Woodchippers: PTO vs gasoline driven

[LightningCamaroGuy]

I'm thinking about buy a wood chipper. I've cut down all these Bradford Pears and they suck, and are very limby. I want a chipper with its own engine as I not a fan of having my tractor sit for extended periods at WOT, (like with our log splitter) but I'm less of a fan of being aggravated by using underpowered equipment. If the chippers are rated to cut the same diameter is a gas power chipper slower to use than one being turned by a tractor with 60 PTO HP? I'm not a wood chipper expert, but from videos I've seem is most gas powered chippers seem to bog and feed slower, while requiring more user help to get it to feed than ones rated for the same size wood, but mounted to a 50+ HP tractor.

How well would a PTO driven chipper work if you ran it in 540E? Say a chipper that's your tractor's on the big end of what it's rated for?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'd think fine, that is what 540E is made for. Probably more productive than a gas powered unit. My tractors max torque is actually achieved at 1800RPM which is my 540E pto speed

 

[Chewwy]

60 hp will work fine for chipping up to 8 in material. I hate anything gas powered. I’ll go for a diesel powered PTO anytime.

I would get one with self feeding capability. Let it feed itself while you go and grab another piece.

 

[ericm979]

Chippers need lots of power. You could buy a used self-powered chipper but when I looked a few years ago manual feeding 25hp models that were totally beat up were going for $10k. You can get a good hydraulic feed PTO chipper for under $4k new from Woodmaxx or Woodland Mills.

If you maintain your tractor well it'll last many thousands of hours. The time spent turning the chipper will be tiny in comparison.

You can minimize chipper run time by stacking your piles with the butt ends all facing the same direction and already trimmed to go into the chipper. Then you can feed it as fast as it will eat. If you have to run around gathering stuff or trimming it while the chipper is running you are wasting chipping time.

 

[jjeff]

I own a woodmax 8" capacity has feed rollers, (not the newest model with hydraulic adjustable speed reversible rollers) you don't like delimbing? I have to delimb or Ill get a jamb. Owned for 5 yrs now, no major problems except first time operator errors. It's pto I run off my L4150 which easily chips it's largest capacity. Don't run to dry of wood through it, don't run roots/ stumps through it. It's a lot of hard work start to finish especially if your a one man operation.

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

Do any of y'all have experience with this chipper?

 

[oldballs]

I don't have any experience with the Spitfire. But would still prefer my Woodland Mills WC68 even with only 19HP at the PTO.....bc of the hudraulic feed....the stop/reverse control. ..being a short (5'2") old man I think my WC68 is easier to feed. That's a tall young man in the video.

Most any tree work that one does is going to have limbs/logs too big for such a chipper. I think most of us report that we don't try to chip stuff bigger than 4-6 inches....unless they are in the tree business...imo.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. I'm not sure what a "540E" is that you reference.

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

I don't have any experience with the Spitfire. But would still prefer my Woodland Mills WC68 even with only 19HP at the PTO.....bc of the hudraulic feed....the stop/reverse control. ..being a short (5'2") old man I think my WC68 is easier to feed. That's a tall young man in the video.

Most any tree work that one does is going to have limbs/logs too big for such a chipper. I think most of us report that we don't try to chip stuff bigger than 4-6 inches....unless they are in the tree business...imo.

Cheers,
Mike

P.S. I'm not sure what a "540E" is that you reference.

Well one of the big reasons I'm liking the Splitfire is it has a very broad PTO HP rating on the gearbox, that falls into my tractors range. I know Woodland Mills offers larger/more capable units than the WC68, and I would love to have one, but like with most things related to more HP the price starts to climb considerably. I do agree I would like a hydraulic feed, but the Splitfire claims its shoot design helps it self feed. They also say that on a more powerful tractor like mine that approaches it's PTO rating that the chipper can handle 5.5-6" pieces without an issue.

540E is a range that operates the PTO at 540 RPM, but at a noticeably lower engine speed than WOT. If you can use 540E instead of regular 540 it really does help save on fuel, plus you're not running your engine wide open, but if you're trying to do heavy work with the PTO it will start to bog the engine down as it's not making as much power operating at lower engine speeds.

 

[oosik]

I run a Wallenstein BX62S with my Kubota M6040. The chipper is rated for 6" wood - the M6040 has 56 pto hp. With this setup I can easily chip any trees on my property.

The chipper is a manual feed model. I have no need for hydraulic feed. I chip ONLY small pines ( 1" to 6" on the butt ). I do no pruning - just feed the tree into the chipper - butt first. A fresh cut pine - 6" on the butt - 24 - 30 feet long - that's about all this old fart can drag around.

I have no need for a larger chipper. Six inch butt cut pine is the biggest I chip. The ONLY reason I would want a larger chipper - if I were chipping hardwood trees. Larger chipper would have a heavier flywheel.

Every two or three years I have a three month long project using my chipper. I thin my pine stands and chip the trees I've thinned. Burning is a poor option here. Because wild fires are so prevalent here - I could only burn in the winter. Winter is when I'm holed up in the house - drinking hot chocolate and brandy.

Wallenstein is considered to be a superior chipper. I've used my 62S for thirteen years - no problems. For that matter - 13 years - 2500 to 3000 young pines chipped - the chipping blades are still sharp as razors.

I just might live long enough to rotate the cutting blades to their second sides.

 

[jjeff]

One thing is wood chips make great mulch around tree bases, for pathways, and certain plants in my experience. I've ran delimbed 15-20' Aspen and overgrown evergreen firs thru my wood max with 40 or so PTO horsepower on a 30+ yr old tractor was gratifyingly sufficient and adequate. Check flywheel or drum weight I believe it's called, on whatever chipper you get the bigger the better within reason I've been told. If you run a chipper id consider getting an overrun clutch off your tractors PTO stub. Good luck.