3pt log splitter hydraulic question

[Boatman]

I'll begin with saying I know the pros and cons of these splitters. This will be very occasional use.


I found this splitter for sale and haven't been able to get to see it in person yet. My question is if I can use it with what I have on my tractor? My tractor,,, L2800 with loader and back hoe. Can I just connect the hydraulic lines to the back hoe lines? When I remove the hoe I would normally connect the lines on the tractor together so I guess that is power beyond coming from the loader.

If that won't work, can the loader valve be used in any way to power the splitter?

 

[D2Cat]

Check with someone who know hyd. better than me, but I think your tractor hyd. system will operate that splitter WAY to slow.

 

[gssixgun]

I just went through this same choice

The wife explained that since I hit 60 this summer she was buying me a Log splitter for my Birthday

I looked at all 3 possibilities

3pt Hydraulic
3pt Mounted
Stand Alone Splitter

I finally went with the stand-alone, a small part of the reasoning was that I wanted the Tractor with the bucket forks to move the logs around.

I could drag the splitter out with the Tractor or the Polaris bring it to open ground. After dropping a few trees I Drag the logs out of the woods and bring them over on the bucket forks.. It is really easy to buck the logs down to 16" rounds dropping them right next to the splitter..

Anyway just my reasoning behind my choice hope it helps

Pics for fun

She is a great "Helper"

It really makes a difference too, I had more wood in earlier than ever before and split to the EXACT sizes I wanted for our stove

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The BH loop is the best way to hook it up, if and only if the control valve on the Splitter is open center.

Like others have said even with it hooked up properly to the tractor, it's still going to be super slow just so you know.

 

[Tim Horton]

We went through the same decision process in making a splitter purchase.

Thing is to work backwards.. Somewhere there is info on x size x length cylinder needs y gallons per minute to run at a given useful cycle time.

Most smaller tractors don't have the gallons per minute available to match that, hence the slow cycle time.

If the splitter shown is cheap enough to leave money available for a pto pump and oil tank, that can be an option. Again work backwards, gpm needed, pump size to provide gpm, pto horse power needed to run pump. It is all in the math.

All considered after crunching numbers, we bought a stand alone.

 

[Boatman]

Like I said in my initial post. I know the pro's and con's of the hitch mounted splitter and that they are slower in comparison. I have owned a half dozen splitters over the years and when we moved to this property decided selling wood and heating with wood were in the past. That said I have to cut down the occasional tree or cut up a blow down and would like to split them. If it takes a bit longer I'm okay with that.

 

[Boatman]

The BH loop is the best way to hook it up, if and only if the control valve on the Splitter is open center.

Like others have said even with it hooked up properly to the tractor, it's still going to be super slow just so you know.

Thank you for you're to the point answer. A couple questions.

Is there any way to figure out if the valve is open center? I assume most stand alone log splitter valves are open center. As the pump would just circulate the fluid through the valve normally.

The L2800 from what I get from the literature is 6.8 gpm and the lower end splitter pumps seem to be ~7-10 gpm. Years ago (probably 40) my first splitter must have been the slowest on the planet,,, literally took ~45 seconds to do a full cycle. I don't think this could be any slower than that.

 

[RyanG]

I ran one for a few years on my B3030 and it worked great. Just got the hose ends and pluged it into the backhoe. Most come with an open center with the optional kit to close the center (which is rare to use).

Few reasons I went with the 3-pt.

• less space
• usually had my tractor out anyway
• Nice for some added weight when moving the logs around with the loader
• one less engine to maintain
• hydro fluid gets changed with the tractor
• hydro fluid gets cooled by the tractor

 

[edritchey]

I've been running one off of a IH 666 Hydro for years I don't know what the GPM is on the machine but it's a lot slower then out 27 ton stand alone unit but she works great and I'm sure your Kubota will do just fine too.

 

[Boatman]

I ran one for a few years on my B3030 and it worked great. Just got the hose ends and pluged it into the backhoe. Most come with an open center with the optional kit to close the center (which is rare to use).

Few reasons I went with the 3-pt.

• less space
• usually had my tractor out anyway
• Nice for some added weight when moving the logs around with the loader
• one less engine to maintain
• hydro fluid gets changed with the tractor
• hydro fluid gets cooled by the tractor

One less engine to maintain is my biggest reason. This thing will probably sit in the shed 364 days oit of the year.

 

[Photo1]

I bought a Cornell 3 point forty years ago, not knowing that my IH 404 hydraulics wouldn't really run it. Added a tank and 3 point hydraulic pump and it has been running perfectly ever since. I just purchased a hydraulic snow blower for my L5030 with a power pack for the rear - just a fancier set up than what I built for the splitter. Splitter is now for sale.....

Cannot seem to upload a photo - "page isn't working".
Michael

 

[Photo1]

Here it is.... figured out the posting. The pump is 20GPM.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thank you for you're to the point answer. A couple questions.

Is there any way to figure out if the valve is open center? I assume most stand alone log splitter valves are open center. As the pump would just circulate the fluid through the valve normally.

The L2800 from what I get from the literature is 6.8 gpm and the lower end splitter pumps seem to be ~7-10 gpm. Years ago (probably 40) my first splitter must have been the slowest on the planet,,, literally took ~45 seconds to do a full cycle. I don't think this could be any slower than that.

The odds are very much in your favor that it's an open center valve, you can verify this by taking any quick connect off and blowing air in the in line and it should blow right out the out line, caution, it will blow any residual fluid out too.

I don't think it will be so slow that it's not usable.

 

[Kingcreek]

You could pick up a PTO spline drive hydro pump and do a little better running the splitter cylinder with that and a reservoir. My neighbor does this but its still to slow for me.

 

[RyanG]

One less engine to maintain is my biggest reason. This thing will probably sit in the shed 364 days oit of the year.

Yup agreed. PLus 2 people can move it around without a problem. I actually set mine on a little cart and just push it in the corner.

It might be a little slower then a standard setup. But at least in my case for how much I used it it wasn't slow enough to make much of a difference. But I was only using it a weekend a year for one house. Some people go through a lot more wood then I did so I could see it being a benifit to be a bit faster.

For the average person just using it once and a while though(after using both and owning both styles) I never noticed enough speed difference to care.

Although the new place has propane and the wife likes it... So I have a feeling the splitters getting sold soon anyway

 

[Boatman]

So an update. .. I drug home a BushHog 3 pt splitter this morning. Fairly new hoses and cylinder rebuild in the past couple years. Guy was done splitting wood and decided just to buy wood. He was able to demonstrate it working which was a plus. $350

Got it home and hooked it up. Had to reverse the connections as it was working backwards on my machine. I can say that I'm very happy with it! Ended up splitting about 3/4 cord of blocks I had piled up.

I timed the strokes at different rpm and found 1300rpm works fine for me.

Idle - 45 seconds
1300rpm - 31 seconds
1500rpm - 28 seconds
1700rpm - 24 seconds
2000rpm - 21seconds

 

[GreensvilleJay]

happy you got one at a great price !

re: This thing will probably sit in the shed 364 days oit of the year.

I could use it 364 days a year as I have 3 arborists wanting to drop logs here. Had to say no as I don't burn wood in the house anymore.

The guy that I gave my splitter to, mounted it on the tongue of his dump trailer,said it saved him a lot of time and ALWAYS knew the splitter was. SInce trailer hs Pintle hook, NOBODY asks to borrow the spltiter !!

 

[todd.ted]

What are the forks that you have? I am looking into getting forks like that vs the QA ones due to pricing. Thanks.

I just went through this same choice

The wife explained that since I hit 60 this summer she was buying me a Log splitter for my Birthday

I looked at all 3 possibilities

3pt Hydraulic
3pt Mounted
Stand Alone Splitter

I finally went with the stand-alone, a small part of the reasoning was that I wanted the Tractor with the bucket forks to move the logs around.

I could drag the splitter out with the Tractor or the Polaris bring it to open ground. After dropping a few trees I Drag the logs out of the woods and bring them over on the bucket forks.. It is really easy to buck the logs down to 16" rounds dropping them right next to the splitter..

Anyway just my reasoning behind my choice hope it helps

Pics for fun

She is a great "Helper"

It really makes a difference too, I had more wood in earlier than ever before and split to the EXACT sizes I wanted for our stove

 

[SMKK]

One less engine to maintain is my biggest reason. This thing will probably sit in the shed 364 days oit of the year.

For that reason I borrow my neighbours when I need it . If you have a neighbour with one not too far, mine is about 2 clicks down the road. I do a few little jobs with the tractor for him and I let him keep his boat in my coverall over the winter. Being a good neighbour always has benefits

 

[Boatman]

For that reason I borrow my neighbours when I need it . If you have a neighbour with one not too far, mine is about 2 clicks down the road. I do a few little jobs with the tractor for him and I let him keep his boat in my coverall over the winter. Being a good neighbour always has benefits

My neighbor does have a splitter and has offered it up a number of times along with other equipment. I hate borrowing equipment. I even considered renting one but the closest rental place is an hour away and the couple things I've rented have been abused causing more trouble than it was worth.

I've used the splitter every day now working through the piles of blocks and can't be happier with this splitter. If I run out of stuff to split in the next couple years I'm sure I can get my money back. The only thing it has cost me so far is a set of quick connects ($30) to match what I have on my tractor