Picked up a used 3hp Simplicity 3C chipper shredder the other day. While the reduction ratio is amazing (I was used to the less than stellar results from a MTD chipper/shredder and a Troy-bilt Vac- on neither of which I used the screen, since they clogged more than functioned corrected in my experience), I was somewhat disappointed with the "suction" or "self-feeding" aspect. I had to use a stick to feed the leaves, v-e-r-y slowly, into the small entry hole. Wet leaves in particular slowed the machine to the point of stalling. A few days later, my Troy-bilt blew it's Tecumseh engine (snapped the camshaft- kinda figured it was on it's way out which is why I picked up the Simplicity), so I tried the 10', 4" dia hose on the back of the Simplicity by removing the plate, using a PVC flange and got NO vacuum, NO suction at all. Is there some other aspect/part of the Simplicity hose attachment? I see that an option for new models is a "leaf tray"- is this the "lid" I see on some models' hoppers? Does that help create a better vacuum, both in the hopper or the back entry port? Also, as an aside, I noticed a lot of surface rust inside the metal B&S gas tank (all my other machines have plastic and it never dawned on me to check the inside of a tank)- should I consider a new tank, a fuel filter or look forward to a new/rebuilt carb soon?

I had an old one but wasn't impressed w/ it.It did OK but gets awfully hard to push when the bag is getting close to full. It also had problems w/ sticks getting stuck in the intake chute. I solved the problem by building my own leaf vac for my rider using an old MTD chipper shredder. Mike

John, MacKissic also makes chipper/shredder/vacs like their Leaf Cycler or their Mighty Mac VCB-258 vacuum/chipper/shredder, but I have my doubts that any chipper/shredder/vac combination, from MacKissic or anybody else, will do what you want it to do. In order to effectively shred something like newly fallen walnuts with their husks on, you need a shredder that consists of a hammermill with a screen. Several of the MacKissic "Mighty Mac" shredders are hammermills with interchangeable screens and they would do an excellent job of pulverizing your nuts to a fine-grained product that would be an excellent addition to a compost pile. The hard cores of black walnuts would be noisy, but they would be pulverized. But to my knowledge, none of the "true" hammermill shredders operate while moving and picking up stuff. With the possible exception of the MacKissic VCB-258, (which I really don't know anything about except that I don't like Tecumseh engines) the hammermill shredders won't pick up your fallen nuts. I don't consider the VCB-258's "hammermill" shredder to be a full-blown hammermill, even though it does have swinging hammers (how many?) and a screen. (And what is the hole size on that screen?) Most hammermills just stand there while you bring stuff to them and feed it into the shredder chute or the chipper chute. Any vacuum strong enough to pick up big nuts is going to suck in a lot of other stuff too. I think they are designed primarily for picking up leaves and twigs. Last year I swept up a lot of acorns using a couple of good leaf rakes and a flat-bottomed shovel. I put them in big plastic baskets and carried them to my MacKissic Mighty Mac shredder and put them through its optional " screen. It was a bit noisy, but a great product that resembled very coarse coffee grounds poured out. I added it to an existing compost pile that had been made by putting a lot of brush piles through the same ¼" screen. That compost pile "perked" nicely. Incidentally, I would not add pulverized black walnuts to my compost because of the growth-retardant effects of the juglone that they contain. But for me, that is a moot question, because we don't have any walnut trees. The shredders in most, if not all, of the shredder vacs have rotating fixed or pivoted blades that attempt to shred by cutting or shearing. For nuts, that's literally a "hit or miss" proposition, while in a hammermill the nuts are trapped in the shredding chamber until the swinging hammers bash them into small enough particles to escape through the holes in the screen. You control the particle size by your selection of the screen's hole size. A good range of screen sizes is available. I have ¼", ½", ¾", 1" (the standard included size), and 1½" x 2½" oblong holes (for wet stuff). In answer to your question, "Will the smaller unit suck up and shred 2+ inch diameter nuts?", I don't know if it will suck up the larger nuts, but if it does, I seriously doubt that it can do a good job of shredding them. MM

Hi rustyj14, I wish I only needed to chop up a bunch of leaves and twigs! I wouldn't bother! I'd just leave them on the ground and let nature take its course! I live in the coastal south and things decompose amazingly quickly here. My challenge is much bigger - I have hurricane wind and flood debris on several acres. So far, the plant debris has been consolidated into several large piles. You'd be amazed at what people are charging to haul the debris away. I'd have thought that by now, about a year after our storm, costs would be much more reasonable, but...... While it will be a lot of work, I figure that by dealing with the plant material myself, I can pay for a chipper/shredder, chainsaw, and whatever else I end up needing. I should have a lot of native mulch for composting and bigger pieces of wood for the fire pit I am imagining. When the house is demolished, I guess I will just have to pay to have it hauled. I would have never in a million years thought that I would own and use a tractor, but it has saved me countless hours of back breaking work. It has given me independence in a situation that, once upon a time, I thought would suck the life out of me.