Chipper experiance

[swheeler]

I am looking for a 9 -12 inch chipper to be used for property maintenance. I care for approx. 1500 acres in Kansas mostly pasture and creek bottoms which are very wooded.

In looking at what is available in my area I have narrowed the selection down to the Vermeer BC1000 or the 9" Brush Bandit. Does anybody have any recommendations or information which might help with my selection?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

The Vermeer is a 12 inch feed so that makes it superior form the start. I have had warenty issues with Bandit. I've heard nothing but good about Vermeer.

I would not do anything less then a 12 inch chipper with an 85 hp or better deisel.

I've used the BC1000. It is a very nice machine. I understand they raised the price for this year.

Will you be chipping any big wood or you be cutting alot of firewood?

Will you be needing to go into tight locations or will they be pretty much open spaces?

Are you planing on using a skidsteer to feed debris into the machine.

If you answer yeas to any of these questions then I think you should look into a bigger modle, amybe the 13 inch Morbark.

Need any help down the? I worked down there a week after the storm for one of the OP,KC area companies.

 

[swheeler]

John, in reply to your questions, most of the larger trees will be limbed and cut into firewood, and probably burned in stacks rather than fireplaces. I think that would become a full time deal to try to cut, split and sell. My goal is to keep the properties cleaned and looking nice with a secondary goal of creating a managable hunting habitat. As far as the skid steer, I do have a dymax sheer which will cut about a 10" tree but had not envisioned using it to load into the chipper though that would be nice for clearing pasture of cedars. Most of the time I will have plenty of room to manuver the chipper so I am not concerned with tight quarters. One consideration though is that I will be pulling it with a 1/2 ton P.U. between locations so I do not want to get into more than 5000 Lps. As for the offer of help down here, whenever I get more than 3 feet off the ground I'll give you a shout. Most of what I am working on is deadfall, shoots and cedars.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[Cicero]

We're in Denver not too terribly far from you and I have a repossesed Morbark 2000 2090-D with less than 100hrs. In addition I also have a 2012-D with approx 100hrs also that we will be moving. Personally if you are fixed on the two brands of chippers I would take the Bandit any day over the Vermeer. That BC1000 is not the most well designed machine in my opinion and I have a couple customer who have regreted buying theirs. In particularly the blades are difficult to change. It's advantages are its looks and size and noise level. If that is what is important to you then it may be a good fit. If you are looking for something a little more rugged than there are better chippers out there in my opinion. Which Bandit are you looking at?