Bandit 15XP Review (brand new)

Lots of people are afraid of the Tier 4 diesels....I have yet to have a problem from any of them..and I have 3 of the in 3 different pieces equipment. Time will tell. Our is just so quiet and sips diesel all day long. We have had 0 problems. But I am still wondering about longevity. Longevity on both the gas and the tier 4. In the end...as long as your chipper starts, your get your scheduled job done, everyone is safe, and you made some money....then I figure its a win!!
 
MA Arborist said:
Thanks!! I will be monitoring fuel economy closely in the coming weeks.

So here’s a question?
Do you have the Napa number for the hydraulic filter??
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Yes... it’s on my chipper at the shop! PM me (basically as a reminder and I’ll grab it tomorrow before or after work!

Edit: Oops! Didn’t read all the posts!
 
ROYCE said:
Lots of people are afraid of the Tier 4 diesels....I have yet to have a problem from any of them..and I have 3 of the in 3 different pieces equipment. Time will tell. Our is just so quiet and sips diesel all day long. We have had 0 problems. But I am still wondering about longevity. Longevity on both the gas and the tier 4. In the end...as long as your chipper starts, your get your scheduled job done, everyone is safe, and you made some money....then I figure its a win!!
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Not so much afraid of the tier 4 engine as the damn price tag that goes with it!
 
ROYCE said:
Lots of people are afraid of the Tier 4 diesels....I have yet to have a problem from any of them..and I have 3 of the in 3 different pieces equipment. Time will tell. Our is just so quiet and sips diesel all day long. We have had 0 problems. But I am still wondering about longevity. Longevity on both the gas and the tier 4. In the end...as long as your chipper starts, your get your scheduled job done, everyone is safe, and you made some money....then I figure its a win!!
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I was concerned about the longevity of the new tier 4s. I guess Only time will tell
 
MA Arborist said:
Update

I have 12 hours on this machine so far.

Pros
-This thing is a beast. Pulls everything through with ease.
-Air filter stays relatively clean
-Gas engine. Starts in cold weather with no block heating!!
-Very fast recovery time.

Cons
-She’s a gas hog. About 20 gallons used in 6 hours (my last chipper had a tier 2 diesel so I was spoiled with the fuel economy)
-Gas tank is supposed to be 25 gallons but I doubt it is over 20. I Haven’t been able to get more than 18 gallons in it on level ground at dead empty (yes it ran out of gas).
-Engine fan blows away from engine to prevent radiator from clogging. It powerfully blows warm air outward. This could be a problem if the chipper is parked close to shrubbery as it could dry out the foliage (think orange colored arborvitae.;)
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We have the 15xp with the 160 hp 5.7. I don’t think we are using that much fuel.
Keep an eye on the distributor. Caps loosen up. We just had a completely new distributor put in our at 300 hours under warranty.
 
jed1124 said:
We have the 15xp with the 160 hp 5.7. I don’t think we are using that much fuel.
Keep an eye on the distributor. Caps loosen up. We just had a completely new distributor put in our at 300 hours under warranty.
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Distributors are a pain in the tookas! PSI says to replace cap and rotor every 400 hrs, owners manual says 800 and the dealer says every 200! And I’m only got 160 out of my last! But it’s been disgustingly humid/wet here so the contacts corrode.
Also if by chance you have any engine issues don’t call bandit. Call PSI they can walk you through code reading and diagnostics. They sent us the service manual for ours. Need to kill a couple more trees to print the dang thing but it’s been super helpful.
 
I’ve heard about the issues with the distributor caps going.
Thanks for the good advice and glad that PSI is customer friendly.

Still can’t figure out the fuel economy issue with mine. Knives are sharp and anvil is perfect.

I think it’s too early to tell. Next time I fuel up I’ll take note of the hours and compare to how many gallons used on the following fuel up.
 
dunderpaps said:
our 15xp 5.7 gasser has started to backfire on initial cold start thinking it might be the distributor but i don't know yet
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jed1124 said:
Pull the cap and check the 2 screws holding the rotor. Ours backfired so bad it sent pieces of the cat out the exhaust. They replaced that under warranty too.
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Yes go for the cap and rotor! That’s what ours started doing at first. 20 hrs later it wouldn’t run enough to chip with it, then it just died. Don’t buy the cheapest either by the best money can buy. And get a dab of dielectric grease on the cap contacts. We aren’t sure if it will prolong its life but in theory it should.

Ps BE CAREFUL WITH THE CAP SCREWS! They are only in plastic. If the new cap comes with screws with thread locker, TAKE IT OFF of use the old screws. It WILL take the plastic threads out!!!!

Oh yea, you probably can’t see the screws... they are torques head, and the rotor is a smaller torques. Lol.
 
flyingsquirrel25 said:
Yes go for the cap and rotor! That’s what ours started doing at first. 20 hrs later it wouldn’t run enough to chip with it, then it just died. Don’t buy the cheapest either by the best money can buy. And get a dab of dielectric grease on the cap contacts. We aren’t sure if it will prolong its life but in theory it should.

Ps BE CAREFUL WITH THE CAP SCREWS! They are only in plastic. If the new cap comes with screws with thread locker, TAKE IT OFF of use the old screws. It WILL take the plastic threads out!!!!

Oh yea, you probably can’t see the screws... they are torques head, and the rotor is a smaller torques. Lol.
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yikes the chipper only has 150 hours i think i might just take it by my dealer it might be still under warranty
 
dunderpaps said:
yikes the chipper only has 150 hours i think i might just take it by my dealer it might be still under warranty
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NOPE! It’s a “wear item”. They will update the distributor if you have the old version (which it sounds like you might). They wanted me to drag it two hours up, two hours back and pay them two hours labor and parts to change the cap and rotor! I had 265 hrs, WELL within my warranty. My bandit dealer SUCKS!
 
flyingsquirrel25 said:
NOPE! It’s a “wear item”. They will update the distributor if you have the old version (which it sounds like you might). They wanted me to drag it two hours up, two hours back and pay them two hours labor and parts to change the cap and rotor! I had 265 hrs, WELL within my warranty. My bandit dealer SUCKS!
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That sucks to hear. I have to admit my experience was exactly the opposite. Bobcat of CT’s salesman picked up our unit at my house and brought it to the dealer an hour away then delivered it when it was finished. Couldn’t be happier.
 
Update

24 hours on the new machine. Fuel economy is about 2.25 gallons per hour for tree removals

Potential issue with the control panel.
When throttling down from full speed (holding the turtle button) the engine will gain rpms back to full throttle as soon as I let go of the button.

This didn’t used to happen.
Now I have to continue holding down the button until the rpms are all the way down to idle before it will stay at idle.

A small issue right now. Hopefully it doesn’t become a big issue
 
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