Morbark tw280phb

flyingmosstreen

flyingmosstreen

Participating member
Location
Rochester
Has anyone had experience with this unit?

Dealer near me has a .4 hr machine at their yard. Spec’d at 31k$. 8” capacity. Kubota Gasser. Sadly no diesel option in the states??
 

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Looks like an imported timberwolf when I searched- what about that design are you drawn to compared to an equivalent size bandit or morbark?
 
It looks pretty stripped down, for better or worse. No lift cylinder for feed wheel intake. Direct drive, so no clutch. Gas 4 cyl. Kubota. Again not sure about that. The UK versions all seem to have a diesel option.

Weight is quite light, moveable with one person (flat ground obviously)

all panels are easily removed and access to maintenance items seems open.

From what the dealer had on the lot was only 50k$ and up 12” gas morbark. I’m not a fan of the design on the morbark drum chippers. Seems to be a flaw where nuggets like to get caught quite often in the feed wheel cavity.

The company I work for has a bandit 12xp upgraded from the 12xpc (huge difference) and that thing eats wood. It’s impressive. But again way out of my price range and overkill for what my operation wants to be (focus of tree preservation, trimming, cabling, etc.)
 
I got a 2011 Vermeer BC100XL 49HP Caterpiller 2.2 liter diesel for 12k with 3000hrs
It is much better than I thought it would be. It chips 12inch logs pretty well, and can chip one large branch or 2 smaller branches without lowing engine RPM enough, to activate AutoFeed.
The one large 17inch diameter feed wheel is nice, in that it will easily grab 5inch or bigger diameter branches.
I like how easy it is to touch up the 2 knives with a flat file, every 2hrs of chipping, so it's that much sharper.

One thing that I very much dislike about BC1000XLs, that is a very cheap design, is the fact that they apparently all have only one support arm for the feed wheel, that is the arm, on the drive side of feed wheel.
The other side is just "floating", and therefore does not have place to "rest" when the wheel comes down after chipping a log.
There are "teeth" marks, on left side of the feed table, on my BC1000XL chipper, from the drive side arm "shock bumper" wearing out enough, so the left lost enough clearance to contact the feed table.

Why not think about the this Bandit... https://banditchippers.com/product/intimidator-12x/
Or this Altec chipper... https://www.equipmenttrader.com/listing/2016-ALTEC-DRM12-5036151358
Both have 2 properly supported feed wheel arms. And are pretty light weight and could be under 31k

Or, maybe last resort, a really inexpensive BC1000XL They're very common.
One thing I will say, is they do make nice small, even chips, from my experience.
 
Bumping this thread. I know @southsoundtree has this unit also. Mine has been at the dealer now over three weeks. They did get me a loaner. A Morbark egr bvr 1215 gasser. Nice to have the 12” capacity but just hammers home why I prefer bandit to Morbark.

Since they gave me the loaner I haven’t rushed to ask what is up with my chipper but last I heard they were dealing with replacing the entire ecu board… I really wish the forward and reverse function was manual hydro pump and not electrical. I think that is part of the issue but I’ll keep updating as I hear more. For now I’m ripping the loaner and it is good enough to continue making money.
 

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flyingmosstreen said:
Bumping this thread. I know @southsoundtree has this unit also. Mine has been at the dealer now over three weeks. They did get me a loaner. A Morbark egr bvr 1215 gasser. Nice to have the 12” capacity but just hammers home why I prefer bandit to Morbark.

Since they gave me the loaner I haven’t rushed to ask what is up with my chipper but last I heard they were dealing with replacing the entire ecu board… I really wish the forward and reverse function was manual hydro pump and not electrical. I think that is part of the issue but I’ll keep updating as I hear more. For now I’m ripping the loaner and it is good enough to continue making money.
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All the best moving forward man !
Nice invisible covered parking too lol
 
Treetopflyer said:
All the best moving forward man !
Nice invisible covered parking too lol
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Haha thank you. All is good here! 4 month old baby doesn’t leave much time to complete projects! But I also wanted to make sure I could fit under it before I added another 200lbs of corrugated metal roof on top, had to add a bunch of height to make it work!

Annnnd the loaner is a bit longer than the 280phb so hopefully I’ll have cover over the. Chip box mostly. It’s a work around for sure but making it happen :)
 
I was surprised to hear a guy's Vermeer 9" only had 35hp. This is a similar size but much much power at 57 or 59hp.


My fuel tank is not venting properly. I can get it to take fuel up to the bottom of the filler neck then it fills the neck, but not the top 3+" of the tank. If I slosh the tank a little by shaking the chipper, I belch the trapped air and can get more in.
 
southsoundtree said:
I was surprised to hear a guy's Vermeer 9" only had 35hp. This is a similar size but much much power at 57 or 59hp.


My fuel tank is not venting properly. I can get it to take fuel up to the bottom of the filler neck then it fills the neck, but not the top 3+" of the tank. If I slosh the tank a little by shaking the chipper, I belch the trapped air and can get more in.
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Hmm that’s weird. Can you take a picture of your tank? I feel like we have the same chipper but with very slight variations like the exhaust placement. And maybe the tank? I wish it had a gauge.
 
Being an English design, the tanks are on our passenger and controls are our driver side. The discharge chute is mounted opposite the English road shoulder. I guess this allows the machine to blow onto the shoulder without extending onto the shoulder.
 
southsoundtree said:
Being an English design, the tanks are on our passenger and controls are our driver side. The discharge chute is mounted opposite the English road shoulder. I guess this allows the machine to blow onto the shoulder without extending onto the shoulder.
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I had never considered this.
I don’t think it’s why though, My German built Schliesing has controls on the left hand side (looking from the hopper forwards) like the Timberwolf/mobark.
The discharge chute is on the right because a disc chipper ejects on the upward sweep.
Or am I reading your post wrong?
 
Fuel doors are on the driver's side. Engine exhaust is opposite the fuel door on cars and typical small trucks without step tanks.


Our chippers discharge preferentially on the right to blow onto the shoulder, I presume.

Operator control are on the curb side.
 
Ha! Dealer still has it! They said it was a speed sensor on the fly wheel. They were waiting on that part to get through customs and then install and run tests. That was last week. Haven’t heard anything since. And I’m in no hurry as they gave me the loaner at no cost… minus my bump in insurance to cover it. But, 6+ weeks since I’ve used it. It’s got 26 hours on it when I dropped it off. I might ask them to throw in filters for my troubles. It’s due for its first service.
 
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