Such a thing as a hydraulically powered chipper?

[Big J]

I was wondering if there was such a thing as a hydraulically powered chipper that could be mounted onto the back of the forwarder I have coming?

 

I'm just thinking of various different things that it could do that might be useful, and I was thinking that a smallish capacity (5 or 6") capacity chipper mounted onto the rear section of the machine would be very handy for all manner of jobs. Power should be sufficient as I've got 35hp onboard, and the 6" capacity Greenmech utilises only a 23hp Honda petrol. 

 

I'd have the advantage of being able to crane load brash into the chipper too. 

 

Firstly, does anyone think that an very compact 8wd machine with a crane loading chipper would be useful, and secondly, does anyone know of a chipper that uses hydraulic power rather than a PTO?

[Stephen Blair]

I’ve got a hydraulic to PTO gizmo, you just plug into hydraulics then onto the pto on the machine.
If you have enough hydraulic pressure it will work, you may need a donkey engine if you want to crane at the same time.
There won’t be much power, better to get an old TW 190, take off the axle and lift it on and off as you need it.

[Big J]

10 minutes ago, Stephen Blair said:

I’ve got a hydraulic to PTO gizmo, you just plug into hydraulics then onto the pto on the machine.
If you have enough hydraulic pressure it will work, you may need a donkey engine if you want to crane at the same time.
There won’t be much power, better to get an old TW 190, take off the axle and lift it on and off as you need it.

Not a bad idea as the crane wouldn't struggle to load it. 

 

So, how useful would an 8wd forwarder with a self loading chipper be? I could see it being very handy for utility work.

[drinksloe]

I was recently using a 6" timberwolf which worked purely off the hydralics, i thinkit was modified to work of hydralics instead of a PTO, not sure if factory mod or home made.

Worked fine thou

1 problem u might have is a mounting system as u'll have no 3 point linkage? (but i dare say u could lift/manuuevre the chipper with crane)

 

Also the logistics of feeding a 6" chipper with a crane, to be honest u would probably be quickier feeding it by hand due to chipper speed and jams. Might be handy moving piles of brash closer to the chipper thou

Stephen makes a good point about taking axles off OR u could go the other way and put bigger lgp tyres on it and tow the chipper in, then u could also carry any logs/stems out on the forwarder and chipper towed behind, then load chipper on bunk for transport to site.

 

But u might have a problem with weight if the chipper has its own engine if ur still wanting everything on the trailer in 1 go?

 

Must admit i've been meaning to ask a question about converting PTO driven equipment to hydralic driven

 

Ps how much will those cranes lift close in??

I thought it was around 350kg's but that could be further out, a lot of those chippers are about 750kg's

Edited April 27, 2018 by drinksloe

[Gray git]

Greenmech do one that's intended to go on an avant/ skidstear or such like

[Big J]

The crane should lift just under a tonne close in. Will do nearly 400kg at full reach. Carrying capacity on the back is a couple of tonnes. 

 

Do see your point regarding jams with the smaller chippers. 

 

I'd hope to have a custom mounting fabricated so that taking the chipper on and off was a 5 minute job. That way, I could quickly switch betweeen forwarding and chipping. 

 

Like the look of the Greenmech chipper on the skid steer!

 

 

[monkeybusiness]

I think you’ll be surprised what the crane won’t lift - the maximum capacity will effectively be so close to the slew ring it is actually within your forwarder so loading anything heavy from alongside/behind will quickly reduce capacity. Also loading height isn’t always great with a forwarding crane at full capacity, particularly if you still have the grab and rotator attached. These cranes are amazing at dragging heavy loads towards/onto themselves - I’m not sure that loading machinery that way will be the best idea though. 

 

I’d also second the speed with which you could crane-feed a small chipper. You’ll soon get fed up as it is generally quicker to feed little machines by hand.

 

If you do go down this route then make sure you have visibility of the feed hopper/rollers from wherever you control the crane - if you can’t see what’s going on then it’s difficult to operate the machine effectively IME. 

[Big J]

I do remember feeding 6" capacity timber wolfs in the past and thinking that they weren't that fast. I'll perhaps scratch this idea

 

When I was having a play with the forwarder in Finland, the largest log I put on the bunk I guessed to be between 500-550kg and it straight lifted easily and not that close to the king pin. Optimistic of it lifting quite a lot more. 

[john p]

As said a 6” chipper won’t be much cop, as a forwarder it’ll be proper handy but think you’ll run the risk of over complicating things with chippers etc, I may be wrong, but if I was hiring you in I’d be doing it to shift timber not inefficiently chip brash, on the right sites it might work if you could pull a 10/12” chipper around though?

[Stephen Blair]

I feed my TW 190 with the grab, works well, no humans to get fatigued, grumpy and annoy you.

Take the hopper off and you will have a good output, all job specific obviously.

If you mount it on the bed then you can offset it do chipping is easier, feeding a set of rollers you can’t see is a pain and very time consuming booming in and out all the time.