wood chipper-recomendations/regrets?

[nellynelly]

i am looking to buy a woodchipper.

the current front runner has a 13 hp honda motor (basically this unit

). they have smaller motors, and china knockoffs (@ 1/2 the price), but my usual thinking, buy quality, and buy it one time. i am not sure if i need so much power. anything over 2" goes in the wood pile. we harvest 5-10 trees a year for lumber, so we would chip all the slash, and have a good amount of yard waste. i don't know if it matters, but most of the trees we remove are eucalyptus...the unit i am looking at is ~$1800, which is expensive, but all imports are expensive here (don't get me started on tractors!)

anybody have recommendations?

 

[boskelli1571]

Whatever you do, don't buy a 'Simplicity' brand. I have one and it's cheap plastic rubbish! It does an ok job, but the plastic chute is already falling to bits (2 yo). Not sure what is good out there. Troybilt was bought out by MTD - also a trashy, cheap product. Good luck with your search,

 

[wyoDreamer]

Look at the build of the thing. The one we have is built solid, all metal parts. Ours has a Honda engine also, it is good to have an engine you can work on if it goes wonky on you.. The same manufacturer now uses a plastic chute and other plastic parts on their machine. Plastic will scratch and break. When the chipper/shredder runs, it will vibrate and the plastic will wear if it is at all loose. A friend had the plastic chute wear at the bolts that hold it to the machine. He had to take it apart and add washers under the bolts to hold it together.

The one we have has a foot that folds down so the chute will lay on the ground and we can rake leaves right into it.
The bag is attachment is wonderful. We don't always use it but it makes it nice to contain the mess when we use it in the front yard while trimming the shrubs. Most of the time, we have it set up at the compost pile and just blow the chipped branches into the pile.

 

[boskelli1571]

Look at the build of the thing. The one we have is built solid, all metal parts. Ours has a Honda engine also, it is good to have an engine you can work on if it goes wonky on you.. The same manufacturer now uses a plastic chute and other plastic parts on their machine. Plastic will scratch and break. When the chipper/shredder runs, it will vibrate and the plastic will wear if it is at all loose. A friend had the plastic chute wear at the bolts that hold it to the machine. He had to take it apart and add washers under the bolts to hold it together.

The one we have has a foot that folds down so the chute will lay on the ground and we can rake leaves right into it.
The bag is attachment is wonderful. We don't always use it but it makes it nice to contain the mess when we use it in the front yard while trimming the shrubs. Most of the time, we have it set up at the compost pile and just blow the chipped branches into the pile.

So which brand do you have? It sounds awesome!

 

[nellynelly]

besides the advice that you often get, buy as big as you can afford. any recomendations on HP of the motor?

 

[wyoDreamer]

Sorry for the delay in answering. We have been busy installing a 12' garage door in our machine shed. Now we can park the tractor inside!
Since it was pulled out I snapped a picture. This chipper shredder is over 8 years old and has had a lot of use.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I was wrong, it has a Briggs engine...
I wonder what we own that has the Honda engine?