Anyone have a chipper?

[jeepurzz]

These spring cleaning leaves and broken tree limbs are killing me. I've done at least 40 , 4mil 45 gal contractor bags. Anyone have a chipper/ leaf shredder?

From what i've read, the cheap ones are well, cheap and the good ones are above 800. Is there really nothing in the middle?

 

[BlindViper]

We used to have a troy built vertical chipper it would eat 2" sticks like butter. They work on leaves to, however the newer chipper vacs ****. I have one here at the house and it doesn't pick up leaves and struggles on anything bigger then 1/2" inch. I do however have a trac-vac that hooks to the mower deck on the john deere. It works fine on leaves and they do make a model with a feed for sticks. But I keep a mulch pile so I don't bag any of the 3 acres worth.

 

[ymerej]

My dad had (maybe still has) a small homeowner grade wood chipper with a 5hp gas engine on it. It *****. To get it started you have to hand pull the the starting cord, and the chipping head is a 30lb (or more) rotating mass that is also the engine's flywheel. That is the hardest engine I have ever started. Once it's going, you have to carefully feed the sticks in so it doesn't bog down on too much at a time, even if they were small. I think it was rated for up to 2" diameter limbs. The mulch that it makes is a very fine woody mess - not the nice sized chips you get from a real pro's wood chipper.

I have no idea what it costs, but do some homework before purchasing one! This one is my only experience using one, but I would rather use a pair of loppers and a saw to cut up all the branches myself.

 

[Kev442]

I have a 5 hp from the early '90's. It will definitely cut the volume of leaves by 1/3 to 1/2. The branch chipper is OK, but mother nature has never made a straight twig in her life, so I end up having to break them at each 45 degree and then feed it. Branches 1" or more are kindling to me, so I have no idea how those would work!

 

[Packard V8]

Run away, run away! A cheap chipper is the devil's tool !!! I would hit you with a brick if you tried to give me another one.

a small homeowner grade wood chipper with a 5hp gas engine on it. It *****. To get it started you have to hand pull the the starting cord, and the chipping head is a 30lb (or more) rotating mass that is also the engine's flywheel.

This is the POS I had. It would work you to death using it. If the material was the least bit wet or dirty, it would clog. I had to stand above it with a push stick forcing the leaves and pine needles down the feed hatch. And noisy! I had to wear hearing protection, safety glasses and long gloves to operate it and even felt it was the one from Fargo, waiting to eat body parts.

 

[byrd]

go with at least a vermeer BC625A or a BC600XL. the 625 is the older model without all the **** safety equipment that is a real PITA to keep adjusted. im not saying you need to buy an $8000 chipper but you could rent one for $100. jam the limbs in and watch the chips fly!

 

[Arne73]

My dad had an 8Hhp Craftsman that was not up to the task of maintaining a wooded 7 acre homestead. He replaced the housing and chipper head twice (once under warranty). He finally gave up on it and I converted into a trailer mounted leaf vac using parts purchased from Sears Parts for their Agrifab clone.

 

[Bolster]

I do...I think it's 6hp or 8hp, can't remember...from Lowe's...I don't like using it (noise, thrashing about) but it does a decent job on twigs and small branches. Mine's old enough it starts hard and needs the carb rebuilt.

It is NOTHING like a professional chipper...

 

[OldCarGuy]

I purchased this MTD 5 HP leaf & branch chipper shredder from a garage sales three years ago for $50.00. I have owned the predecessor to this model for twenty years and she was about warn out from use.

 

[Teikas Dad]

I bought a DR Chipper - the thing is a tank. Very well built with lots of power. They cost more than the Borg models, but there is no comparison....like trying to compare a Yugo to a Mack truck.
http://www.drpower.com/twostepmodels.aspx?name=CPR-SP-Category&chap=cprmodels

 

[PCO6]

Here's one I bought at Princess Auto last year for about $500. It was hard to keep it running when I got it, mainly because the throttle linkage was so badly designed. Without the choke on all of the time it wouldn't run at all and it was impossible to rev. I went back to the vendor and asked if anyone else was having problems. The answer was no and their solution was to give me a new motor if I wanted to replace it myself. I ended up making a new linkage out of welding rod and some much stronger springs and it works well now.

It's a bit of a workout to use but in a few hours you can produce a lot of mulch. The manual says it can chip branches up to 3" while a sticker on the machine says 2.5". Two inch branches are no problem. It starts to struglle at 2.5" and I wouldn't even try 3". Overall it gets the job done. My only complaint is that the hopper angle (leaves and twigs) is at about 90 degrees to the cutter; 45 degrees would be better. The angle for feeding branches into the chute is good though.

 

[nate379]

I had one of those cheapies like the one in the pic blow up on me. Damn near killed me.

I borrowed it from a friend, was about 45 mins into the job and the flywheel broke apart as I was walking by it to get some branches.

Rented a real chipper, 30hp diesel, 6-8" branches no trouble. I did everything I needed in an afternoon. Would have took me all summer with that tiny thing. I had to cut up everything other than toothpicks cause. What the hell do you do with a 3" diameter "log"?

I had enough chips to spread an apron around my property 5-6' feet wide, 4-5" deep and about 500 feet long.

 

[drivadesl]

I bought one of the old troy built models with an 8HP B&S from CL. Darn thing is heavy and loud when running but gets the job done. Blades defininitly need sharpening, but otherwise makes a pretty nice pile of mulch out of brush and sticks. Not fast by any means, so if your looking for speed, get a burn permit and deal with the mess, or dump your branches somewhere.

 

[Ign]

Got a Bearcat PTO driven on the rear of my Kubota. Works pretty good. Oak brush dulls the chipping blades quickly, but that's oak.

Was somewhere around $3k, not including tractor. Wish I had got the next model up w the discharge shoot to blow into a pickup.

However based upon the performance of mine I'd never get a small engine-driven one. This is something that requires you go big or go home.

 

[PCO6]

I had one of those cheapies like the one in the pic blow up on me. Damn near killed me.

I borrowed it from a friend, was about 45 mins into the job and the flywheel broke apart as I was walking by it to get some branches.

Rented a real chipper, 30hp diesel, 6-8" branches no trouble. I did everything I needed in an afternoon. Would have took me all summer with that tiny thing. I had to cut up everything other than toothpicks cause. What the hell do you do with a 3" diameter "log"?

I had enough chips to spread an apron around my property 5-6' feet wide, 4-5" deep and about 500 feet long.

One reason why I wouldn't rent or borrow something like this is because you don't have a clue what the users before you have been throwing into it. For 2" branches the cheapie works fine. I burn the 6" to 8" stuff.

 

[66HertzClone]

Yeah, I got a chipper, mine is older than this photo, and I've all but finished installing a replacement engine. This thing can take a 6" diameter log without even blinking. Safety features? Nope, built well before anybody thought they were needed, just stick to wood or whatever in the chute and get out of the way. Mine has a 300 Ford six instead of the diesel this one has.

 

[trbomax]

Heres my beast. 318 chrysler power.I have no idea what size it will take,bigest Ive ever put thru it was 4",usually save even 4" for firewood.Its way overkill,but the price was right.We have one of those little 7 or 8 hp mtd's too,but only use it to shred the barn waste before composting it.

 

[walrus]

MY dad had a couple different chippers. They work but not for very long. They vibrate themselves apart after awhile. Hated them with a passion. I still have one but I haven't started it in years, probably stuck, oops. They do make nice leaf mulch but you'll work for it, its not that easy to take a huge pile of leaves and make it a smaller pile. And don't be my dad, he chipped a finger

 

[Jeeper]

My strategy for yard clean up is to throw brush in my truck, take it to the local mulch place. Costs $7 to drop a pick up truck load. Then the leaves I pick up with my new bagging system on my zero turn mower. With the mulching blades it cuts them up really fine. Put them in my truck and haul them to the recycling center where they compost them.