Chips vs. brush by volume

Cthompson22

TreeHouser
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Jul 5, 2015
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Hi everyone new to the site so I wasn't sure where to put this but here looked good. I'm looking for opinions from people who have gone to grapple trucks or trailers for moving brush rather than chipping, even someone who is just loading a trailer instead of chipping might have some input. Lately it seems I am saving out more material for firewood and chipping less, im down to chipping brush that is 4" and less most of the time, here it is always easy to get rid of wood and only occasionally do I get rid of chips.

My chip box is carrying 8 yds max and more often than not im only moving 4-6yds, only on large removals do I ever fill the box and even then it's only 2 or 3 times at most. I am considering going to a grapple trailer either dump or just a flat bed and loading brush into that, this would eliminate a truck and all the problems that go with it but I have no idea if I will be able to keep up with what the chipper will do and still have a reasonable sized trailer. Does anybody have an idea how many yards a trailer would have to hold to compete? I don't mind doing some cutting to pack things down but I don't want to be in that trailer all day either.
 
If you have a great place to dump, buy a grapple truck.

If not, you'll need a chipper.

Welcome to the TreeHouse! :beer:
 
Butch is spot on. Grapple for brush is great but you gotta have a good dump spot.

By the way CThompson I still climb on the TM that you traded me a few years ago everyday, still got the ergo?
 
I have a 74 yard grapple truck, before that a 20'x8'x4' gooseneck dump loaded with an excavator, before that a 7'x16'x3' tag dump trailer, before that a chipper and chip truck (~2005ish-2007ish), before that roll off containers (40 yards), and started with a 7'x18' utility trailer (~2003).


Ditching the chipper has been wonderful for me. We do mainly removals. The g truck will allow me to haul tree debris, a loader (forwarder like a track loader, articulating loader, etc), and a 70' lift with one truck and trailer. The trailer for the g truck should be here in ~3 weeks.


Butch brings up a good point. Being able to get rid of material for free is a large consideration. I would still pay some amount to get rid of material to be able to avoid using a chipper/chip truck.



The nice thing about a grapple is it can load rakings, logs, brush, stumps, C&D, stump chips as well as be used as a mini crane with a healthy amount of common sense. My g truck has made a couple thousand dollars in the past week getting trees off houses (tornado last Thursday).



I thought about going the grapple trailer amount, but payload and payload to cost became the issues. I would want at least 30 yards of capacity and tandem dual axles (10klb+ axles) pulling with an F450/F550 sized truck. I'm a fan of rear mounted loaders for most applications. That was the idea for the trailer, get a flatbed gooseneck trailer, rear mount a loader on it, and build fixed walls.
 
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Thought I replied to this but must not have hit submit. Usually I can find a place to get rid of brush and if it's within 20miles of my home I just bring it here and unload and sort it all out later. It's the jobs that are 30+ miles when it starts to get a little more difficult, no different for chips though either. I was looking at setting up a deck over dump which I believe is 8x14 and I would go with 5 or 6' walls. I would mount the loader up at the gooseneck, it would have to be the same length as a normal 16' dump for that setup to work. My other option was a flatbed with a rear mount loader. I was thinking around the same dimensions, I like this option for the rear mount loader and getting that extra reach. For me the biggest issue is I make so many trips dragging equipment around, this trailer would hold my mini and stump grinder all in one and for some jobs I wouldn't need to bring the mini at all.
 
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Also Levi that ergo has been tossed in the corner after having to adjust it every other climb it drove me nuts and I picked up a used TM.
 
Sounds like the flatbed with rear mount is the way to go, drive your mini and stumper in the side.

Too bad about the ergo, seemed like a good idea but wasn't! TM is the way for sure.

Good to see you in the TreeHouse.
 
Yes, the rear mount option will be the way to go. I was actually watching our local city crew use their behind the cab mounted grapple today as they were lifting all of the material from the front of the truck and over the cab. No thank you.
 
I think a chipper will compress brush to about 25% the stacked volume.

In other words, you can fit 4X the brush into the same truck if you chip it all first.


love
nick
 
Maybe with out "chainsaw chipping"

Even then you would never get as much in brush wise, but you could do a good bit more than a 1/4, probably closer to 3/4.
 
I'm not sure. Those big grapple trucks can fit a lot of stuff. A bit of smart cutting and a good operator can pack them tight enough a mouse won't squeeze through. Overweight of course.
 
I've never chipped brush, but have dealt with it in other ways, from loading by hand to a grapple truck. You sure can't beat the efficiency of a grapple truck. The second best I think is having an excavator to compile the brush over a cable that can be choked to load big compressed bundles with some type of crane. I think an excavator with a grapple is essential for compiling brush prior to loading, it much cuts into the labor intensity compared to other ways. Even with a grapple truck, using an excavator can be a big helpful preliminary prior to loading.
 
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Sounds like the grapple setup will actually be a step up and forward from the chipper. I have a lead on a grapple and loader already that sounds like it will be plenty cheap, I need to look into a trailer setup for it. I think I will buy it and use it some before selling my chip truck. I don't plan on selling my chipper right away because in my area there is still always the chance I may just be able to shoot the chips into the woods. I'm just tired of so much maintenance on every thing and if I could downsize some and get more accomplished that would be ideal. I'd like to go to a full blown grapple truck but it's just not realistic here for my size company, versatility is better in my case
 
Yesterday we did a ~30-36"DBH oak which fit in one load. Taking some deduction in capacity for the unused volume, my density was around 525lbs/yard. The trunk was cut up fairly small to match the loader we had on the job, which takes up more room than loading logs in bigger pieces.
 
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