Towing chipper

[Paul]

I am going to be buying a new chipper very soon. I am thinking of the Bandit 150 with the 119 F Gas. My question... I want to tow the chipper and chip into my F250. I have a hoist under my bed. The truck has a 5.8 gas enging with an auto trans. I plan on using this truck for about three years until I can afford a new truck. I want the bigger chipper for many reasons... From chipping larger wood to being able to see it when I get the larger truck. Will my 250 handle this chipper with my bed full of chips or should I get the smaller 90xp. I really want to go with the bigger unit but am afraid I will really tax my truck. Keep in mind that in no more then 4 years I am going to get a new big truck and do not want to be undersized in the chipper department. What do you guys think? THANKS!

 

[BigJon]

What year F250? It really makes a difference. Are you worried about power, suspension or brakeing?

 

[treeclimber165]

One of the guys I climb for has a late 90's F-250HD with a dump insert and he tows a Vermeer 1230 with no problem. Same setup as you, gas engine, automatic trans. He did beef up the rear suspension by adding leaf springs.

 

[Mahk_Adams]

You are wise to get a 12 inch chipper, but get the truck first, then the chipper. Unless you do only light pruning and don't generate a lot of material, the 150 chipper will fill an F - 250 so quickly you will have to make frequent trips to your dump site. Although you will have to continue to use (for awhile) the chipper you now have you will at least have a bigger truck to haul away the wood that is too large to chip.

Mahk

 

[montanagrizzly]

I pull a morbark model 13 that weighs almost 8000 pds. with a 98 Chevy 1 ton. It is has a 454, and is a manaul transmission. It does pretty good on flat roads, but struggles up the long hills. A bandit 150 isn't that heavy, but using a truck that is not made for tree work is always challenging. I think that you can never go too big on a chip truck.

Coloradoclimber

 

[tophopper]

I on occasion pull my 9" chipper(4500lbs) with my 1/2 ton pick up truck. it more regularly pulls a trailer with brush or an ATv. it is a 2001 Dodge ram 1500,i bought it new 2 1/2 years ago and have put 45000miles on it. Within the last 2 weeks, the tranny has been replaced, balljoints, front seals,u joints,etc. New cylinder heads! New radiator, what next? Good thing i bought the "good" service plan. everything was covered under warranty except for some minor maint. issues.
Pulling or moving oversized loads is extremely tough on vehicles. Personally I might tow a chipper w a 250 like you mention,but not with a truck loaded full of chips too.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

One of the things that gets overlooked in these discussions is the braking ability of the truck. Getting started isn't too big a deal, stopping is. This will make for an accident.

I think that you'd be better served getting a decent truck that can haul a good size load of chips. Then consider a chipper. These days, the smaller chippers will still eat up some large wood, you just have to chip a little slower. Take the time to talk with a mechanic or truck sales person who's familiar with work trucks. Not these toy glitter mobiles.


Wood chips weigh about 550#/yard, do the math and look at the truck GVW. It doesn't take too much chips to go over load.
Tom

 

[Paul]

Thanks for all of your input. Maybe I should add a little more info about this dilema of mine. First off, the yardage capacity on my truck will not exceed 3.5 yards. I know this is small, as I generally only do pruning work.


Second, my truck is a 1996 F250. It has the transmission cooler, heavy suspension and is very well maintained w/55k mi. The chipper I will purchase will be equiped with Hydraulic surge brakes.

I am only trying to use this truck for the next three years. I anticipate only using it three days a week. My decission for going with the new chipper before a new truck is a long story, but well though out. Recently, I was towing a 90XP with 2.5 yards of chips and the truck seemed to stop and handle fine, even without brakes on the chipper.

Like I said in the original post, I like the flexibility of the larger chipper. Will the 1000 lbs make or brake the difference to my current truck?


So, with this added info, what do you STILL think?


Thanks in advance,

Paul

 

[treeclimber165]

Tongue weight will make a difference, probably as important as overall weight when using a smaller truck. You will eat up front tires faster due to the large variances in camber between empty and loaded. Get nothing less than the 8-ply rated tires and rotate them often.

If your situation is similar to the guy I sometimes climb for, it can work well. All his work is within a 10 mile radius and he has tons of dump spots close by for clean chips. He can fill his truck in less than an hour on removals, but we can work all day on most trims without dumping. When he needs to dump during the day he can drop the chipper and go, and be back within 30 minutes.

Not everyone has to be the biggest tree company in town with the biggest trucks. This guy has a profitable little business with low overhead and he's been making a comfortable living for several years with this setup.

 

[chad]

i have used f250's at various companies and have seen them tow dump trailers full of logs and stump grinders bigger than that bandit model. i wouldnt think you would have trouble, but maybe your chipper dealer would let you hook it up to your truch and drive it around the lot to see what the weight will be like.

 

[Menchhofer]

In my opinion, the chipper and the chips on the 250 would probably be close to capacity of the vehicle.

I agree with the other posts, a larger vehicle would be best in the long term as well as being safe.

 

[jerzywirth]

if your still in the market for a chipper check my post!

 

[Mangoes]

Just a semi related question.
To chip or not to chip, that is the question.
If a tree business was as yet a fledgling business and disposal equipment needed to be purchased as to permit this business to efficiently produce profits. This business has to consider the following:
1. Brush- volume is very efficiently reduced with the use of a chipper. must posses a chipper and a separate vehicle to blow into.
2.Wood- heavy and really miserable to have to hand bomb UP INTO A TRUCK or purchase a hoisting device(I hate it I loathe it I havn't had to do as much as many of you well experienced guys but I've done alot more than the wuss' that come out of the local apprenticeship programs I crushed my hand once 2 manning a 36 inch chunck of S. Maple into a 1 ton @ 18 years of age now 26)

Why I ask is that it occured to me that a fledgling company may wish to consider a 1 Ton pickup with a 5th wheel towing system (GVWs up to 22k#) and a log handling trailer similar to the unit made by Payuer (from Quebec). Result is brush can be loaded with grapple, wood loaded on top (reduce volume) with the bright and shiny back saver. Also the towing unit can still be used to tow a fert unit, a stumping unit and even to do sales calls in.

Are there any thoughts or experiences with this hair brained idea?

 

[treeclimber165]

In my younger days I worked full time for a paycheck, benifits, etc. and also worked for myself after work and on weekends. I had a custom built 18' flatbed trailer ($2300) and a 1-ton boom truck that I picked up from a landscape outfit for $700 and rebuilt from the ground up(about $6000). With one other person, I was knocking out $800-$1000 removals on a saturday and it worked fine for a young man with more stamina than I have now. The boom/ winch would lift more than the truck weighed so I could load anything that didn't pick the front tires off the ground. The trailer crossed the scales at the dump carrying in excess of 20K lbs many times.
I'll attach a picture of the truck if I can dig one up.

 

[treeclimber165]

This is the truck shortly after I bought it, still under construction. You can see the boom and winch setup better.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Those small grapple trailers really would have some merit. If I were to do that I'd be looking at a van body truck. One ton chassis, duelies.One with a breadbox behind the cab for all the gear and a side opening door. The bed would be a flatbed with rails. That would be a sweet ride!

Tom

 

[Mangoes]

Thanks Gentlemen for the imput. I was talking to a sales rep from Payuer last fall and he claimed to have a client in the US with a couple of these unit for his business and nothing else. I just wonder whether the available brush capacity would be reduced by a very high margin.

Tom, we think alike my idea was to get a king cab 1 Ton dually with a normal pickup box. You can order king cab units without the rear seat. I would set up divider to make the rear portion your equipment stowage and have a lock box in the bed for saws and gas. I think I like navy blue......