Chippers are hired by drum capacity, and the price steps hard with it: a 6 inch towable runs roughly $250 to $400 a day, a 9 inch $400 to $600, and a 12 inch machine $500 to $800. Capacity is quoted as the largest diameter the machine will take, and the honest sizing rule is to measure the thickest limb on the pile rather than the average one, because that limb is what stops the job.
Size to the thickest limb, not the average
A 6 inch chipper handles ordinary storm brush and hedge work and is what most general rental centers stock. Nine and twelve inch machines are for felled trees and heavy limb wood, and they feed themselves rather than needing to be pushed. Anything over the rated diameter has to be cut down first, which is where the day goes.
The tow vehicle is the real limit
A 6 inch chipper is commonly 1,500 to 2,500 lb and tows behind a half-ton pickup with the right hitch and rating. A 12 inch machine can pass 6,000 lb and needs a truck and a brake controller to match. Check the yard's stated weight against your vehicle's rating before you book, because they will refuse to hitch it otherwise.
Drum, disc and what they cost you
Disc chippers self-feed well on straight limbs and are the common rental machine. Drum chippers handle awkward and forked material better and are heavier. Either way, hydraulic infeed rollers are what make a day tolerable, and a manual-feed machine at a lower rate will cost more in hours than it saves on the rate.
What the counter adds after the rate
Round-trip delivery is $75 to $200 if you cannot tow. Fuel is full to full. Blade damage from stones, dirt and buried metal is billed, and it is the most common charge on a chipper return, so keep the brush off the ground and shake the dirt out before it goes in the hopper.
Questions people ask about rent wood chipper
Do I need a truck to rent a wood chipper?
For collection, yes, with a hitch and a rating above the machine's loaded weight. Yards will not release a towable to an underrated vehicle. If yours is not up to it, delivery is $75 to $200 round trip and the yard drops it where you need it.
How much brush will a day's hire clear?
A crew of two with a 6 inch machine typically clears a full pickup load of storm brush in a couple of hours. The limit is nearly always feeding rather than chipping, so a second person dragging brush to the hopper roughly doubles what the day gets through.
What can go into a rented chipper?
Green and dry limb wood up to the rated diameter. Not root balls, not palm, not stumps, and nothing dragged through dirt or gravel, all of which dull or chip the blades. Blade damage is charged on return and is the usual reason a hire costs more than the rate.