I'm currently looking at a vermeer 906 three point, takes a 9 inch log, max. I'm pretty much sold on the three point because I don't need to maintain another engine that way. I've got a 4020 diesel that I'm training to run on used oil. I've basically got it licked, but don't want to set up another diesel to run on oil until I have to. For economics and power reasons, I don't particularly care for gas engines. Thank you for an informative post. I'm not looking to make much money, nice as that can be. I'm mainly interested in making chips for our composting and methane enterprises. Time will tell.
Swampdweller
QUOTE=Unregistered]For PTO powered units, Valby is pretty much the industry standard. My local tractor dealer sells Bearcat and they look just like a Valby with different paint. From what I remember, you will need a tractor of at least 40hp-100hp to run one. These machines are built like a tire tool and are pretty simple to use and maintain. They utilize a big heavy vertical disk (600lbs+) that has three sets of knives on the face of the disk. You simply feed the wood through a chute till it hits the disk and the knives chip and drag the wood down the chute as it gets eaten. Small fingers on the edge of the disk throw the chips out of the chute. The big option on many of the PTO powered chippers are hydraulic infeed rollers. These things grab the wood and feed it into the machine for you. It is an expensive option but saves a lot of time cuz they will crush small branches that will otherwise prevent a branch from feeding into the machine. Maintenance on the machine is grease, keeping the knives sharp and setting the distance between the knives and the anvil. Used they run from about $2500 to $5000. Add another 2 to 3 K for the infeed rollers.
You might be better off looking for a good used industrial chipper. Names like Mobark, Vermeer and Brush Bandit come to mind. I am impartial to Mobark cuz I own one but they are all pretty much the same. A good used disk chipper will set you back about 10 to 12K (gas models will be cheaper) but will come with its own engine and the hydraulic infeed rollers. They are small enough to be towed behind a full sized pickup and you can make good money chipping brush, storm damage, or doing light tree work. All you need is a chip truck, a chainsaw and the chipper and you are in business. Maintenance is the similar but you need to keep an eye on the infeed rollers. The hydraulic motors are coupled to the infeed rollers via spline shafts on the motors and grooved couplers on the infeed rollers. The couplers take a brutal beating and break on my machine every 50-100 hours or so. They are easy to replace provided that you know how to weld and have a welder. Newer machines have better designs but it is the weak point on any disk chipper.[/QUOTE]