Euro tracked chippers.

If a single feed roller was better or even remotely as good at pulling stuff in, then all chippers would only use one.

But they don’t.
 
Merle Nelson said:
When I was renting different models of Bandit chippers to test I picked up a 65XP that had dual rollers and I was chipping dead chestnut or something that would do alot of fracturing as it was chipped. This jammed the feedwheels to a stop and I had to reverse/ forward the feed so often it was just unworkable.

Posting on a thread or two here showed that lots of people all over the world were finding this to be an intolerable problem. Bandit found a fix in that they welded a second set of knives into the lower feed wheel. Wonder if this could make your twister function a lot better?
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It may well be. Another issue might be the wear over time at the edge of the table and back of the roller…

I will definitely look into this on my machine. It becomes extremely frustrating at times.

Having a lift/crush cylinder also make a big difference IMO with feeding shorts into a single roller machine. Much nicer!
 
If a dual feed roller was better or even remotely as good at pulling stuff in, then all chippers would use two.

But they don’t.

My experience is that the condition of the chipper knives is the main component of overall infeed performance. The next component would be the quality of material preparation (crippling wide unions, etc…). One other area is how the infeed throat is shaped behind the feed rollers. Drums are usually constant continuous size and shape, whereas discs can often taper down which can slow down or stall incoming material.

If we’re looking to feed huge unprepared crane picks into a chipper, dual rollers on a drum style machine are perhaps the best. If we’re chipping nothing but small Maple branches in a freezing climate with operators that don’t clean out the machine at the end of the day, a single top roller will be best.

My opinion is only based on my experience with different machine designs and thinking about the myriad of possible material size and shape.
 
Some manufacturers use a single roller for economic reasons, hoping it will lure in cost conscious buyers who don’t know any
better.
 
I try not to care what other people do but, often share about the importance of having the right options on a chipper. Bandit will sell chippers all day long to people and the chute pin plate has holes about 60 or 70 percent of the way around. For those willing to spend $75 or $150 dollars more you can get a chute pin plate that has holes 360 degrees around. To be cost conscious on this and so many other options is such a bad idea in my opinion. Penny wise and pound foolish I think covers it.

A chipper can make life so much better when optimized for your needs in every way.
 
Follow on thought for you Oceans. I read that you're looking toward buying a hooklift truck as a method of consolidating trucks. When I was shopping for my Ram 5500 and considered other brands and sizes I would get all kinds of prices that were a little hard to sort out some choices.

At one point I got that to put 4 wheel drive on a new build was $3,500. Well that cured that issue for me in my usage practices. That's x days profit, I do get in stuck situations at times and I hate the distraction of problems.

(By the way those of us that post thoughts...I think our talking through things benefits many who read and gain value but never openly respond. The point being - I know I'm not schooling you guys.)
 
Merle Nelson said:
Follow on thought for you Oceans. I read that you're looking toward buying a hooklift truck as a method of consolidating trucks. When I was shopping for my Ram 5500 and considered other brands and sizes I would get all kinds of prices that were a little hard to sort out some choices.

At one point I got that to put 4 wheel drive on a new build was $3,500. Well that cured that issue for me in my usage practices. That's x days profit, I do get in stuck situations at times and I hate the distraction of problems.

(By the way those of us that post thoughts...I think our talking through things benefits many who read and gain value but never openly respond. The point being - I know I'm not schooling you guys.)
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I get that you don’t intend to school anyone. We all have our own parameters that guide our choices.

The hooklift I currently have has been great since it really eliminated cross loading gear, but I bought it when I really needed a truck. I didn’t exactly have much choice in that moment so it wasn’t really spec’d for what I need.

I hope the next hook build will be more of a final step that’s as well thought out as possible. Believe it or not, having a track chipper would be a great thing for me, and would help immensely in two specific arenas, but it can’t be less than a 12” unit. To carry it inside a hooklift chipper body would save me at least one extra trip on jobs that require trailering the excavator with all its attachments. If that hook truck had a decent knuckleboom on it, even better!
 
cody willard said:
I am moving to N.Idaho/CDA And I’m considering adding a small 8” tracked chipper to the fleet in a year or two. Debating between the TW 280VGTR or a Jensen Spider A550XL with winches.

I would have a Timberwolf/Morbark dealer local, but the UK forums seem to point to Jensen being supreme.

I feel like it would these incredible on some of the lakeside and hilly terrain as far as getting rid of brush, and serve as a low production back up chipper if our 15XP went down. We could track it into people’s yard and just leave mulch there!

Most of the trees are pine, fur, spruce, which is really soft wood, especially compared to here in Oklahoma where it’s primarily oak and hickory. Even these hundred foot conifers trees have pretty small diameter lower branches.

Besides an opinion, between those two chippers, does anyone know how many hours you can get out of one? Obviously it depends on maintenance and how hard you push it, but assume it’s pushed to 80% of it’s limits daily with perfect maintenance.
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Just looked up the TW and Jensen and later mentioned Soscol. That Jensen has an 8 inch square to feed brush through. It would almost certainly bog down every day of work in my opinion. The Soscol may well be out for Mick point of single feed wheel - also only six inch.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Just looked up the TW and Jensen and later mentioned Soscol. That Jensen has an 8 inch square to feed brush through. It would almost certainly bog down every day of work in my opinion. The Soscol may well be out for Mick point of single feed wheel - also only six inch.
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It won’t bog down, the stress control system works very efficiently.
 
Mick Dempsey! said:
It won’t bog down, the stress control system works very efficiently.
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Not bog down the motor...as in too much material to eat. Bog down the work flow as in there is a heck of a lot of tree growth that will plug an 8 inch by 8 inch feed hole with too much friction. Back it out and cripple crotches, pull off some of the material feeding at one time etc.

Even in an area doing largely conifers I wouldn’t want that.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Not bog down the motor...as in too much material to eat. Bog down the work flow as in there is a heck of a lot of tree growth that will plug an 8 inch by 8 inch feed hole with too much friction. Back it out and cripple crotches, pull off some of the material feeding at one time etc.

Even in an area doing largely conifers I wouldn’t want that.
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2 people hand feeding an 8“ inch jensen won‘t be able to keep up. but feeding it with a machine will probably not put a smile on your face.
 
Ahh. Well, good to have someone with first hand experience.

I would assume fir, cypress, and pine branches from trees in my area would jam up. Oaks and the like all the more.
 
oceans said:
In the case of my old Woodsman 750, the single top feed roll was awesome. No complaints there. However, the bottom feed roll on my current dual roller Morbark Twister 12 jams quite often, causing the top roller to run half speed.
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This is what a lower feed wheel with double the knives looks like. It makes all the difference in a Bandit not jamming with chips nearly as much especially on brush that fractures.
1000012419.jpg
 
Merle Nelson said:
This is what a lower feed wheel with double the knives looks like. It makes all the difference in a Bandit not jamming with chips nearly as much especially on brush that fractures.
View attachment 97959
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THank’s Merle. That looks like a good start for my machine. I will probably give that a shot before attempting anything else. Material prep also can be an issue where a side stub in just the wrong orientation gets pushed hard against the interior leading edge. Could be a tolerance thing there similar to a worn anvil that get better if you tighten it up.
 
Chippers are such an interesting piece of equipment. They can do huge volumes of work but a thing off here or there can add so much frustration and headache to your day and cut that production.

A friend had a brand new Morbark 12 inch chipper that would plug its chute. I mean right off the bat, first day out. Checked all the things you would think it could be. Ckeared the chute for half an hour, start back up - did it again. I don't recall how he got through that first day and I don't know how much effort he put into communication with the dealer. He ended up welding a pipe nipple to the chute and connecting a big Stihl blower to it every time he wanted to chip.

Chippers ...love em, hate em - pretty much can't live without them.
 
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