Importance of chipper warranty

[tree-fancier123]

On 08/12/2017 at 08:52, benedmonds said:

My approach is to buy after the initial depreciation and keep it forever

with big kit and a limited budget this must be a winner - a 9" chipper at 25k new, or two used ones on 1000 hours each at 11k each, - if its just one new one, then sooner or later it will need something taking it out of service, but alternating two used ones,  theres no reason for downtime - two good used machines instead of one new, sounds a no brainer if youve got the space

[Mick Dempsey]

41 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

with big kit and a limited budget this must be a winner - a 9" chipper at 25k new, or two used ones on 1000 hours each at 11k each, - if its just one new one, then sooner or later it will need something taking it out of service, but alternating two used ones,  theres no reason for downtime - two good used machines instead of one new, sounds a no brainer if youve got the space

I don’t think that’s a good plan at all.

 

Buying two chippers in case one breaks down is daft.

 

Use the other 11k to buy another van, grinder or other money making hardware.

 

If the chipper breaks, fix it and hire one in the meantime.

 

 

[tree-fancier123]

29 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I don’t think that’s a good plan at all.

 

Buying two chippers in case one breaks down is daft.

 

Use the other 11k to buy another van, grinder or other money making hardware.

 

If the chipper breaks, fix it and hire one in the meantime.

 

 

I have to admit you do have a point with the grinder - if it was only enough money for a spare chipper, or a grinder, not both. However your suggestion of just fix it quick and get on, some repairs surely will mean a wait for parts, and also round here even an ST6 is 100 a day. Lots of people do own second back up chippers, when they could have just ebayed them off, they cant all be idiots

[Mick Dempsey]

No one mentioned idiots.

 

I bought a new ST8 and kept my tw150 for a bit, glad I did (few teething troubles)

But then taking it out once a fortnight just to keep it going stated to get old and I had things I wanted to spend the three grand on.

 

Anyway there’s a difference between keeping an old one as a back up and buying two!

[carlos]

one thing to consider is how competent are you at fixing things or do you have someone reliable and quick to do repairs.

id say if your using the machine yourself a lot of problems can start to show up before the machine becomes unusable thus giving one time to source parts.

also if your not putting loads of hours on your machine then maybe downtime is not such a crucial factor.

carl

[deezyboy]

22 hours ago, aspenarb said:

Two hundred hours in two years ? You need to remember to hitch it on in the morning and take it to work

 

These TW chippers will rack up thousands of trouble free hours if they are looked after, I would stick with what you have for the moment.

 

Bob

Although a very valid point. But with the 230 you can stack up an entire days work of brash and chip it up in 20 minutes between the two of you, should space allow. I should also add that I like my days off work ?

[deezyboy]

Thanks for the replies people!

sorry, I should have probably been more clear, it isn’t mechanical issues that I am worried about, as generally they are quite reliable in that sense, but more the body work and chassis etc. You hear lots of dark stories from the forbidden side of the timberwolf world that we are all told to keep quiet about, so would be interesting to know what the actual figures are like. 

Sad thing is, for my business currently there is no machine that could beat the 230, so I would most likely just replace it with a new one. 

Do you pay an extra £600 a year for the warranty or do you keep it and be prepared to spend £600 on fixing a potential issue which could occur?

[Matthew Storrs]

Keep it and keep the £600 in the bank- you never know you may never need to spend it!

[Breezeblock]

I would run it until the death then get it fixed if they are guilty of breaking in 2 do some reinforcing of the chassis our chipper must be 12-13 years old done countless hours had a few bearings mainshaft remachined about 2 times the engines is a Kubota d1105 so pretty bombproof I think you should keep your money in the bank learn a bit more about fixing it or ask people who know theres a vast amount of knowledge on arbtalk to draw from