1998 Morbark E-Z Beever 13

Roundhouse

Roundhouse

Treehouser
Joined
Jan 14, 2021
Messages
51
Location
SW Washington
Hey everybody! I just looked at a 98 E-Z beever 13 with 115hp John Deere diesel for sale in my town. Guy is asking 19k. I got to run it and send some good sized wood through it and it seems to run great. No hour meter so I have no idea how many hours it has on it but the folks who have it now are not a tree company and it was a single owner before them. 19k seems steep but what would a new 13" with 115hp diesel cost?? 90K? Thoughts???
 
My Morbark dealer keeps sending me a quote for their 2018 rental 12", 74 HP diesel (now the model 1416 ; 14" wide by 16" high throat opening), and they just upped the 2+ year price from $48K to $52K (only has 40 hrs on it). The bigger 122 HP diesel on that model added about $10K more. So from a price perspective, and looking at iron availability, decent price depending on shape of the machine and your recent test run.
 
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I'm going to rent the unit for a day this week and send a bunch of fir through it. Got some really good info from Matt Bauer https://bauertree.com/ about what to look for on the drum to get an idea how many hours it has on it. Really good guy who has refurbished equipment for sale in Ashland, OR.
 
I had an old Morbark drum chipper. It was an awesome chipper but you couldn't use resharpened knives, had to buy new knives every time. There was no adjustment for how deep the knives sat in the pocket, so sharpened knives would be shorter and not stick out as far. The drum itself acted like the rakers on your saw chain and so wood and brush wouldn't feed worth a hoot. The feed roller would push it in and it would stop against the spinning drum. Only place I could find knives at close to reasonable price was Bailey's so shipping was a week out. I'd get 3-4 months out of each set of knives (2 sided).

Ask Brett @Mellow about his Morbark 13.
 
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SkwerI said:
I had an old Morbark drum chipper. It was an awesome chipper but you couldn't use resharpened knives, had to buy new knives every time. There was no adjustment for how deep the knives sat in the pocket, so sharpened knives would be shorter and not stick out as far. The drum itself acted like the rakers on your saw chain and so wood and brush wouldn't feed worth a hoot. The feed roller would push it in and it would stop against the spinning drum. Only place I could find knives at close to reasonable price was Bailey's so shipping was a week out. I'd get 3-4 months out of each set of knives (2 sided).

Ask Brett @Mellow about his Morbark 13.
Click to expand...
Good to know. I was told that this model has a hard time throwing chips and will get clogged with more brushy material especially if not shooting straight forward. Apparently one fix is to make a hole low in the shoot where a leaf blower can be mounted. Run the blower when chipping cloggy material. Cheap hack, I suppose.
 
Looks good with the fresh paint. Mine wouldn't chip worth a shit with knives that dull, but it was an older version with a lot more wear. If the engine is solid and you don't need too much welding on the stress points then you're in good shape.

If you don't have a good impact wrench, buy one. This is the one I used for changing my knives.Hopefully you have other DeWalt 18v tools with batteries.
DeWalt 18v impact wrench
Tekton 1/2" impact sockets

Check Bailey's for knives, just to compare prices. Bailey's Online Homepage - https://www.baileysonline.com/
 
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Sharp knives makes a world of difference. Just like a chainsaw, you can't judge performance by how it cuts with a dull chain.

If you haven't bought it yet, offer him less than his asking price based on the shitty performance. Use the savings to buy a few sets of knives.
and an impact to change them.

check the main drive belt, also. I got a source for those as well, just gotta dig it up.
 
Dull knifes = slower cutting speed, less power on the blowing flow, fluffy exploded "chips" with a lot more drag, flexible stuff like leaf, needle, thin twig barely cut (if at all). Add water whith all that and the likyness of clogging is really hight.
 
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Yeah, I'm sure new knives would help a lot. Less sopping wet conditions would also help. I told the guy he'd need to come down significantly on the price for me to buy it. He's confident he'll get full price so we'll see. He also is the mechanic guy speaking for the owner and isn't even sure there is a title which means a pain in the ass at the DMV.
 
With the current market, he probably isn't too far off on price. IMO $15-17K isn't out of line. And the machine will make you many times that. It's just deciding if that is the machine you want.
 
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