What sized chipper would you go with?

T

thetreemdkc

Location
Overland Park
Arborist & Small business owner from Kansas City here looking for insight on prioritizing equipment purchases for the future. I have had experience using chippers and Mini loaders for Arboriculture work, LOVE THEM! I'm curious to see what size chipper you got when you were starting out as a young company. This year I am planning to purchase a dump & chip truck for the tree care and grounds & landscape maintenance work we do. My thinking is to start small-ish first and work my way up since I don't need a bandit 1990..yet. Has anyone used the brush bandit 90 & 95 units? I have experience with the 90 when I worked a parks department and it ran smooth, it was a 9'' which wasn't the best but it can eat anything it drags into the feed wheels. What about the bandit 150 or 250xp units? I'm also considering a gas engine option as well due to the lower cost. Any help is greatly appreciated!
James
ISA Certified Arborist
MW-5675A
RLTLLC
 
Go with a Used Cummins Powered Bandit off Craigslist.

There are 3 in my area needing Engines & can be purchased for under $5,000.

You could rebuild, or have rebuilt a 200 or 250 for under $10k, & have a Solid Machine that you Know is right.
 
Haha!

The first chipper I used had a 6 volt elec system. The boss changed it over to 12v though

The first one I owned was a '62 Asplundh chuck n duck

My favorite chipper was a Bandit 150 with a 6 cylinder diesel. Economical and simple to repair.

Bandits have always been a favorite
 
I started with ( at the ripe old age of 6) watching (and shoveling) the chips off the ground into trash cans from my parents lil ole gravity fed 3". It spit the chips onto the ground. I till this day say what i do...take the biggest chipper you can to a job...im 37 now; and there is no point in paying people to trim stuff to chip...labor is too costly. We have a spare 200 (12") that backs up a spare 1590 (17" that does 18") to our 1590 that is rated for 18"...bigger the better...drag it to it, stick it in and walk. Go get the next piece. This business gets paid for the work, not the work involved.
 
craneguy1 said:
I started with ( at the ripe old age of 6) watching (and shoveling) the chips off the ground into trash cans from my parents lil ole gravity fed 3". It spit the chips onto the ground. I till this day say what i do...take the biggest chipper you can to a job...im 37 now; and there is no point in paying people to trim stuff to chip...labor is too costly. We have a spare 200 (12") that backs up a spare 1590 (17" that does 18") to our 1590 that is rated for 18"...bigger the better...drag it to it, stick it in and walk. Go get the next piece. This business gets paid for the work, not the work involved.
Click to expand...

You’re Pretty Sharp for a 12 year old.
 
"Would you go with?"

Bandit 90XP with a 49 horse diesel and a lot of options is what I have and I can make a lot of money with it doing primarily pruning and some take downs. I wouldn't want this small a chipper as my only chipper if I were doing a lot of take downs.

If a person wants affordable and light and functional, for what I do, the 90XP base model with the 39 hp air cooled engine can get a lot of work done cheap.

I went and rented different chippers to see how they would work for me.
 
depending on what you do the most. I personally would not purchase anything with a smaller chip capacity than a 12" capacity. that being said if I was to be doing lots of pruning and trimming, a bandit 200 model is nice and can take a small tree, but gets bogged down when chipping monster amounts of brush all at once. I would have to say I would not go over a 1590 because you need an A commercial licence for bigger models. At my company my office recently bought a 15xp. Nice mid size gas powered drum chipper. Runs smooth strong enough to take a 15-16" peace and the coolest part is it being so quiet(gas over diesel). There are so many options anymore that it hard to say whats the best. Mobarks and vermeers make awesome chippers as well. I know this does not really help much but think of what kind of work you will be doing the most and pick accordingly(size matters).
 
I've had a bandit 65, 90, 250, and 1890. Now want something bigger. Lol
Like the others said bigger is better. But in all reality a 250 bandit will serve u well for years.
 
I use a 2004 Bandit 65AW with Wisconsin 35HP , 6"x 12" Feed wheels. I like it alot. Solid machine if you don't abuse it. I also wish it were just a tad bigger at times. I think the 90xp might be perfect for what you are looking for.
 
I would put it simple. Anything under 85hp is a waste of time. Anything above 85 hp can be a helpful piece of equipment. I worked with a 20 year old 90XP with a 85 hp JD and it ran like a top. 4700 hours on it too and according to the owner, never any real repair besides hoses and filters.
 
I started with a Bandit 150 Xp with 4 cyl GM 3.0 liter gas engine. Put over 10k hours on that unit. Believe it or not, never replaced the clutch! I did have to replace 3 head gaskets, 2 of the computer box thingies that operate the electric governor, the electric governor once and one set of bearings on the disk.

I sold that machine to a part time tree guy that works at the fire dept. As far as I know, he's still running it.

Now I'm running a Bandit 1590. Wow what a difference in production! I have already replaced the clutch and bearings on it though. Of course, the 1590 called for a high capacity chip truck. It's a never ending process! The more production you make, the more you expect!

I say buy the biggest you can afford. A small chipper is your bottleneck on big removals. If you are one of these guys that specializes in pruning, a smaller chipper will suit though. In our area, the money is in removals. People here will pay any local hack to "trim" their trees.
 
I started with a flatbed snowmobile trailer. I only do removals. Loading and unloading was a ton of work. I purchased a Bandit 65xp and it changed my world. Only had a 25 hp Kohler, but man did it make me money. Built my company on that little chipper. Sure, I left a lot more firewood, but it allowed me to purchase a 6 ton dump trailer, then a 1 ton dump truck, then a mini skidsteer. I up graded to a 9" Vermeer chipper (keeping the 6" bandit.) after a few months, I sold the 9" and bought a 150xp. That filled the 1 ton up so quick I had to get a bigger truck. Ended up getting a great deal on a used Bartlett bucket at auction. I rarely used the 6" after getting the 12" so I sold it after owning it for 10 years for $1,000 less than I paid for it. That little machine made me a ton of money. Great ROI.
Bottom line, in my opinion, if your starting out, keep your debt low, start small and work your way up keeping your debt low. It'll help you get through the slow times.
 
What is your market like? Will you be cutting everything small to fit in small dropzones?
Machine feeding or hand feeding?



Access for a chipper to the customer's property? Can you use mulch onsite or spray into a greenbelt/ woods/ etc? I move my chipper to the material often. Some people have to haul everything, everytime.
 
I started with a Bandit 90, traded it after 2 years for a 990. The difference was amazing. I would not go smaller than 12 inches, you may not need it off the hop but you will never regret having more capacity to than you need but it’s no fun the other way around.
 
We have 2 150xps and a 250xp. We have a log guy who will take anything down to 8" as he sells a lot of log length firewood. Like Sean we often can bring our chipper right into the backyard and chip onsite. We are trying to better utilize the material we collect. To go bigger with the chipper means increasing the truck size, acquiring more dump sites. I don't think we've ever had to pay to dump.

All are diesel as are our trucks. one fuel type keeps fueling errors to a minimum.
 
I blew the clutch out on my 90 twice while I owned it, it blew again while the dealer had it on his lot as a trade in. I haven’t had that issue with the 990. I don’t pay to dump either so the extra chips aren’t an issue. I put a free mulch ad on my website and that has been helpful as well. I will say that almost any chipper is better than no chipper which is how I used to run.
 
Like others have said get the chipper that suits the size of brush and wood you need to chip considering the size of wood you are willing to handle without the chipper.
Just get the biggest engine for the model. Like chainsaw considerations. saws all cut but bigger pwer house gets the cutting done faster.
You can always rip logs to fit the chipper. scoring crotches with a saw is easy enough so they collapse,
how easy is it to move and handle wood and limb wood that couldn.t be chipped day after day and during the day on large removals.
 
Just about any commercial chipper is better than having to slash brush. As for size, it really depends on what your doing with it. I started out with a 6" chipper. It was really to small and a pita always getting clogged up. I sold it and bought a BC935. It's really good for pruning jobs and ok for smaller removals. I've also bought a BC1220. It's a bit larger capacity at 12" but I don't care for the 45 degree disk setup. It gets stuff stuck behind the feed wheels sometimes. Having to stop at your job to mess with the chipper kinda sucks. The auto feed wasn't working on mine. I just got it fixed. I actually prefer my 9" chipper. Pretty much if it fits, it will chip it.
 
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