I think it would assist in the feeding.

The other thing, and again, I am used to much larger machines, branches with lot's of smaller branches, or bushes don't want to go down the chute.

With Joey's machine, you get something anywhere near the infeed rollers and it just disapears, anything we touch with the landscape business just comes out the other end as little chips

Then again, I think his last one was over $30K

Will it work for you?

Heck, I just don't know, I wish mine did more, but the $1500 was about all I am willing to spend to deal with the problem I have, so that was the constraining factor I thought hard about an old worn tree service one, but the $ signs can get overwhelming quick when they break (and they will) and god some of those things just scare the crud out of me. I also really did not want to keep up with another motor.