PTO Wood Chippers
A towable chipper sits on a road-legal braked chassis and tows behind your van, pickup, or 4x4 to site. Unhitch, position it where you need it, and start chipping.
For tree surgeons, landscapers, and grounds teams who drive between jobs every day, towable is the default choice because it goes wherever your vehicle goes without needing a separate transport arrangement.
We sell and hire Forst towable chippers covering 6-inch and 8-inch throat sizes in petrol and diesel configurations. The range runs from compact models for lighter workloads through to heavy-duty 8-inch machines for commercial crews processing heavy timber all day. All new machines come with a 3-year warranty, AutoIntelligence feed control, and ForstGrip feed rollers as standard.
Why Our Customers Love Us
Why ILH for Towable Chippers?
We’re a specialist Forst dealer, not a general plant company that happens to stock a chipper. Our technicians are specialists on the Forst range, and our Cumbernauld workshop handles servicing, repairs, and parts for Forst and all other major chipper brands including Timberwolf, GreenMech, Jensen, and TP. Whether you’re buying new, hiring for a job, or getting your existing chipper serviced, you’re dealing with people who know these machines because they work on them every week.
Call 0141 775 9288 or fill in the form. Tell us what you’re chipping and we’ll match you to the right machine.
6-Inch vs 8-Inch Towable Wood Chippers
The throat size tells you the maximum branch diameter the chipper will accept in one pass. Anything bigger than the rated size needs cross-cutting before it goes through.
6-inch towable chippers
A 6-inch chipper handles branches up to 150mm diameter, which covers most residential garden work, hedge clearances, and lighter arboricultural jobs. Forst’s core 6-inch towable models are the machines most tree surgeons and landscapers use day to day, available in both petrol and diesel. A heavy-duty variant adds a tougher build for operators who run their chipper harder, while more compact options in the range suit lighter or occasional use.
Several 6-inch models in the Forst range weigh under 750kg, which means you can tow them on a standard Category B driving licence without needing a B+E towing qualification. That matters if your crew includes drivers who only hold a standard licence.
8-inch towable chippers
An 8-inch chipper handles branches up to 200mm diameter and processes material faster thanks to a larger infeed opening and more powerful engine. Forst’s 8-inch towable models are built for professional tree surgery crews and commercial contracts where you’re chipping from morning to night, available in both petrol and diesel.
If you find yourself regularly cross-cutting larger branches to fit a 6-inch throat, stepping up to an 8-inch saves time on every job. Over a busy week, those minutes add up.
The trade-off is weight. Most 8-inch towable chippers exceed 750kg, so your drivers will need a B+E licence to tow them legally. The higher purchase or hire cost also reflects the bigger engine and heavier build, but for crews with a full workload the productivity gain pays for the difference.
Petrol vs Diesel
Forst towable chippers come in both petrol and diesel configurations. Petrol models tend to be lighter and quieter, which suits residential work and operators who value the lower towing weight for licence reasons. Diesel models offer more torque at lower RPM, which makes them better at pulling through thicker or harder timber without bogging down. Diesel also makes sense if you’re running the chipper for long hours, since the fuel cost per hour is lower and diesel engines tend to have a longer service life under heavy use.
If most of your work is residential gardens and lighter clearance, petrol does the job well. If you’re processing heavy timber on commercial contracts, diesel is the better long-term choice. We carry both, so call us and we’ll talk through which suits your typical workload.
Hire or Buy a Wood Chipper
Our hire fleet includes towable Forst chippers serviced in our workshop between every hire. If you need a chipper for a one-off clearance job, a short contract, or you want to try a model before committing to buying, hiring from a specialist means you get a machine with sharp blades and a checked engine rather than whatever a general hire company has sitting in the yard.
If chipping is part of your daily work, buying makes more sense. The Forst 3-year warranty, local dealer backup from our Cumbernauld workshop, and access to genuine spare parts mean you’re supported long after the purchase. We’ll help you choose the right model for your workload rather than overselling you on a machine that’s bigger or more expensive than you need.