I've been looking on CL for a few weeks for a chipper/shredder. I have a lot of hedges around the yard and taking them to the DPW is a pain. This one turned up Saturday evening on Cl. It was posted for 18 minutes, I jumped on it and got it within 24 hours. Best thing it was free. It had sat for 3 years without gas and the owner just wanted it gone. I emptied the carb bowl, fresh gas and new plug. The belt looked great. I cleaned a bunch of wood from around the shaft and sharpened the cutter knife which was very dull. It can handle 3" branches, and I ran a dead 2 1/2" twisted mock orange through no problem. It has the 3/4" mesh screen on the bottom which makes a pretty small shred. It handled everything I put through. Branches larger than 3" will go in the stove.
It was. I tried to give the owner some cash and she would not accept it. I told her I would pay it forward real soon. I have a decent sized pvc fish pond that I did not use that I will move along to someone soon.
I have a 5 horsepower MTD I paid 500 bucks for, if I had it to do over again I would never have bought it, most stuff it's a lot easier and quicker to just throw it in ,burn it up in the pit. It has a shoot on it that you can lay on the ground and rake leaves and sticks into, well I will never use it that way again because of rock got in there and broke one of the flail blades, after that the thing was trying to vibrate to pieces. After sitting in the shed for a few years I got it out last year, got it running, ordered a new blade in the fall, haven't fixed it yet cuz there's about 50 bolts I have to take off again. Anyway I have a bunch of Evergreen bushes I have to chop down, it will work good for getting rid of those, they don't dry very well in a pile for burning
I have a different situation here. I have a small lot with mature privet, lilacs, mock orange and forsythia. They are all mature plantings 10 - 15 feet high, not much over 3" diameter. I have an suv for hauling and the DPW yard a 1/4 mile away. We can't really open burn here either. For me to cut the dead hedges, cut to length to fit in the truck, trying not to damage the interior with the tops was not working out. This chipper fit the bill. Now I cut the hedges, stack the pile and process. I lop off any erractics to get the straightest length. The last 2 feet of top goes into the hopper to get flailed. Chips go to the composter or under the privet line. It takes more time to cut out the dead branches than to process the pile. 15 minutes is about all I need and I go looking for more.
My Township has a weird setup I have to drive 15 miles one way to dump yard waste, used to be better they had a place five miles away
I'm pretty impressed with the 10hp. Like an angry beaver on steroids down the hole. Sharp cutter knife is good too.
I was reinstalling the blade yesterday using my cordless driver with hex bit. I was down low holding a wrench on the nut behind the flywheel. I had my driver in my left hand driving the screw and I forgot to set the torque lower. When the bolt tightened up, the driver spun out of my hand and the battery hit me in the aise of my nose. Still hurts right down to my two upper front teeth today.
Ouch, at least you know you got a badass driver I know the feeling, I got smacked in the side of the head with a big high torque about 18 inch long air motor, another one smashed my hand against the car frame and pinned it there had to release the air hose to get it off. That's just a couple incidents with air motors during my time in the factory. Oh yeah now there's loading the gun with a bolt or screw and get your glove wrapped up that can make you have a bad day
