whole tree chipper questions

[chuey]

I do land clearing and excavating and am looking into getting a whole tree chipper to take away some of the mess of piling and burning. I dont want to buy a new one cause theyre pretty pricey but im looking at a used Mobark its a late 80s model but i can get it pretty cheap. Would it be worth getting and cost effective? Are they a lot of maintenance and expensive to keep running? Also whats the average rate people charge for these? Any info would be very helpful. thanks

 

[Chipensaw]

Sheet metal, shafts and bearings is all that there is to them for the most part. You want to make sure the motor and clutch are serviceable. The chipper disc needs to be checked for serious cracks and if you can start the unit and run the disc, feel the chipper for excessive vibrations - bent chipper disc shaft etc. If you get me the serial number I can forward you the build info on the unit, date of mfg etc.

Good Luck

 

[mitch504]

The problem of using chippers for clearing is that they don't do stumps, and if you saw the stumps off, you have a hard time burning a pile of stumps w/o the small wood to go with it.

I have experience w/ a Morbark model 22 chiparvestor, and a Dynamic model 585 conehead. They both are pretty maintenance intensive. Neither machine could handle even one dirty stump. There is a lot of work in keeping the knives sharp and the anvil clearances set. If you pick up one small piece of scrap metal, concrete or rock, you are going to spend money. In my opinion, you should not even consider it unless you have a market for the chips, or the landowners will pay enough extra to cover the costs.

 

[stumpjumper83]

Burn if you can, alot of areas are starting to frown on it though. If burning is an option, money might be better spent for something like an air curtain destroyer.

Now, if your heart is set on chipping you need to determine which route your going to go. If the trees are chipped with a debarking chipper, the chips are good for paper & pellets, and the bark for mulch. If you go to a standard large chipper, you might find someone that burns it as bio mass, but probably your only outlet will be mulch. As others have said, careful what you feed them. You want a drum chipper for whole trees, they chip with the grain instead of against.

If you want to process the stumps too, you need to look at a grinder, basically they beat to tree into pulp with swinging hammers, they can handle stumps, but they are usually 2x the horsepower of a chipper and suck alot of fuel. And they output material for mulch.

 

[Wolf]

how much are they asking for it

 

[chuey]

the serial number is 523. Like i said its an 80s model so im sure its been well used. The people that have it used it last in october 2010 so it hasnt set too long. And supposedly all that needs to be done is some new hydraulic hoses. Theyre only asking $20000 for it which you can get quite a bit back in scrap if nothing else cause it weighs 68000lbs. Ive just been looking at chippers cause its easier to get rid of the trees. A lot of the clearing I do is on creeks and levees so i leave the stumps anyway and just cut the trees down. DNR wont let ya remove stumps. Theres a place 60 mile away or so that does take chips but im not sure on the details of what types. On ditches i do take out stumps but a lot of times theres realy small saplings and such would i be able to run those roots and all through it? Thanks guys

 

[mitch504]

I have tried running roots and all on saplings through the two I ran, It only works if you get ALL the dirt off. Dirt will stop up the shoot, and just a little bit of dirt will dull your knives quickly. Running just softwood trees through it we used to change knives every 6 or 7 loads anyway.