Choosing a mulcher for deforestation is a very important task, because this equipment is usually not cheap and requires certain skills.
What kind of mulcher to choose for uprooting?
When choosing, you first need to decide what kind of work you have to do. There are no universal mulchers, so they fall into 2 main categories:
- Surface mulchers – for surface treatment, so-called forest cutters. Their main difference is the speed of rotation of the rotor. As a rule, it is about 2000 rpm.
- Mulchers for depth – for deepening into the ground for 20-50 cm (depending on the model), the so-called rotators. Rotor revolutions in them make 300-550 rpm.
For which equipment is better to choose a mulcher: a tractor or an excavator?
We help the client to choose the right mulcher for the equipment available in the park. The most popular mulchers are attached by means of a 3-point hitch and are driven by the tractor’s PTO. If you want to cultivate uneven areas, such as canals, roadsides, fenced areas, there are models for attachment to the excavator. On the excavator the mulcher is installed instead of a bucket and is operated by hydraulics. On the tractor, it can also be connected to the hydraulic system and mounted on a remote bar.
Which rotor width do you need?
When choosing a forestry cutter or rotator for a tractor, we strongly recommend looking at models with a rotor width of at least the width of the wheels. As a rule, tractors are not equipped with quarry or forest tires. If the rotor is narrow, you can puncture tires when you hit stumps, branches and stones.
Is there protection against overloads?
Another important criterion for choosing a mulcher is protection systems in emergency situations. It’s no secret that the wood chipper often comes into contact with various objects during operation. For example, such as pieces of armature, concrete, remnants of equipment. At such moments there are big overloads not only in mulcher, but also on PTO of a tractor. Budget manufacturers usually use a shear bolt on the cardan shaft, which causes a lot of problems and does not always work. As a result, you can expect expensive repairs to a broken unit. TOP manufacturers use hydraulic clutches, which provide not only reliable protection of all components, but also a smooth start of equipment.
Which rotor to choose: with rotating or fixed hammers?
Rotating or movable hammers are usually used in budget models. They have proven themselves in the so-called “cutters”. In operation, such a mulcher will be reliable, because the hammer will bounce when it collides with an obstacle. Accordingly, the performance of such a mulcher will be lower compared to models with fixed hammers. In turn, equipment with fixed hammers better “bites” into the wood, can break the stone, and it is easier to replace in case of failure. Mulchers for depth use only a fixed type of hammer.
Other questions
There are a number of parameters that affect the choice of mulcher. For example, such as the load capacity of the hitch, the correspondence of the tractor power, the number of required hydraulic lines, revolutions of the PTO, etc. In any case, it is better to turn to professionals for qualified advice on the choosing of equipment.
