Useful life of a small chipper

[emr]

I am wondering what you all think is a realistic useful life of my 9" Vermeer BC900 with a 35-40hp Kohler gas engine? Ours has almost 900 hours on it currently and is running just fine. We are may think about buying a new chipper in the next year or so unless we can expect to get 2000 hours out of this machine. It seems that a lot of companies sell their chippers off when they get to about 2000 hours but those seem to be mostly diesel engines. I read where someone mentioned that gas engines get about half of the life of a diesel. I am also wondering about the bearings on the disk. Those seem like they would cost more to replace than the engine. I know there are lots of variables to consider with a question like this..... I can say that we take very good care of our chipper and make sure to maintain it like it should be.

 

[DMc]

Like you said lots of variables. But being small and gas doesn't mean it won't last. We have about 2000 hrs on our 6" Vermeer and it is still running strong. It has worked hard in that time too because I disconnected the auto feed when it was new.

 

[MasterBlaster]

It's a loaded question, for sure!!!

 

[Mick!]

Disconnected the autofeed? Meaning the stress control (I guess) how does that help?

 

[brendonv]

Too many variables. Ive seen trucks with 30000 miles look like trucks with 300k miles, and vise versa.

Proper detailing, maintance, and operation, theres no reason it shouldnt give you thousands of service and more.

But it is a vermeer

 

[emr]

Hahaha..... I was waiting for the first Vermeer comment. It took longer than I thought. I have to believe that the engineers at Kohler and Vermeer must have designed these products for a certain number of hours. IDK, maybe it doesn't work that way.

 

[kevin bingham]

when the nobler engine goes out you can get another one pretty reasonable. on our morbark 6 inch, swappung out the engine was simple four bolts and adjustment. changing the bearings isnt that bad either. outside of that there isn't much that will go bad. we have had to weld a few stress spots on the feed wheel housing. now its a back up to a 12 inch. The hour meter broke as well as the auto feed within the first 6 months of owning it. the auto feed slowed down operation a lot so I don't miss it all. I have no idea how many hours the machine has. the engine only went out when it did because I'm stupid and let the oil burn up. but it had done its time. burning oil and all that. the bearing going bad also due to being skimpy with grease. Now i just soak everything with grease. I buy the tubes by the case. it was not as expensive to change the bearings as I thought it would be.
I could see the chipper running for ever with sharp blades and lots of grease

 

[DMc]

Disconnected the autofeed? Meaning the stress control (I guess) how does that help?

Yes, the auto feed. When I first demoed the BC625 I liked everything about it, size, light weight, small 6" feed opening, 90deg cutting disk and superb quality of chips. Unfortunately, it had the slowest feed rate I had ever seen to the point it was absolutely useless for even a small operation like ours. On a whim, I had the dealer disconnected the auto feed and voila, a totally different machine. Instead of the auto feed stopping the feed every fraction of a bite, it would take an entire branch in one quick shot. Even with the small engine, the also small and relatively light flywheel was able to come back up to full rpm's within 5 to 10 seconds, or about as long as it takes to pick up another branch. I really didn't care that it was harder on the machine, it was now chipping at a rate I could live with.

 

[Mick!]

Ok thanks, sounds like a manufacturing error.

 

[pantheraba]

My BC 935 has the autofeed disconnected/broken. I checked into whether I needed it or not. The mechanic said it would just tear up again. We do fine without it...just listen for the rpm's status, adjust feed speed with control bar and go.

 

[Mick!]

My first couple of chippers had issues with feed control, used to regulate it by hand as you do.

Not possible these days as euro spec chippers have a thing where once the safety bar is activated you have to reverse the rollers before they go forward again.

 

[flushcut]

Assuming it was taken care of 2000 hours is not unheard of.
How long have you had it?
First owner?
Payed for itself?
Payed off?

 

[pantheraba]

I am skeptical of hour meters. I run mine 2 hours...it registers about 4 hours. The 1200 hours that show may only be 600 hours.

 

[SeanKroll]

Run good oil, synthetic??, good grease, change plugs and wires, air and fuel filters, other wear parts (ignition system??), etc.

Probably last you a while.

2000 hours is possibly coincidental with its been "depreciated out".

You two guys feeding the chipper, and having it professionally maintained, will last more than companies that have 6 guys, a winch, and/ or machine feeding it for 2000 hours.






I keep thinking that I'll need to replace my chipper. That's been the last 5 or 6 years. Its got an enormous number of hours on it. The hour meter was at around 3700 when I got it in 2007. If I bang on the hour meter, it starts slowly moving a bit, for a bit, then stops again. I can't complain, the hour meter is from 1975.







How's that loader working for you? Not knowing all the factors, I'd consider upgrading your loader first, getting a BMG with scoops, and pallet forks. Other attachments add service options. Around here, an auger can power an Atom Splitter to break down oversized firewood for the customer to manageable sizes (many people handle their own firewood here, but who wants to split 40" rounds that weigh hundreds of pounds), and fence post auger. My last customers just dug a ton of fence posts by hand. Could have worked out to have the mini on-site already, and been able to do an easy add-on service. People often get their tree work done before building their fences. Cedar privacy fences are popular here.

You have a lot of hardwood. I've been wanting a Lucas Mill with slabber attachment. Wonder if you have a market for slabs and milling from removals, if you're looking in invest in new services.

 

[stig]

My first couple of chippers had issues with feed control, used to regulate it by hand as you do.

Not possible these days as euro spec chippers have a thing where once the safety bar is activated you have to reverse the rollers before they go forward again.

I'm doubtful of that, since my new one doesn't have that.
I can't imagine TP not manufacturing to Euro specs, since they export most of their machines.

I find it somewhat weird that there are chippers without variable feed speed, never come across that here.

 

[Mick!]

French specs then.

So when your TP safety bar kicks in you just have to pull the bar back and press a button?

 

[stig]

No button, just pull it back.
It does have a stupid locking mechanism that only lets you pull it back from one side.
A zip tie took care of that feature.

 

[brendonv]

Yes, the auto feed. When I first demoed the BC625 I liked everything about it, size, light weight, small 6" feed opening, 90deg cutting disk and superb quality of chips. Unfortunately, it had the slowest feed rate I had ever seen to the point it was absolutely useless for even a small operation like ours. On a whim, I had the dealer disconnected the auto feed and voila, a totally different machine. Instead of the auto feed stopping the feed every fraction of a bite, it would take an entire branch in one quick shot. Even with the small engine, the also small and relatively light flywheel was able to come back up to full rpm's within 5 to 10 seconds, or about as long as it takes to pick up another branch. I really didn't care that it was harder on the machine, it was now chipping at a rate I could live with.

Coulda just adjusted the auto feed computer no? Easy peasy with the harrison auto feed or LOR system. I can change stop rpm, start rpm, and reverse time. Too late now i suppose, lol

 

[emr]

Assuming it was taken care of 2000 hours is not unheard of.
How long have you had it?
First owner?
Payed for itself?
Payed off?

Had it for 4 years now.
Bought it new.
Yes
Yes

We really do try to baby it. It's good to hear that most of you seem to think there should be plenty of life left in it.

 

[emr]

Run good oil, synthetic??, good grease, change plugs and wires, air and fuel filters, other wear parts (ignition system??), etc.

Probably last you a while.

2000 hours is possibly coincidental with its been "depreciated out".

You two guys feeding the chipper, and having it professionally maintained, will last more than companies that have 6 guys, a winch, and/ or machine feeding it for 2000 hours.






I keep thinking that I'll need to replace my chipper. That's been the last 5 or 6 years. Its got an enormous number of hours on it. The hour meter was at around 3700 when I got it in 2007. If I bang on the hour meter, it starts slowly moving a bit, for a bit, then stops again. I can't complain, the hour meter is from 1975.







How's that loader working for you? Not knowing all the factors, I'd consider upgrading your loader first, getting a BMG with scoops, and pallet forks. Other attachments add service options. Around here, an auger can power an Atom Splitter to break down oversized firewood for the customer to manageable sizes (many people handle their own firewood here, but who wants to split 40" rounds that weigh hundreds of pounds), and fence post auger. My last customers just dug a ton of fence posts by hand. Could have worked out to have the mini on-site already, and been able to do an easy add-on service. People often get their tree work done before building their fences. Cedar privacy fences are popular here.

You have a lot of hardwood. I've been wanting a Lucas Mill with slabber attachment. Wonder if you have a market for slabs and milling from removals, if you're looking in invest in new services.

We use Amsoil in all of our trucks and equipment..... so take that for what it's worth. Everything gets greased very regularly and we change oil and filter of all kinds well before the manufacturer recommends.

Our loader was one of the best purchases that we have ever made. It's not the loader for everyone but it's almost ideal for us. I'd like to upgrade some of the attachments but that will be a regular purchase for when we want it. The chipper purchase is part of our long term planning for the company. Trying to figure out what we want for the future in terms of equipment. EAB is starting to ramp up here and we are just evaluating our ability to deal with it.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Regarding hour life of a chipper it's common to see Bandits with many thousands of hours on them for sale and apparently still workable. Bandit says it's not uncommon for their chippers to go to 10,000 hours with proper maintenance.

 

[emr]

I'm not sure if Vermeer can claim the same thing.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Well, there is the Vermeer comment that counts.

 

[treebilly]

Different animal, but we have a bc2100 with 6500 hours and an 1800 with 6200 hours. They’ve also had a few major repairs but the engines are still going strong and don’t burn a bit of oil.

 

[SkwerI]

Keep in mind whenever you see a manufacturer posting the expected life hours on a machine, that only refers to how long they expect it to remain compliant with the exhaust emissions regulations. It has absolutely nothing to do with how long the machine will still run and work. That just means you have to gut the catalytic converter in the exhaust so it will keep running.