Wood Chipper

Years ago I bought a 6hp wood chipper that was actually worse than useless. It jammed on anything more demanding than a leaf.. I recently sprung for a pto chipper ($1500) that, after a few days of use, appears to be worth every penny. It is a BX 42 that is sold by several distributors. Very simple assembly and operation. I hooked it up to my JD 2210. Amazingly,  it is rated for  4 inch limbs, and when I tossed in a 4 inch limb (Hickory).....it chewed it up without issue. So, this week I have been marching through my  various burn piles and making multiple Vermont carts full of mulch.  It is not overly moody at wanting the limbs to be trimmed or straight.  The discharge shute has clogged once when I fed it lots of vines.  That was a very simple clean out.

John,

I have wondered for a long time about those chippers and I am really glad that you decided to test one out for me!  Really, I did not know if the 42 would ever work on a subcompact as I think they are rated for larger tractors (but these ratings are always conservative) as I thought it was too heavy for the 3pt.  At any rate, good that you could find one!  

I have had my share of problems with underpowered chippers before so I am not surprised that your older chipper bellyached at even modest sticks.  Also, it is good to hear that the chipper can feed stock as well as the adds suggest.  I am not really in the market for a chipper right now, but if I were, it is good to know that there are some options out there.

Thanks for posting/reviewing, I have seriously wondered about this actual chipper for a long time.

Eric

John, I concur. After a frustrating experience with a small yard chipper, we finally got a WoodMaxx WM8M PTO chipper with similar specs to yours. It was the best decision we've ever made! The only thing my husband has trouble with is vines and wet evergreen branches. Otherwise, that thing is worth it's weight in gold.

We converted the small chipper to a wheat thresher, so it still gets used too.

Hi Eric

While I didn't want to spend the money, my wife pushed for it. She was right.  To get a rental and return it would be a total of 120 miles.  Obviously, I am trying to feed smaller limbs into it,  but it will take the big stuff . Oh yes, on the PTO drive shaft, I didn't have to cut it down.

Hi Leigh,

Was any special alteration needed to convert the small chipper into a thresher?

I do need to add, as with much farm machinery, this chipper could do a great deal of damage to the human body.  I am still in the first week with it, and I check for loose parts at the end of each day. So far, there have been none.  Between the pto power and the 75 pound flywheel, I suspect things could get real exciting real fast.

I used to tie a rope to the pto clutch lever on the tractor so I could shut off the machine from the feeding position.

John F Dean wrote:Was any special alteration needed to convert the small chipper into a thresher?

Not really. It was just a matter of connecting the chipper to a 35-gallon drum some rain gutter pieces and duct tape!

Leigh,

I love the harvester/thresher contraption you made!

On another note, your chipper has a mechanical intake roller, correct?  I am wondering if it reverses when overfed.  Also, what size material are you chipping?  Do you go all the way up to the 8” max setting?  What tractor are you using?

Sorry for bombarding you with questions, I simply have considered this exact unit before.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Leigh,

I love the harvester/thresher contraption you made!

On another note, your chipper has a mechanical intake roller, correct?  I am wondering if it reverses when overfed.  Also, what size material are you chipping?  Do you go all the way up to the 8” max setting?  What tractor are you using?

Sorry for bombarding you with questions, I simply have considered this exact unit before.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric, the chute pretty much regulates how much can be fed into the chipper. We've never fed 8" branches, mostly 3" to 4". It's not reversible, but the roller pulls them in at it's own pace, so I don't think you could overfeed it. The feeder roller is spring operated and raises and lowers depending on the size of the material. Dry branches are easiest, wet branches clog it, as do vines. Small, tiny branches are a nuisance too, because there isn't enough of them for the feed roller to grab.

Our tractor is a 1961 801 series Ford, very adequate for the job.

My husband really likes this chipper. Besides doing a good job, he finds that the knives are easy to get to and sharpen. No need to send them anywhere.

Highly recommended.

Leigh,

Your usage sounds about consistent with what I have come to expect from chippers—their chipping capacity should be about twice that of the average branch being chipped.  When I did my big chipping project, I got a lot of very small, millimeter sized sticks in the pile because they are flexible enough to miss the chipper knives altogether.  This is fine for use as bedding, but does impede and shovel used for moving the material—small price.

Thanks for the specific information!

Eric

As a follow-up, the chipper is still working without issue.  The blades are holding up well.  I remain impressed

I finally figured out how to upload a picture of the thing.

Agree, in my experience small chippers are not really effective.

Following this thread with great interest.

This is handling anything that can't  be used as firewood.  The blades are still in good shape....I do have an extra set on back order. But the ones I have now are reversible.  

John,

Nice looking chipper there!

Eric

Hi Eric,

I am beginning to think the lower HP may be a positive.  While I have no idea what its performance would be with a higher HP, in those rare occasions when it does get jammed, there appear to be minimal stress on the machine. No sheer bolt issues or problems of that nature.

Still working great, John? Where did you get it from? Can you share a link?

So here is a question I have pondered for a while now.

Knowing how expensive it is to service my tractor, and how much fluid (motor and hydraulic oil) is involved (and needs disposal) when hourly limits are reached, is it worth the hours and wear and tear on the tractor, which is useful in an infinite variety of other tasks around the homestead, to run a pto driven chipper?  

Would a self- contained chipper i.e., a chipper with its own motor, be a better option vice putting the hours on the tractor?

Granted, a self contained unit means yet another engine to maintain and repair. I suppose a key factor is how much you think you will use the chipper - the occasional downed tree is one thing, clearing a section of land with a lot of brush and small trees another.  Let’s assume 8 hours per month.

What do folks think?

Hi Artie,  

I went through the same debate.  Obviously, I decided on the tractor PTO.  I really dont use the tractor that much.  I have 11 acres and a great deal of brush to deal with each year. Burning presents it's own problems. The wood chips help the paths between my raised beds. Your mileage may vary.

Hi sonja,

I bought it through Titan. They are great to work with.  The machine is simple and works great.  Just enter "Titan wood chipper" in the search engine.

www.palletforks.com

I bought a used PTO powered chipper, it is a Vermeer GC906. I did not want to have yet another engine to maintain. I also didn't want a small chipper that would require careful trimming of every branch and manual feeding. The unit itself is a monster and will chip anything my tractor has the power to spin. It's a 9x9 inlet, and loves wood in the 4-5" range or smaller. It has a hydraulic feed that is reversible, and a "crash bar" to reverse it should it try to suck you in. My tractor Kubota M5030 is at the lower end of the recommended HP range, so sometimes you have to stop the feed when feeding larger chunks when you hear it bogging down, and let it spin back up.  (If the hydraulic feed was slower this probably wouldn't occur, and new blades would probably help that as well.) The unit is definitely industrial duty, very heavy. They also made a GC606 version, with a 6x6 inlet. They stopped making them long ago, but if you can find a used one at a good price I highly recommend this sort of chipper. It would be nice to have the tractor free when the chipper was in use, but for occasional use it is a small price to pay to not have another engine to keep up with.

Hi John,

That is one impressive chipper.