Chipper/Shredder Recommendation

[Mac Cool]

I could use a good chipper/shredder. Anyone have a recommendation from personal experience? or a good review source?

[Phisherman]

I don't have specific recommendations. I have about 150 trees and own a 8-HP chipper/shredder. The shoot pivots to the ground which is great for leaves. There have been lots of times I wanted more power. Emptying the bag is a drag--easier to discharge the output to the ground. Look for cast parts, good wheels. A tight-fitting dust mask, ear protection, leather gloves help.

[hallerb]

Bought mine at sears MTD looks like toro 7.5 HP. HARD TO GET PARTS but reasonable price 700 bucks looks like toro made by same company. Wore out blade after chipping 50 30 gallon trash cans of trees:( sears ended up giving me a brand new machine when they couldnt get parts, blade wasnt available

Anyhow its one of those tools I ALWAYS wanted but regret buying and have thhought of selling it.

troubles.....

unreal noisey, need ear plugs, realtively slow faster to put brush and leaves in trash cans for garbage men, way dirty, from dust ICKY!:(

have to watch for branches with knots, they get stuck and its lots of work removing them, machine large so it takes LOTS of storage space, and finally people want to borrow it then they dont follow simple instructions and get it jammed. nice hopper that leaves get stuck in. I suspect its been designed to be idiot proof safe, but doesnt work well.

anyhow think long and hard before buying.

if your around pittsburgh i might just sell it, this one only has a couple hours of run time on it.

[Doug Miller]

I'll give you a recommendation of one to avoid: the Sears/MTD model with a plastic input chute for the chipper. Doesn't take long for the plastic to tear out around the bolts that hold it to the metal body of the machine.

[Lawrence]

I want a chipper too. From what I can tell you can't have too much power in a chipper. The only limit is your budget. I have 20 forested acres with lots of brush and deadfall. I really like the chipper which attaches to a bobcat skidsteer. It is rated at 35hp!! I know this probably isn't what you have in mind but remember you can likely rent a bobcat and chipper if you don't own a skidsteer. Here is a link for the chipper:

[Stubby]

I plan to rent a big one from Taylor. Big enough to get my whole job done in one day.

[Phisherman]

Hard to believe an engineer designed a plastic chute! I know the part that connects the chute to the chipper/shredder body needs to be extra tough--it's that point that gets a lot of stress and the best part will be a cast (maybe iron) part. It's a waste of money/time to buy a flimsy machine.

[Jeff Wisnia]

You gave no indication of the size machine you are thinking of. But if perchance you need a "little one" for garden type stuff and autumn leaves, DON'T get this one from Harbor Freight:

I bought one for "around the home garden stuff" and found it was near useless, I could have chewed the stuff up by mouth faster.

That was one of the few times I was thouroughly displeased with a Harbor Freight item. I tried it a couple of times, then gave it to Goodwill and took a charitable tax deduction for half what I paid for it.

When I did take down a few 3" to 8" trees last year and needed to get rid of the brush I rented a chipper for a day.

Jeff

[Mac Cool]

Stubby:

I cut down a large maple and was going to rent a chipper... $200/day.

I hauled it to the city yard waste recycling center for $10.

[L. M. Rappaport]

On 22 May 2006 02:31:55 GMT, Mac Cool wrote (with possible editing):

I would STRONGLY recommend you rent one first. I have 150 acres and have rented three of them in the last 30 odd years. I wouldn&#39;t have purchased any of them, but the only one that was any good was pretty big - 35 hp tow behind units powered by a big diesel. I think once you rent anything, you&#39;ll see that unless you use it commercially, renting is fine. If you use it commercially, you&#39;ll buy something big anyway. The smaller units (< 10 hp) are all pretty crappy - you&#39;ll spend more time clearing the machine than you will chipping.