Chipper/grinder hour clocks, can we believe what we see?

[Mick Dempsey]

So I have been looking at a few chippers on line, bigger ones on tracks for machine feeding.

 

I won’t give any specific examples for obvious reasons but when I see some ads I do wonder.

 

2008 job with 1100 odd hours, the hopper tells a very different story and then when you do the sums that’s 5 hours a week max.

 

Who buys a machine like that for occasional use?

 

In 20 months of having my ST8 I’ve put on 470hrs and I don’t let it run all day and it doesn’t come out every day.

 

There’s no way, short of contacting the previous owner, to verify the hours on chippers/grinders.

 

Just saying, caveat emptor and all that.

 

 

 

[Khriss]

I think -  its the Operator that determines how good a second hand buy of that machine will be , like cars , if its been owned by a boy racer , 20,000miles will see the clutch , gearbox and engine worn out - but a good boss putting sharp teeth on and regular services , not roaring the clutch etc will mean yr second hand grinder runs fr years K

[Jase hutch]

I would say , don’t trust the hour meter.

The old standalone hour meters used to fail and if the hour meter is built into the ignition box / computer then the chances are if this gets changed the old hours won’t get programmed into the new box, even though most have the facility to do this..

[Johny Walker]

Having a good check over the machine would give a good idea.big cheppets tend to chip quicker.also will depend on what work its doing.