Recommendations for PTO powered 3-point hitch wood chipper

[TheBartman47]

Looking around local shops and online, most wood chippers seem to be fairly light-weight duty. If I fell a large tree, is there anything that can handle big limbs? I reckon at least I'll have to split the logs into small enough portions to fit into the chipper. I want to turn it all into mulch for the garden.

 

[paul]

Some trees (pine, conifers) have mostly long straight branches. They chip up ok.

Where I live we have branchy, full canopy hardwoods, a 4 inch branch will be 5 feet across with many smaller branches off of it. These do not work well at all with the consumer type chipper. Uff. I tried one afternoon. Had to have the chainsaw idling and cut every branch up to where I could feed thrm through. Never again…. The branching branches do not shove down the small throat of a homeowner machine.

Then, the ratings on the chippers are pretty optimistic. If you say ‘split the logs’ just what size branch are you planning to chip up? Be careful here too, you want oversized capacity…

In general for actual serious wood chipping you need one with hydraulic feed on it. They have 2 rotating drums that grab the branch and squish it and shove it into the chipper. These are usually a step or two above what you see at the lawn and garden, homeowner section.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[charlie n]

I've https://woodlandmills.com/got a Woodland Mills WC68. Don't waste your money on a gravity feed.BTDT

 

[TheBartman47]

I've https://woodlandmills.com/got a Woodland Mills WC68. Don't waste your money on a gravity feed.BTDT

Since my tractor is about 60hp, looks like I'd have to get the one rated 8" in order to be able to handle the tractor's power.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Since my tractor is about 60hp, looks like I'd have to get the one rated 8" in order to be able to handle the tractor's power.

I agree. I can't remember what I paid for mine. I bought the cheapest one I could find that has power feed. The top roll is mechanically driven. I anticipated that it turned too fast, and I was correct. It was a lot of work to slow it down. And it's a terrible design, as the bottom roller gets surrounded with debris quickly, and quits turning altogether. Possibly if the bottom roller was powered and the top was not, it would work.

 

[TheBartman47]

I agree. I can't remember what I paid for mine. I bought the cheapest one I could find that has power feed. The top roll is mechanically driven. I anticipated that it turned too fast, and I was correct. It was a lot of work to slow it down. And it's a terrible design, as the bottom roller gets surrounded with debris quickly, and quits turning altogether. Possibly if the bottom roller was powered and the top was not, it would work.

The Woodland Mills one I looked up is hydraulic powered feed, and speed is adjustable. I would want it to go slow so that the wood is finely chopped.

 

[JOCCO]

Valby patu and salsco are all good.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Since my tractor is about 60hp, looks like I'd have to get the one rated 8" in order to be able to handle the tractor's power.

Just upgrade to a forage harvester. See below.

(Yes, it's an outlandish idea, but they're fun to watch.)

Mike

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Just upgrade to a forage harvester. See below.

(Yes, it's an outlandish idea, but they're fun to watch.)

Mike

Well.... here's a JD 34, converted to a chipper. Seems to do ok.

Mike

 

[Wdj]

By brother just got an 8" Woodland Mills hydraulic feed. Only had it a week but he's quite impressed. Only has 31 horse tractor so doubt he can use all the capacity.

 

[showcrop]

Get power feed or you will need to trim all the little side branches off.

 

[TheBartman47]

After watching some of those videos, the YouTube algorithm suggested a few others... I found this one interesting: (the WoodMaxx seems the better quality unit, and is made in USA, but is a lot more expensive)

 

[connor9988]

Looking around local shops and online, most wood chippers seem to be fairly light-weight duty. If I fell a large tree, is there anything that can handle big limbs? I reckon at least I'll have to split the logs into small enough portions to fit into the chipper. I want to turn it all into mulch for the garden.

I watched a youtube video reviewing some chippers and they brought up some good points. It makes more time/financial sense to just buy mulch from the local store as the amount of money invested in a chipper, all the parts that may come with it, wear and tear on tractor/chipper, fuel, and (most importantly) your time don't really make it a feasible endeavor.

Typically the industrial businesses that make mulch full time will do a better job at much lower cost than any of us could hope to do with a chipper.

If you are just wanting to clean up some woods/trees then it would be faster/cheaper to just pile it to decompose or burn the pile down.

Not trying to tear your idea down, just giving you the thought process I ran into myself when I thought about getting a chipper.

The other thing is to evaluate how much you will actually use it. It might make more sense to just rent one from a rental place and knock out what you have.

 

[sammydwm]

I bought a made in China cheapy from one of the local online auction places that seems to specialize is that sort of stuff. Its 3 point mount and rated for 40 or so HP but I use a little bigger tractor without too much issue. Doesn't chip much over 4" if I recall but that size stuff get sawn up for the firepit anyway.....
I have around 10 acres that is mostly old overgrown farmland and for the occasional cleanup that I do it is sufficient. I may have to trim a few more branches to get them to fit in the non powered chute but I'm not doing it every day and I'm not on the clock while doing it so it's no big deal.
As far as renting something, I figure after 5 or so uses it's paid for itself.
I usually chip into an old manure spreader and spread the chips out on the pastures.

 

[TheBartman47]

I watched a youtube video reviewing some chippers and they brought up some good points. It makes more time/financial sense to just buy mulch from the local store as the amount of money invested in a chipper, all the parts that may come with it, wear and tear on tractor/chipper, fuel, and (most importantly) your time don't really make it a feasible endeavor.

Typically the industrial businesses that make mulch full time will do a better job at much lower cost than any of us could hope to do with a chipper.

If you are just wanting to clean up some woods/trees then it would be faster/cheaper to just pile it to decompose or burn the pile down.

Not trying to tear your idea down, just giving you the thought process I ran into myself when I thought about getting a chipper.

The other thing is to evaluate how much you will actually use it. It might make more sense to just rent one from a rental place and knock out what you have.

I saw that same video, and I agree, it would not be worth it just for making chips for my garden. I have an old tree that died and had to be cut down, so needing to get rid of that. I would rather chip it up and use it in the garden than haul it all off to the city dump (they have a separate section for receiving tree limbs than regular trash). I am certainly also looking into renting one than buying. I won't be chipping that pile of wood at least until late fall after garden has quit producing for the year.

 

[DoubleO7]

@TheBartman47

Have you priced out hiring a tree service to come in and turn it into chips?

They might be reasonable if they can do it when they do not have other work scheduled.

But they might not want it at all if it is down in the dirt and dried out hard as a rock.

Which any chipper you buy will not like either.

I had this WoodMaxx chipper, 6x8 hydraulic drum feed pto powered. Ran it on my 1957 JD420 with maybe 25hp pto and I could stall it out with some 5 inch branches. I used it two or three years and decided it was too much trouble and time consuming to continue using. So I sold it before it lost its newness factor.
Went back to hauling tree debris to a burn pile.

Wood Chipper Shredder | PTO Wood Chipper | Wood Shredder | Wood Chipper Attachment | Chipper for small tractor - WoodMaxx

WoodMaxx? TM-86H Hydraulic Chipper ($2,649.00) designed for subcompact tractors with as little as 15 HP. See our full line of PTO, skid steer powered and stand alone wood chippers at WoodMaxx.com or call 1-855-966-3629

woodmaxx.com

 

[TheBartman47]

@TheBartman47

Have you priced out hiring a tree service to come in and turn it into chips?

They might be reasonable if they can do it when they do not have other work scheduled.

But they might not want it at all if it is down in the dirt and dried out hard as a rock.

Which any chipper you buy will not like either.

I had this WoodMaxx chipper, 6x8 hydraulic drum feed pto powered. Ran it on my 1957 JD420 with maybe 25hp pto and I could stall it out with some 5 inch branches. I used it two or three years and decided it was too much trouble and time consuming to continue using. So I sold it before it lost its newness factor.
Went back to hauling tree debris to a burn pile.

Wood Chipper Shredder | PTO Wood Chipper | Wood Shredder | Wood Chipper Attachment | Chipper for small tractor - WoodMaxx

WoodMaxx? TM-86H Hydraulic Chipper ($2,649.00) designed for subcompact tractors with as little as 15 HP. See our full line of PTO, skid steer powered and stand alone wood chippers at WoodMaxx.com or call 1-855-966-3629

woodmaxx.com

The felled tree is mostly rotten, so not hard as a rock. My little chainsaw was cutting through even big branches like a hot knife through butter. In any case, I'm letting it all sit in a big pile until fall, then will either chip it up with a rental unit or might see what a tree service company would charge.