What would you all prefer? 4" would be the largest we put thru anything (with 3" and under be the norm). Wife would prefer a Stand Alone so she can haul behind the RTV and I'm leaning that way as it means less tractor hours and stand alone motors are much cheaper to replace.
Tractor Chipper vs Stand Alone Unit?
- Thread starter Terrain Twister
- Start date
I went with a stand alone. It makes for a very long train... tractor with bucket plus the chipper.... Im in the woods a lot so it can be a pain but I definitely like the fact that the hours are on the chipper and not the tractor.
Full disclosure... my stand alone chipper is a 9 inch bandit so its fairly long to begin with.
Full disclosure... my stand alone chipper is a 9 inch bandit so its fairly long to begin with.
NWAZL3560
Active member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3560, LA805 loader, BH77 backhoe, rock bucket, box blade, pallet forks
I have a DR Pro 400 electric start stand alone chipper/shredder and it's been great. Shredding up to 3/4" is awesome fast, but I've learned to cut branches so that they're about 4 ft long first. Very long ones can jam the shredder. The chipper isn't self feed so it can be slow and lots of vibration on the hand so I use heavy insulated gloves. It claims 4" and can do that very slowly, practically 2" is more like it. I tow it behind my F-150 around the property.
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after watching friends use smaller stand alone units, i got a tractor mounted chipper.
I thought about size, but with 60hp at the PTO, i went with an 8". i rarely put anything that big in, but bent pieces, lots of limbs, crooked y's and all the sorts don't have to be trimmed down. I got a Woodland Mills WC88. Hydraulic feed. It'll run me off my feet. With a helper it runs us both.
Just did a job the other day, i bet it would have taken 2 tandem dump truck loads to get rid of the tree tops and limbs from a land clearing. I chipped it all in 4 hours. the chips would have went in my 6x10 dump trailer if the owner wanted them cleaned up. some of it was approaching 6-8" but it was all poplar and balsam. quicker to make chips than cut firewood from these limbs. The machine burns 2-4L/hr (1/2-1gal/hr) of fuel, i too was wondering about the hours but really, it's so fast to chip compared to a smaller stand alone unit, and what the heck, it's kinda fun watching a 25' long Balsam with all the limbs on go through!!!
There's no way this crap coulda been burnt till November around here, or at $400 a dump truck load to haul it to the dump..... cheaper to chip too.
I thought about size, but with 60hp at the PTO, i went with an 8". i rarely put anything that big in, but bent pieces, lots of limbs, crooked y's and all the sorts don't have to be trimmed down. I got a Woodland Mills WC88. Hydraulic feed. It'll run me off my feet. With a helper it runs us both.
Just did a job the other day, i bet it would have taken 2 tandem dump truck loads to get rid of the tree tops and limbs from a land clearing. I chipped it all in 4 hours. the chips would have went in my 6x10 dump trailer if the owner wanted them cleaned up. some of it was approaching 6-8" but it was all poplar and balsam. quicker to make chips than cut firewood from these limbs. The machine burns 2-4L/hr (1/2-1gal/hr) of fuel, i too was wondering about the hours but really, it's so fast to chip compared to a smaller stand alone unit, and what the heck, it's kinda fun watching a 25' long Balsam with all the limbs on go through!!!
There's no way this crap coulda been burnt till November around here, or at $400 a dump truck load to haul it to the dump..... cheaper to chip too.
I’d prefer a 12 inch self powered diesel unit. Unfortunately used ones still cost about as much as a new tractor. I went with a low cost, high maintenance, 8” PTO powered no name chinesium unit instead because it’s cheaper.
I wouldn’t want smaller because I want to minimize chainsaw use and feed in whole branches at a time.
I wouldn’t want smaller because I want to minimize chainsaw use and feed in whole branches at a time.
Unless you expect to use it for the next couple of years.... I’d recommend you rent one.... but the other consideration is maintenance. Do you want another engine to change the oil and keep tuned and fueled? It’s doubtful any ordinary homeowner will ever wear-out a tractor engine so I wouldn’t worry about tractor-hours.
I do a lot of chipping as I have a large acreage of woodland, I have a stand-alone Troy Built 13hp chipper but to be honest it is not man enough or fast enough, I purchased a 9” capable Woodmaxx MX-9900 with hydraulic feed. I cut a lot of 3-5” diameter tress and this chipper just takes the whole tree at a quick speed.
As far as hours on the tractor, I purchased my equipment to use, the large pto chipper was one of the best purchases I made, I can do a serious amount of trail edge clearing in a day between my chipper and chainsaw, I then follow up with my excavator and use a rake vs a bucket to remove roots.
I just purchased a new carburetor for my stand alone and plan to sell it. Maybe a stand-alone would work if it was a large commercial unit but then you have to drag it around and maintain another engine.
As far as hours on the tractor, I purchased my equipment to use, the large pto chipper was one of the best purchases I made, I can do a serious amount of trail edge clearing in a day between my chipper and chainsaw, I then follow up with my excavator and use a rake vs a bucket to remove roots.
I just purchased a new carburetor for my stand alone and plan to sell it. Maybe a stand-alone would work if it was a large commercial unit but then you have to drag it around and maintain another engine.
Thanks for everyone's input. We will be using it a lot as we own 30 acres of which, roughly 26-27 acres of it is solid trees. We figure it will take years to get it where we want and then the maintenance to keep it where we want after that. It's going to be work, but we wanted that to try and help keep us in shape as we get older.
I recently went through this process. Initially I had a 3” self-contained unit and while it worked, it was a ton of effort to get things into the chute and it bogged down with anything over 2”. It really wasn't very useful unless I was chipping 2" branches trimmed very meticulously. I recently purchased this 5” Chinese unit for $1500 delivered to my door. I chose this unit because it had a large opening (5.5”x11”) at the flywheel side of the hopper and it was inexpensive. A lot of people suggest rental but rental costs would quickly exceed the $1500 I spent for this project alone, and having a chipper means I don’t need to haul branches/brush. Even though my tractor only has 19 PTO HP it chips 5” branches fairly easily and I’ve only stalled it once when I exceeded 5”. It’s pretty easy to feed large branches without doing much trimming.
A large professional self-contained unit will obviously be better but they’re very expensive and require a lot of space for storage. My PTO unit is roughly the same physical size as my 3” self-contained unit and its much more useful.
I’m currently in the process of clearing out a bunch of trees and I’ll be running it frequently for the next month, then it will be used for occasional use. With the amount I’m chipping right now I wish I had spent (double) the money for a hydraulic feed unit like the woodmaxx WM8H or the woodland mills WC68. For occasional use my unit will be sufficient and in the long run it was probably the right decision.
A large professional self-contained unit will obviously be better but they’re very expensive and require a lot of space for storage. My PTO unit is roughly the same physical size as my 3” self-contained unit and its much more useful.
I’m currently in the process of clearing out a bunch of trees and I’ll be running it frequently for the next month, then it will be used for occasional use. With the amount I’m chipping right now I wish I had spent (double) the money for a hydraulic feed unit like the woodmaxx WM8H or the woodland mills WC68. For occasional use my unit will be sufficient and in the long run it was probably the right decision.
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Bmyers
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
Grand L3560 with LA805 loader, EA 55" Wicked Grapple, SBX72 BB, LP 1272 mower
We went with a stand alone one. We use the tractors to haul the brush to the pile and the nephews work on grinding it up while we are hauling more to them.
MX6000
Member
Equipment
MX6000 Cab, Wicked Grapple, Box Blade, Forks, Rotary Cutter, Rake, Tiller, etc.
I called Woodmaxx today to order an MX-8800 and was told there is an 8-10 week lead time on the units. Guess it was a good thing I ordered now so I can have it to use in the fall.
Here you go. I think its decent for the price and delivery was fast. Shipped halfway across the country and I had it in 7 days.
Nova Tractor BX52 wood chipper
Nova Tractor BX52 wood chipper is ideal for compact tractor from 18 to 50HP, up to 5" diameter wood
novatractor.com
MX6000 You will not be disappointed with your new chipper, I have the MX-9900 which is very similar, Woodmaxx makes good equipment and it is US made. Mine is just a beast and eats whole trees or large branches all day long, I have about 8 miles of trails that I maintain, the auto feed is an amazing feature that allows you to be really productive. Most of the time I run my off an L3200 or L3901, they both handle it fine.
Good luck with your new unit.
MX6000
Member
Equipment
MX6000 Cab, Wicked Grapple, Box Blade, Forks, Rotary Cutter, Rake, Tiller, etc.
Nice looking set-up!! Thanks for the info, I am looking forward to putting it to work. I was originally looking at the MX-9900, but ended up with the mindset anything bigger than the 8 inch capacity of the MX-8800 would be used for firewood anyway. Doesn't hurt that this decision is going to save me $1K ....They said the MX-9900 is 8-10 weeks out as well.