Best chipper

RyanCafferky

RyanCafferky

Been here a while
Location
Hood River, Oregon
So my Bandit 1390XP is giving me big problems and it looks like we’re in for a big repair bill and potentially some extensive downtime. We are buried in work and have nothing but mostly removals for the next month and the phone is ringing.

I took a look at the Morbark BVR 16 and it looks pretty sweet with some real nice features. Anyone tried one and have feedback? I’m also tempted to just go with a gas Bandit machine but am a bit turned off by the need to be constantly fueling.

I hate Vermeer chippers. Their safety features are great for idiots but if you are machine feeding they are junk IMO. You might as well just pay someone to stand there leaning against that green button all day.
 
Sooo, I'm no expert as I haven't run a range of modern chippers, so take that as you will.

I do have a 2022 Bandit 12XP (145hp gas) and it has been excellent. I also have a 2008 Vermeer BC1000XL that got me started in the industry (as a solo operator) and has been great, but I now consider that a small secondary chipper at this point. No personal experience, but honestly I'd never buy a new Vermeer chipper as I look at the other options and have talked with others.

I've skimmed some of Guilty of Treesons videos where he shills for Morbark chippers (
) and I swear my 12" Bandit chips brush and logs faster than those "16-inch" chippers, which also seem to weigh like 2,000 pounds more.... Not sure what the supply chain looks like these days, as I bought my Bandit during the covid madness and it took 3 months, so that may come into play if you are in a hurry to get a new machine. Any chance you can demo the chippers?
 
What are you towing with and how hilly? I chose 15xp for a number of reasons, one being the competing Morbark was over 1k lb more. Gas is way less of an inconvenience than expected. What diameter suits your work best, and new or used?
 
I’ve talked to a few guys who went from diesel Vermeer bc1500s to Bandits of the same capacity and found their fuel consumption has gone up 25-30%. One is a private owner operator and the other is the head of a municipal tree department.
 
Colin1234567 said:
I would recommend a pre def Bandit with a Cummins. I see a lot of chippers and these things just go and go and go. No re-gen, not a lot of electronics. Something like this

Click to expand...
great find, with low hours... looks like an awesome machine... though CDL requires almost certain..

Ya.. Bandit or Morbark... nothing EL:SE in the chipper department
 
Serf Life said:
What are you towing with and how hilly? I chose 15xp for a number of reasons, one being the competing Morbark was over 1k lb more. Gas is way less of an inconvenience than expected. What diameter suits your work best, and new or used?
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We have a lot of hills and while we do a lot of pruning, when we do removals they are often large and we are chipping a lot of wood and big grapple loads of branches.

We are buried in work right now. Next week alone we have four days of removals with big chipping needs. My October is stacked with mostly removals and the phone is ringing.
 
flushcut said:
I’ve talked to a few guys who went from diesel Vermeer bc1500s to Bandits of the same capacity and found their fuel consumption has gone up 25-30%. One is a private owner operator and the other is the head of a municipal tree department.
Click to expand...
I don’t care about fuel consumption as much as efficiency on a job site. We park our truck across the street from a gas station.
 
RyanCafferky said:
So my Bandit 1390XP is giving me big problems and it looks like we’re in for a big repair bill and potentially some extensive downtime. We are buried in work and have nothing but mostly removals for the next month and the phone is ringing.

I took a look at the Morbark BVR 16 and it looks pretty sweet with some real nice features. Anyone tried one and have feedback? I’m also tempted to just go with a gas Bandit machine but am a bit turned off by the need to be constantly fueling.

I hate Vermeer chippers. Their safety features are great for idiots but if you are machine feeding they are junk IMO. You might as well just pay someone to stand there leaning against that green button all day.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your chipper issues. Not to derail, but since we have the same chippers, I'm curious what issues you're having?
 
Daniel said:
does anyone think these big new gassers are going to hold up over time like the diesels.. say 10-15 years.. 5-10,000 hours?
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Nope! But maybe, just not banking on it. Maintenance bills will be less and putting a whole new engine in vs rebuilding a diesel will be cheaper. Cold weather’s no issue, easier to find gas mechanics than diesel. But I like diesel everything more; financial decision vs preference…
 
Serf Life said:
Nope! But maybe, just not banking on it. Maintenance bills will be less and putting a whole new engine in vs rebuilding a diesel will be cheaper. Cold weather’s no issue, easier to find gas mechanics than diesel. But I like diesel everything more; financial decision vs preference…
Click to expand...
For the cost of a diesel one can probably buy two backup gas engines.
 
I bought a 2020 bandit 18xp with the ford 6.2l motor and I fill the fuel tank once a week or so it has 950 hours in that time because we don’t idle the chipper hardly ever. It’s been in a phenomenal so far. Highly recommend that gasser. It eats 20 inch softwood and can fill a truck fast as the Avant can feed it with minimal chainsaw work for funky bends or unions. Under cdl if that matters
 
Analog said:
Sorry to hear about your chipper issues. Not to derail, but since we have the same chippers, I'm curious what issues you're having?
Click to expand...
Oil level is going up which means that diesel is ending up in the oil somehow. Could be caused by multiple things. I’ll likely have it in a shop this week sometime to get started on a diagnosis. I’m heading to Klamath Falls in the morning to pick up a chipper that I’m borrowing to buy some time while we figure out our next move.
 
RyanCafferky said:
Oil level is going up which means that diesel is ending up in the oil somehow. Could be caused by multiple things. I’ll likely have it in a shop this week sometime to get started on a diagnosis. I’m heading to Klamath Falls in the morning to pick up a chipper that I’m borrowing to buy some time while we figure out our next move.
Click to expand...
Is this Tom’s chipper? Glad your sorted, down time really bites, double so with the cost of repairs!
 
Treetopflyer said:
I bought a 2020 bandit 18xp with the ford 6.2l motor and I fill the fuel tank once a week or so it has 950 hours in that time because we don’t idle the chipper hardly ever. It’s been in a phenomenal so far. Highly recommend that gasser. It eats 20 inch softwood and can fill a truck fast as the Avant can feed it with minimal chainsaw work for funky bends or unions. Under cdl if that matters
Click to expand...
Just talked to the Bandit sales rep for our area. Likely going to demo one of their newer machines soon.
 
I have a new 165 HP 6.2 15XP and love it.

Keep in mind, it gets two times fuel consumption vs the GM/PSI 5.7. (11.3 vs 5.4 gallons per hour at 100% load). I get about 8 to 12 hours of constant runtime on my 40 gallon tank, and we light up the chipper and start running brush through with the articulating loader, then instantly shut it off afterwards. It probably has like 10% idle time.

More comparables?

The 130 HP Cummins 3.8L T4 in the new Vermeer AX17 consumes 7 GPH at 100% load.

I’m sure the next thought will be, oh but the diesel makes way more torque. The Ford 6.2 RSG-862 makes 355 ft-lbs, and the Cummins makes 360 ft-lbs, however the horsepower is the main factors as far as recovery time of the drum.

Large wood requires more horsepower than it does torque in my opinion, this is because when a large log makes contact with the drum, about 3 seconds later auto feed is kicking in to recover the drum speed.

Now if you’re feeding piles of brush and tree tops, that is where torque comes in consistently bearing down on the material without hitting auto feed.

Personally, after looking at fuel consumption and torque specs, I don’t think there’s any reason to buy a diesel unless you’re wanting an engine with more than 173 hp (John Deere 4045HFC09).

I think the new BVR line looks interesting, but whoever is buying them is a guinea pig for the new clutch set up, and the machine does not have a lot of extra material. It’s pretty darn lightweight all the way around, which might prove issues 10 years down the road.
 
Daniel said:
does anyone think these big new gassers are going to hold up over time like the diesels.. say 10-15 years.. 5-10,000 hours?
Click to expand...
They won’t, I’d say the highest hour for 6.2 I’ve seen his 4000 hours, but it was still running good. 4000-5000 hour range, typically the chipper needs the whole thing refurbished.

When I bought my 15 XP 6.2, at least at the time, he said he could replace the engine for the price of doing the fuel system and injectors on the 173 hp John Deere. he said also expect about 2000 to 2500 hours out of the emission system.
 
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