Woodland Mills WC88 vs WoodMaxx MX-8800 vs WoodMaxx WM-8H for 60HP Kioti DK6010SE

[Citydude]

People usually don't complain about buying too big.

 

[future_vision]

People usually don't complain about buying too big.

Guess I got to cancel my tractor and upsize.

 

[oosik]

When I upgraded from the Ford 1700 to the Kubota M6040 ( 2009) - I looked for a larger chipper. I even considered the Valby brand. It required 50 hp and had a 350# rotor. Would have made an ideal PTO driven chipper. Problem - the closest dealer was in Montana.

 

[future_vision]

When I upgraded from the Ford 1700 to the Kubota M6040 ( 2009) - I looked for a larger chipper. I even considered the Valby brand. It required 50 hp and had a 350# rotor. Would have made an ideal PTO driven chipper. Problem - the closest dealer was in Montana.

350# !!! That's pretty significant.

 

[oosik]

Valby even made a double rotor model - 500# rotor. Once you got it up to speed- it would probably go thru most anything with ease. It appears that model is no longer made. At least, with a quick scan - I can no longer find it.

 

[Jchonline]

I'm looking to buy a PTO chipper. Originally, I was looking at the Woodland Mills WC68 but that was when I was getting a 40HP tractor. Now that I am getting a 60(57.7) HP tractor with 44.9 HP at the PTO I am looking to size up. The thinking is that the WC68 is rated up to 50 HP at the PTO which is fine if I am happy with the 60 HP tractor but what if I want to go larger in the future? Then I need to move up to the WC88. Seems like sizing up would be a way to future-proof my purchase so I do not to re-buy implements. At least that is my thinking for a Woodland Mills PTO chipper.

Now, WoodMaxx only lists a minimum PTO HP. That has me somewhat confused. Is there no max HP for a WoodMaxx chipper? If that is the case, and I am fine with a chipper not made in the US, then maybe the WM-8H is the way to go (or even the MX-8600)? If US made then MX-8800 would be the best choice I think.

One thing I almost overlooked between the MX-8800 and the WC88 was that the WC88 needs 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid where the MX-8800 needs 2 quarts of motor oil. That tracks on another $50 to the WC88 depending on brand (I first thought it might be closer to $200 for 5 gallons but I was looking at the wrong type of hydraulic fluid. I'm in New England and need ISO 32 I believe).

Shipping is also $399 for Woodland Mills vs the $250 for WoodMaxx.

Woodland Mills also has a 6-12 week delivery time and WoodMaxx current states 1-3 weeks to be processed. Not sure how long it takes to ship after that or if that includes shipping.

Taking all this into account the MX-8800 is around $4565 shipped which includes a couple of qts of motor oil and the Woodland Mills WC88 is $3998 shipped which includes 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid. That's a $567 difference. Worth the difference to get an US made product possibly delivered more quickly?

Regardless of delivery time I'd be happy to pay the extra if the MX-8800 is just a better product overall. It's something I am going to keep for a long time. Or do I go with a smaller size chipper like the WC68 or the non-US made WM-8H(currently out of stock) or the MX-8600?

FYI. I've had Wallenstein's pitched to me as well but from what I can tell their manual feeds are more expensive than any of the hydraulic feeds I mentioned in this post and I am not sure there is that much better performance to justify the price.

The WC88 with hydraulic feed is a great unit. I have chipped about 50 hours with mine and it has been flawless. A mix of fir, pine, aspen (all soft wood mind you). Some dead, some alive.

 

[Jchonline]

It’s not about the size of one piece, it’s about how many small pieces you can shove through and how big of a crotch it will eat without getting jammed up. In this case bigger opening is better IMHO.

Absolutely. You will spend ALOT of time trimming limbs off to get them to feed well...

 

[Jchonline]

I have the Woodmaxx 8H on a Branson with 32hp at the PTO. The one problem with it was the hydraulic flow control they used us a 20 gpm unit while the hydraulic system on the chipper is 3 gpm. The oversized valve has a very narrow range between dead slow and full speed. Mine had effectively two speeds. I replaced it with a 5 gpm unit that works much better and lets me set the feed to any speed in between full and barely moving. Supposedly the MX series hydrostatic feed does not have the same problem.

The 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid is a one time purchase and it's pretty cheap in any case. It would not be a factor for me. It's probably cheaper to get it locally from TSC or similar.

I think the Woodland Mills has a lot of superior features but two reasons I went with the 8H was the dual roller feed and the lift arm that lets you manually pull the upper roller up. With a bit of practice I can pull the roller up and toss in a short chunk that is too short to safely push in by hand and would jam if pushed in with a branch. The Woodland Mills videos showing their units in action make it look like it can be difficult to get material to start feeding. The guy has to shove it in pretty hard and has to try again at times. Videos of the Woodmaxx don't show that, and in my experience it feeds pretty easily.

For a tractor your size I would get a 9" chipper. Even if you never chip material over 4", the extra size means less trimming to get stuff small enough to go into the chipper. It'll save work.

If I were doing it again I would consider the MX series. The single feed roller would be a concern. Actually if I were buying the tractor again I'd get one with more HP, purely for running the chipper. And a 9" chipper. With the amount of chipping I have done and will be doing in the future as long as I own this property, it would have been worth it.

I agree a dual feed roller would probably be better. If you have really short pieces (1-2 ft) you have to be careful how you jamb them in. No fingers on the top side of the logs! I usually try and use a crutch branch or log to push those in. It gets the job done, but a dual roller would be easier and probably safer.

That said it really doesnt have a feed issue. I have chipped hundreds of logs..it is quite efficient.

 

[future_vision]

Absolutely. You will spend ALOT of time trimming limbs off to get them to feed well...

Would you go with a 9" chipper if you had a choice then?

 

[oosik]

Higher HP in a tractor has advantages - more inertia - quicker recovery. Larger chipper has advantages also - larger intake/discharge chute - heavier rotor - higher air flow.

I chip ONLY small pines - 1" to 6" on the butt. Up to 25-30 feet long. I could have purchased a larger chipper at the time I upgraded but, wisely, chose not to. The Wallenstein BX62S is more than adequate.

The reason - go out and fell a pine - 6" on the butt. Now pick up the butt end and drag it 50 feet. Consider that when I'm done thinning a stand - it looks like a giant's game of Pick-Up-Sticks. Pick up the same 6" pine and start to weave your way thru the pile - dragging this 6" pine. I've learned the "art" of gracefully falling w/out getting hurt too badly.

BTW - I've never even ONCE had to trim an pines I chip. Butt end in first - it's grabbed and gone.

 

[RoyJackson]

BTW - I've never even ONCE had to trim an pines I chip. Butt end in first - it's grabbed and gone.

I rarely have to do any trimming to the branches and small trees I chip. The hydraulic feed just pulls 'em all in

 

[future_vision]

I'm getting way ahead of myself here but what do you think the resale value will be for the WoodMaxx-8800 or WoodMaxx-9900 or really any chipper of that quality. I know it probably is a 'it depends' like condition and hours put on it but could I expect? 50% of what I paid? More or less?

 

[RoyJackson]

I'm getting way ahead of myself here but what do you think the resale value will be for the WoodMaxx-8800 or WoodMaxx-9900 or really any chipper of that quality. I know it probably is a 'it depends' like condition and hours put on it but could I expect? 50% of what I paid? More or less?

Part of it depends on how fast you want to sell...
If you take care of your equipment, good chance you'll get 60%-70% of the original selling price...
I've seen rotary cutters on Craigslist that were beat to hell, but the asking prices were ridiculously high...

 

[Jchonline]

Would you go with a 9" chipper if you had a choice then?

It depends on how much extra $$ you have to spend and how much you expect to chip. If I could get a 9" with the same features for $500 more yes.

 

[Jchonline]

I rarely have to do any trimming to the branches and small trees I chip. The hydraulic feed just pulls 'em all in

You all dont have knotty ponderosas then.....in CO the limbs grow down, curl around, and can be quite thick compared to the trunk.

 

[future_vision]

It depends on how much extra $$ you have to spend and how much you expect to chip. If I could get a 9" with the same features for $500 more yes.

More like $1090 more and they are in stock so no 1-3 week wait. Just 5 days processing and 1 day to ship or something like that. At least that is the way it is right now. They could sell out I suppose.

 

[Jchonline]

More like $1090 more and they are in stock so no 1-3 week wait. Just 5 days processing and 1 day to ship or something like that. At least that is the way it is right now. They could sell out I suppose.

Hey if you really need it and have the extra $$$ why not.

 

[future_vision]

Yeah. I don't know what I need. Guess it depends on who you ask I guess or the stories you tell yourself to justify the extra $$. Lol!
Bigger, I suppose, might be better if It processes wood faster. Less hours on the tractor, plus I gain some extra ballast weight over a smaller one.

 

[Whitbread]

As the owner of a Wm8m with 40 couple hours just this year behind a Massey 1740m, I'll offer my 2 cents.

Bigger is 110% better. It's amazing how fast the 8" opening fills up when branches start folding in on themselves. If someone made a 12" opening pto chipper that wasn't 2.5k+ lbs, I'd sell my 8m and buy it just to save on trimming. Anything over 4" is firewood in my books.

The horizontal chute of the woodmaxx lineup is far more ergonomic than the upward angled chute of woodland mills/wallenstein units in my opinion. Why fight gravity?


My suggestion is either go for the wm8m to get into an 8" unit as cheaply as possible or get the mx9900 if you can swing it to have 9" and the hydraulic feed. I've only wished for hydraulic feed to reverse a jammed limb two or 3 times, so the forward only mechanical driven feed hasn't been a giant issue for me. I found my Wm8m used with 1.0 hours on it for $1400 so i wasn't about to argue with that deal.

Vermeer did make a 9" pto chipper a few years back, they're rare but you might get lucky and find a used one. Not sure if they're as monstrous as the wallenstein 10" unit though.

 

[GSVette]

FWIW, I bought a Victory 8” chipper 2 years back (it is basically a clone of the Woodmaxx 8H). Bought it as the other two brands I was considering at the time either had very long lead times with no committed ship date or a waitlist where you were notified via email when stock was ‘available’ and it was a crapshoot if you’d be one of the ones that got in the queue quickly enough. Victory gave me a committed ship date ( and actually beat it by a week iirc). Quality was generally acceptable, assembly instructions were hit and miss.

In retrospect I’d buy the largest unit the tractor can handle with ‘reserve’ cushion at the PTO. There wasn’t anything larger from Victory than the 8” hydraulic feed unit that I bought.

Don’t know why I don’t have a picture of the thing assembled-I’m going to be engaged in a chip fest this weekend-maybe I’ll remember to get a photo.