Craftsman LEAFWACKER 3-Way Chipper Shredder 49 States Reviews

Works well, easy to use, chips all kinds of sticks, including dried bamboo. Starts easily. I am a small woman and am strong enough to pull the cord and get it started. Stays still during use.

It is a loud engine, earplugs recommended. It is heavy to cart around the yard--takes two of us to push it. Takes a lot of storage space. Assembly not so easy--bolts are in hard-to-reach places. Oil refill is difficult to reach.

Biggest problem is that on its third use, I had my first clog of sticks jammed in the impeller, which stopped the engine. To our dismay, in order to reach the impeller, my husband...

I was scared to buy this at first since most of the reviews I read on sub $1000 chipper shredders were pretty bad. I paid about $700 for this on sale. It took a little getting used to at first figuring out what size branch it can accept and how to keep things from getting jammed in the chute, but after about an hour with it you can quickly identify twists or offshoots on branches that are going to cause problems.

The good: Assembly was super easy, it's about 6 bolts total. The floowing weekend my neighbor and I took down 4 very large trees that were threatening to fall on my outbuildings....

I have several large trees and they drop loads of leaves in the fall.  If I bagged them, I would easily go through 100+ trash bags.  So I got this Craftsman leaf shredder.  Once shredded, the leaves are reduced to about 1/8 the volume.  Instead of bagging them, I use them as compost.  So why not 4 stars?  I tried the chipper chute and it doesn't work so well.  It can handle small branches okay but larger ones are a struggle.

This machine is expensive and very poorly designed. It is difficult to direct a branch down the long chipper chute so it feeds into the blades. It is impossible to ascertain if all material has been processed through the chipper chute before you shut down the machine. If any woody material remains in the chute as the machine is shut down, it falls down and jams the blade making it impossible to restart the machine. It is impossible to clear the jam without getting out a wrench set, dropping to your knees and dismanteling the machine so it is close to the condition it arrived in when delivered...

After reading countless reviews on all of the "homeowner level" chippers, I decided on this unit. It was not the cheapest, or most expensive, but I feel that I made the right decision. I assembled it in 30 minutes, added the included oil, filled the gas tank and it started right up with one pull. I was chipping right away. The engine has plenty of power and you really have to try hard to bog it down. I don't think it's too loud for what it does.

I wish there was a dipstick, as others have mentioned, but a simple long funnel makes filling it with oil a breeze. The drop down hopper is a big bonus...

Picked up my new Chipper Shredder Friday evening and took it home for assembly. I noticed immediately that the other reveiwers who said it took some effort were indeed correct. It took me about 90 minutes to put the whole thing together. Some of the nuts and bolts take a little effort to get to, but once it's all done you end up with a very solid machine. NOTE!-there was a wire hanging down from below the carburator on my unit that looked like it was supposed to attach to something. I never found anything for it to attach to, and the unit runs like a champ, so don't be alarmed if you find the same...

The unit starts easily and really does a number on limbs, branches and leaves.  The assembly instructions were very confusing however because it included three very different versions of the same engine.  Took me quite a while to determine there was no oil dipstick.  After a bit of cussing however the unit was up and running.

I now have the Craftsman Chipper/Shredder for over a year. I use it the heavily wooded area behind my home (2+ acres of woods). When I bought my home 2 years ago, the previous owners used the woods as a dumping ground for just about everything. Some trees died due to heavy storms and were back there for years. I have been using this machine to chip branches up to 2 inches thick. Depending on the type of wood (Pine, Oak, etc.), the chipper does a pretty good job of breaking them down. A little patience goes a long way when chipping thicker branches. The machine will cut through them, but will not...

I bought this machine because of the good reviews, but experienced all of the bad reviews.

It was poorly designed and manufactured.

It was difficult to assemble, with difficult-to-reach weld studs and misaligned holes on the chute deflector, chipper chute, and support brace. The latter caused me to drop a bolt or a washer down the chute more than once, requiring me to remove the chute each time in order to shake the part out of the impeller housing.

It was also difficult to use. Contrary to the manual, there is no dipstick. To add oil, I had to jam a plastic funnel between the engine and the chute....

Bought this unit yesterday and it assembled very easily.  One note to anyone assembling this unit, there is a loose wire coming out of the engine housing.  This wire does not go to anything and is supposed to be detached.  I had no issues with holes lining up that some folks reported here and once assembled the unit fired right up.  I tried chipping some branches about an inch and a half tick and it chew through them like a hot knife through butter.  It seem to do a good job with leaves as well.  The unit is loud so be prepared for that.  It does roll easily and the drop down feeder is...

I got my chipper about a month ago now, and I regret having put off getting it for so many years! I've had my eye on this thing for a while, but didn't want to spend the money for it. It finally got to the point where the tree branches were groing so out of control that they were blocking the sunlight and not allowing the grass to grow.

I want to address some of the complaints that others have mentioned. First off, the difficulty in the pull to get it started. For one, if you try to pull the chord really fast and hard, it is difficult to pull, and will try to tip over. The trick is to pull the...

I have used my new chipper shredder for two days and it is the best one I have ever owned (this is my third) bar none. It will feed itself on the smaller brush and you have to feed the bigger stuff a little at a time, as per the manual. This thing is a hog!!!! It starts on the first pull every time and if you put your foot on the tire, it is easy to start. The assembly was easy if you have a longer 1/4 inch bolt for the chute. That is the only problem I ran into and it wasn't a big deal. I would highly recommend this unit to anyone.

I bought this chipper/shredder a few months ago.  I have used it 3-4 times and it has always started easily.  It does take a little effort to pull the rope but it normally starts on the first or second try.  There is a choke lever and a separate speed/shut-off lever.  The speed lever will shut the unit down when placed all the way towards the "slow" position.  I saw one post about removing the spark plug wire to shut down the unit, but this is not necessary.

Assembly was similar to other postings.  I redrilled one hole in the plastic feed chute, but the rest of the assembly was uneventful....