255 XP. A few questions

[treebilly]

I'm going to look at one with 400 hours on it. Just wondering if there is anything really to look at. I'm not sure of the engine size or make yet. It's for my boss so I'm not the one putting the money down but I'd like to know what to check out. I know the obvious stuff like grease points and the feed wheel motors, but what else?

I'm supposed to look at the bucket truck also but I'm trying to talk him out of that. To old of a truck and boom.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Big 'ole bastid!

 

[SkwerI]

With only 400 hours there shouldn't be anything wrong with it. Even if they never changed the oil, not long enough to matter. I'd inspect the intake/drum areas and knives for signs of abuse such as sending something through that shouldn't go through. Big chips in the knives or signs of blowout in the walls from something getting wedged.

Years ago a buddy had his crew send a sledgehammer through the chipper (Vermeer 1800). He had to replace the drum and it hasn't been right since. Knife gap is 3/4" and no way to close it up.

I've looked at a couple older chippers for sale, some with pretty new paint jobs and all new stickers. But you look past that and see cracks in the frame and blown out bearings, stuff that you wonder how it could actually work any more.

 

[Merle Nelson]

That's a nice looking chipper. What did you find and what kind of price were they asking? (When you can share it.)

 

[treebilly]

I went and checked it out and was impressed. It's actual hours were 329. The owner has decided that he has had enough of the tree thing and is looking for a change of pace. He's basically retiring. The machine looks like it just came off the showroom floor. Jeff ran a very tight ship and his equipment was always in top shape. I'm supposed to be picking it up this Friday. I was not told the price yet but my boss jumped on it along with his bucket truck. Oddly enough the new Vermeer salesman stopped by our shop to introduce himself. He might be a little upset when he drives by again.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Man, good find.

 

[treebilly]

To follow up we finally got it Thursday evening. I put it to work Friday. Lots of BS between lawyers and accountants but it finally happened. I guess we didn't just buy the equipment. We bought his business. Whatever, not my concern. The chipper worked great for what my crew does. We're still figuring out the limitations to it but all in all I was happy. My crew was all about it as well. We will see if that lasts but they wanted to go over the maintenance and even powerwashed it when we got in. My go to guy said he wants to show the boss that we deserve to have the best because we take care of things. We've gotten chippers and chip trucks that have been beaten by other crews. I'm not thinking it will do to many clearing jobs but the pair of 2100's should be able to handle those.

 

[squisher]

Lol. That new baby smell will wear off in no time and it'll be back to battling to get it greased and knifes flipped. I had a guy who worked for me a bit who was pretty flippant about damage to gear and equipment. 'Treework's hard on rigging' he'd be fond of saying when something got wrecked, dented, or otherwise mangled. Drove me nuts.

But enjoy the hell out of it while it's still shiny!

 

[Merle Nelson]

And shiny aside, I love equipment that can get the work done while making it easier on the people.

Thanks for the update.