In a fleet of hardworking machines, the Morbark Beever 1821 turned out to be a crew’s favourite.
Based in Young, NSW, Tony Pullen went into business for himself in 2017. Seven years later his company, Hilltops Vegetation Services, has grown considerably.
“We kicked off with just myself and a trailer and a 12m cherry picker,” Tony recalled. “Now we’ve got 10 employees and a heap of gear.”
Those employees and equipment aren’t only involved in tree work. Hilltops Vegetation Services offers a wide range of forestry and propertymaintenance expertise, including vegetation management, largearea mowing and work for councils, Transport NSW and residential and private work.
The equipment required to offer good service in those areas is varied, and Tony listed a few of the main machines in the company’s fleet.
“We have a brushcutter, a positrack and an excavator with a slasher head…” he searched through his mental files, “and an 1821 Morbark.”
Morbark Beever 1821
The Morbark Beever 1821 18″ capacity wood chipper is ideal for residential tree services, utility line clearing, vegetation management, maintenance contractors and municipalities. It’s a high-capacity, high-production chipper which includes more standard features than any other chipper in its class.
The Beever 1821 is also available tracked for right-of-way clearing, highway clean-ups and hard-toreach areas requiring a self-propelled unit for material access. The powerful TorqMax™ dual feed-wheel compression system generates more than 6600lb/ft (9822kg/m) of material pulling force, and many customerinspired innovations are featured, increasing efficiency and safety while reducing operating and maintenance costs. The unit is pre-plumbed and outfitted for the easy installation of most aftermarket components, and an ergonomic infeed design provides consistent feed control bar activation.
Like all Morbark equipment, the 1821 is a long-lasting, durable machine backed by a world-class parts-andservice support team.
Long service
Tony and the Hilltops Vegetation Services crew have more than one chipper in the fleet, but the Morbark 1821 has been the go-to machine for quite a while.
“We got it in 2019,” Tony explained.
“We haven’t had much downtime with it – just the odd little bits and pieces that go with a machine that works so hard. It’s been awesome.”
After the years of hard work Tony did think about upgrading the 1821, but he ran into a small difficulty.
“All my guys love it,” he chuckled. “I was actually going to trade it in earlier, but the boys on the crew talked me out of it. They told me to hold off because they really like it, so I’m holding back a bit.”
What is it they like so much, we wondered?
Tony supplied the answer: “I think it’s just the ease of use and how well it performs.”
The next step
The 1821 will eventually have to be replaced, and Tony is considering his options. A big point in the favour of staying with Morbark is the service Hilltops Vegetation Services has enjoyed from Monitor. “They’re a bit far away from where we are, but we’ve got Monitor guys that work on the Morbark and we have no issues. Our contact, Stuart Samson, is great.”
After a little careful thought Tony summed up his position.
“I’m happy to go with Morbark again. I’d definitely buy one.”
Morbark Beever 1821 features
• Dual horizontal feed wheels with TorqMax top-feed wheel-compression system, hydraulic lift assist, variable-force constant hydraulic downpressure system with additional manually applied hydraulic down pressure at the valve handle and direct-drive bottom-feed wheel with torque-arm coupler
• Live hydraulic system, including: ball valve, pump, motor, and valve bank with additional pre-plumbed valve section for installation of an aftermarket winch package
• 3″ (7.62cm) x 5″ (12.7cm) tubularsteel telescoping drawbar with two 12″ (30.48cm) extensions
• Morthane paint system – a chemically cured, electrostatically applied urethane coating with high-gloss finish, built-in UV protection, chip and chemical resistance and corrosion protection.
See the Morbark range at monitor.net.au.