chipper/shredders

[Evan629]

i was looking at getting one of these for leaves and fallen branches, i was looking at the troy bilt one at lowes sense its not to much money. is this an alright machine for this application. I currently use a leave blower/mulcher but twigs always clog it so i would like to upgrade to a chipper/shredder. have any of you guys used these chippers, do they work well for cleaning up the yard.
thanks

 

[Cam501]

i was looking at getting one of these for leaves and fallen branches, i was looking at the troy bilt one at lowes sense its not to much money. is this an alright machine for this application. I currently use a leave blower/mulcher but twigs always clog it so i would like to upgrade to a chipper/shredder. have any of you guys used these chippers, do they work well for cleaning up the yard.
thanks

I wouldn't buy anything from Lowe's. Once that piece of equipment leaves the store they want nothing to do with it. They don't service what they sell and they don't stock parts. We were a long time Troy Bilt dealer until they went bankrupt and got bought out.. The name still exists but Troy Bilt as a company does not. It's MTD painted red nowadays, buyer beware.

 

[bushinspector]

I have heard many comments on those chippers-Very few that had any praise to them. Just to small and slow to do even what you are talking about. Try to rent one if you really want to try it. Watch the paper and you will see a lot of them for sale.

 

[Evan629]

is there any other small chipper/shredders that are good and don't empty my wallet

 

[hornett22]

they actually aren't too bad for small branches and leaves.

i was impressed for what it did.

i have two thanks to the GF and her tag sale adventures.i sell you one cheaper than the dept stores.

 

[Evan629]

which model do you have, could you post some pics of it?

 

[Evan629]

has anyone used these machines, are they worth it for leaves and small branches. i've herd they can be hard to feed material in to it

 

[hornett22]

it's on craigslist under hartford ct.

which model do you have, could you post some pics of it?

let me know if you can't find it.i'll dig it up. steve

 

[Evan629]

i looked and i can't seem to find it

 

[DGG]

Evan 629- Here's my story.

I bought a used MTD Yard machine from a neighbor. It was in excellent shape and the operating manual had a receipt showing an original price of $400.

Here is a link to a picture of it with some other users' comments.

http://www1.epinions.com/content_165830758020

Here are some things I found out using it:

1. All twigs and branches must be almost straight and clean of side twigs in order to easily feed them into the hopper. A branch with a 90 degree fork won't feed through the hopper. The dryer the wood the better. Don't mess with any vines or other fiberous stuff that won't chop up cleanly.

2. You'll need a 2x4 to jam the remains of twigs completely through the hopper. I'm not much for reaching into the chute and the instructions have big warnings about never doing this.

3. Even though it has a 6.5 cu engine, you have to feed twigs, etc. in slowly or the engine will bog down or the cutter mechanism will clog. When properly fed in they will chip quickly and you can get rid of a large pile of brush fairly quickly (if it is straight).

4. It runs a long time on a gallon of gas but is noisy. I'm thinking about 2-3 hours per gallon.

5. It will slow down when you start getting into the bigger branches in the
2-3" size (3" is the biggest it will mulch up). With the larger branches you establish a feeding pattern. You sort of have to push the branch in, it grinds, you release, push, grind, release, etc. to feed the bigger branches through the cutting mechanism.

6. It is easy to haul around and store. The mechanisms are very basic with minimal maintenance. Change oil, sharpen blades, clean/replace filters.

7. You have to steady the machine when using a pull starter as it will tip.

I'm happy with it for the $100 I paid. For $500 I'd have second thoughts. I looked at the website and didn't see the product for sale so it may have been discontinued.

I like the way we used to do it, pile the stuff up, let it dry out, light a match. The city fathers now frown on this so we get to drive our neighbors crazy with loud gasoline engine operated equipment.

 

[Evan629]

thanks for the info, it should work well with all of the leaves and i should have no problem because the trees in my yard have fairly strait branches. one last question, what is the shredding compacity (not the chipper) thanks for all your help

 

[DGG]

The leaf hopper holds a bunch of leaves but it is funnel shaped at the bottom and you can overpack it just before it enters the cutters. If you use a 2x4 or big stick you can dump leaves into it and push them through to the cutters quickly. Two folks, one dumping in leaves, the other pushing them through, can reduce a big pile down to size in no time.

I chops the heck out of them (and any small twigs, acorns, etc.). It will fill the bag so quickly I aim my cuttings discharge chute against my wood pile and let the mulch pile up there. Then I scoop it into my lawn tractor trailer and haul it to the mulch pile.

I forgot to mention. It is very important to wear gloves, ear protection/plugs, and safety glasses. Stuff can fly about, especially on a windy day.

 

[Evan629]

hope it works better then those leave blower/mulchers

 

[DGG]

hope it works better then those leave blower/mulchers

I have seen those but never used one.

 

[Evan629]

personally the only thing there good for is just a leave blower, when you use them as a vac they get clogged, you break the plastic blades, they dont mulch to well, and all the dust shortens there life. those tools are just not ment for that job.

 

[DLK150]

This thread is a little dated but for what it's worth, I own one and wouldn't be without it. Up until a couple of days ago, we had a Crimson King maple, a black maple, sugar maple, small mountain ash and a large red oak in our yard, not to mention a couple of neighbor's yards with multiple oaks, hickory and tulip poplars. We have about 6,000 feet in our back yard surrounded by a privacy fence, and I'm usually dealing with leaves well into November. I go through the entire yard with my chipper shredder in 45 minutes to an hour, stopping only to dump the bag.

I cut down a 40 foot split trunk sugar maple Sunday. Yesterday morning, I cut the trunk and larger limbs down, stripped off the smaller(1"-1.5") branches and fed them through the chipper. It took me 2 hours to strip it down, then 2 more hours chipping and the whole shebang was in eight 39 gallon bags except for some limbs that were too thick for the chipper and the trunk. Never skipped a beat. No big deal to a pro I'm sure, but that's pretty good for an average joe homeowner

It was on the pricy side but for me, it's been well worth it. Mine is made by MTD/Yard-Man. MTD/Troy-Bilt makes it now, but it's the same deal minus the shroud on the chipper.

Overhead valve engine, never had a problem starting it. I ran it almost two hours without refilling the gas tank. My only gripe with it is a height adjustment that doesn't really do much and the plastic sweeper that attaches to the back of the vacuum intake. The screws that were supposed to hold it on always came out. I just ran some 12 gauge wire through it to keep it in place.

I'm sure not everyone's experience mirrors mine, but I love the dang thing.

 

[Evan629]

nice machine, ive been looking at used troy bilt chipper/shredders, not the new mtd tb's, but the older troy bilt chippers when troy was its own company. the new ones have a major flaw in the design, the leave hopper has a 90 degree bend in it so small sticks will clog it up. the older ones are definatly worth buying though.