Wood splitter

[WireMonkeys]

I am trying to build or buy a wood splitter for my B2650 tractor with a LA534 Loader.

probably Mount it upside down and sideways so it does not stick straight out the front. Will be mounted on a quick attach plate for loader

everything that is pre made runs on higher gpm hydraulics than my tractor produces. Mine is 5gpm total of 8 or 9 with steering.

anyone know of a pre made one? A splitter ton I could use to make it with a 5gpm flow.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

It'll be quicker, cheaper, easier to just buy a regular gas powered log splitter and tow to where you need it ,or mount onto a SSQA plate.
If you want to design /build ...you need to know what the pressure (PSI ) you have. That will determine the FORCE ('tons' ) the splitter might have. 5 GPM controls the speed. usually splitter cylinders are 4", though mine was 6 or 7". You can get faster cycles if you split as stove cords instead of face cords.
Log splitter valves have a detent for return, then auto popoff. You'll have to have a reservoir even plumbing into the tractor. Rule of thumb is 2x GPM capacity..though 3x is better. Also need another return line filter. Splitting wedge has to be correct angle. Get that right and all wood splits very well.

 

[jkrubi12]

^THIS

'...quicker, cheaper, easier...' COMPLETELY sums it up.

FWIW I just ordered a Powerhorse 22 ton from Northern Tool. I looked around for a used splitter and found just as many people looking to 'rent' theirs at a crazy daily rate as there were looking for a pile of gold for a heavily used one.

For me a log splitter is an item that I'd like to have for occasional use (when I feel like expending some energy) and not be forced into rushing through a pile to prevent another day's 'rent'. I like the 'half beam' horizontal/vertical style(s) now appearing on the market.

 

[WireMonkeys]

So this is why no one builds them.

I was going to take the wheels and motor off a husky 20 ton I have and mount the beam and cylinder on a plate for the loader.
But can’t do this project on a weekend.

I also had thought about using a three point splitter to make it. Since it is made for a tractor

 

[WireMonkeys]

^THIS

'...quicker, cheaper, easier...' COMPLETELY sums it up.

FWIW I just ordered a Powerhorse 22 ton from Northern Tool. I looked around for a used splitter and found just as many people looking to 'rent' theirs at a crazy daily rate as there were looking for a pile of gold for a heavily used one.

For me a log splitter is an item that I'd like to have for occasional use (when I feel like expending some energy) and not be forced into rushing through a pile to prevent another day's 'rent'. I like the 'half beam' horizontal/vertical style(s) now appearing on the market.

I thought I paid a lot years ago at750 but they are crazy prices now.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious...looked at the specs for a Princess Auto splitter... 14GPM, 4100 PSI, 11sec cycle, 6.5HP engine, $1500 !
so no way your tractor will deliver those specs ! it only has 1/3rd the GPM ( so 30 seconds per split....yawn....),maybe 1/2 the PSI, so 1/2 the force ( maybe 10 ton ??)

you didn't say in the 1st post you HAD a 'donor' splitter.... but you COULD buy a PTO driven pump to replace the engine BUT you also need hoses from back to front, quick connects, $$$$......
Providing you've got a good garage full of odds and ends, yes ,you could bodge it together in a weekend,BTDT..when I was younger....

You'll need to find the specs for your donor splitter though to get the correct pump and hoses though !

As for the prices... $1500 isn't that bad. Guys here get $100 a STOVE CORD ($400 a cord) ,so 4 cords to break even. If you burn that much wood, the splitter pays for itself the 1st season... By doing minimal service on it, you can get 15-20 years out of it. Dang GREAT return on the investment !!

 

[Bugzilla46310]

Built mine about 17 years ago. Use it every year a lot.

 

[Steamer Pete]

Gotta remember for a pump to develop the rated GPM, the engine needs to be turning fast too. How much fuel will your tractor be going thru in an hour? Plus, the noise of running your engine that fast.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

^THIS

'...quicker, cheaper, easier...' COMPLETELY sums it up.

Yep and it's going to work a whole lot better.

A splitter needs that high pressure the whole time. On a high flow skid steer? Sure. On a 23 horse tractor?

Nope.

One size does not fit all. I understand the appeal, but even if you build your own, it's either going to be very slow, or very weak, or both.

 

[JimmyJazz]

I stared lovingly for a moment today at my SuperSplit log splitter. Not cheap but amazing. I highly recommend it. Look it up on YouTube.

 

[GeoHorn]

My 20-ton Harbor Freight splitter did two face cords yesterday…. $500 for the floor/demo model 4 years ago…. I read some unhappy reviews by those who claim the hyd cylinder and hoses are non-standard and no parts… but in 4 years it’s still starting on the second pull and splitting (2-way) without a hiccup….

 

[TheOldHokie]

Yep and it's going to work a whole lot better.

A splitter needs that high pressure the whole time. On a high flow skid steer? Sure. On a 23 horse tractor?

Nope.

One size does not fit all. I understand the appeal, but even if you build your own, it's either going to be very slow, or very weak, or both.

Whoa Nellie!!!

A log splitter needs high pressure for just a fraction of most cycles. Thats why a small gas engine splitter can use a two stage pump that produces high flow at very low (600-800 PSI) pressure for most of the cycle.

Prior to putting it on this 6.8 GPM @ 2000 PSI tractor this splitter has split many cords of wood on a 4 GPM @ 1700 PSI tractor. It was not blazing fast but it works as fast as I can at my age and splits just about anything I can load. Last Fall I added a regenerative valve to it and that reduced the cycle time significantly. I just this moment finished splitting wood with my neigbor - he did about two hours splitting for me in exchange for free logs. We used his little gas engine splitter and I can't say it was significantly faster but most definitly not any more powerful then the 3pt splitter on my L3901.

Dan

 

[Nicfin36]

 

[TheOldHokie]

Neil is entitled to his opinion about speed and performance. But his crap about rear remotes running hot and big tractors with closed center hydraulics is ignorant BS that seriously taints his credibility. He knows full well the guys in his shop put constant flow remotes on everything from dinky little BX's and up almost daily. And the reason they do it for his high dollar back hoes that have very similar hydraulic flow requirements and very similar slow performance issues.

Constant flow remotes are as simple and cheap as putting a $20 quick coupler in the power beyond loop. It's the first thing I did after Dave from Messicks delivered my new L3901 last year. And you know what Neil - no $3000 factory remotes, no bungee cords, no hot couplers, and I am happy as a clam with the way it runs the $350 splitter I bought at Central Tractor 20+ years ago. You should come down and have a look at how I did that and possibly learn something helpful for your next video.

Dan

 

[TheOldHokie]

Let me try to introduce a little hard data into this discussion. There has been a lot of chatter about overly slow cycle times and I think everyone agrees that is a primary issue when considering any log splitter. So how does a well designed 3pt splitter actually stack up against a typical commodity small engine splitter?

Here is a video of my venerable 3pt spltter on an L3901 which is good for at most 6.8 GPM. Its a 31 second video clip and the splitter runs two full strokes with a couple very brief pauses in between. I am going to call that a 15 second cycle time. You will also notice that most of that time is spent in the retract half of the cycle. Thats becuase the log splitter valve on it is regenerative on the extend stroke which increases that speed significantl. It was much slower before I added that valve.and I would consider it a must have option if you are going to use a 3pt splitter on a small tractor.

My neighbor was just up yesterday with his $1600 County Line small engine splitter that he bought at TSC. The specifications on it are 11.5 second cycle time. Thats 3.5 seconds faster than my splitter and most if not all of that and then some is on the return half of the cycle.

What does that 3.5 seconds faster return buy you? Not as much as you might think. When you are one man loading, splitting, and handling the pieces the splitter winds up sitting idle waiting on the operator to get the next round in place and ready to split. My rounds are nominally 16" - 18" long and in actual usage i start the next stroke before teh splitter has fully retracted. The result is a good portion of the full 24" retract cycle time gets lost in the wash.

You really need to consider how you are going to use the splitter and what level of performance you need. . I am 70 years old and work by myself. I can not hump rounds fast enough to take advantage of a 8-10 second cycle time. Its simply speed I don't need and can't use.

Dan

 

[jkrubi12]

I stared lovingly for a moment today at my SuperSplit log splitter. Not cheap but amazing. I highly recommend it. Look it up on YouTube.

That's pretty much the top of the log splitter food chain!

 

[GeoHorn]

Neil is entitled to his opinion about speed and performance. But his crap about rear remotes running hot and big tractors with closed center hydraulics is ignorant BS that seriously taints his credibility. He knows full well the guys in his shop put constant flow remotes on everything from dinky little BX's and up almost daily. And the reason they do it for his high dollar back hoes that have very similar hydraulic flow requirements and very similar slow performance issues.

Constant flow remotes are as simple and cheap as putting a $20 quick coupler in the power beyond loop. It's the first thing I did after Dave from Messicks delivered my new L3901 last year. And you know what Neil - no $3000 factory remotes, no bungee cords, no hot couplers, and I am happy as a clam with the way it runs the $350 splitter I bought at Central Tractor 20+ years ago. You should come down and have a look at how I did that and possibly learn something helpful for your next video.

Dan

Hokie , Did you send this msg directly to Neil so that he can respond…??…or did you just “blind side“ him in an OTT forum he likely never visits…??… because that criticism seems a bit “harsh”… when IN FACT in his video he actually DOES address using the Power Beyond loop instead… perhaps you missed that as he mentioned it quickly and moved-on…. ?

 

[mcmxi]

I stared lovingly for a moment today at my SuperSplit log splitter. Not cheap but amazing. I highly recommend it. Look it up on YouTube.

I had to look up the SuperSplit and what an amazing product!

I should have bought a splitter years ago but kept putting it off since I wanted a US made model. Earlier in the year a friend of a friend sold me his barely used Oregon 22 ton model for $1,200 and I used it back in the spring to split some maple, and again this fall to split a bunch of fir. It has a Honda engine and it's a much nicer splitter than many of the Home Depot or Murdochs models so I jumped at the chance.

One day I might buy a really nice SuperSplit or similar, but for now I'm ok with the Oregon which is at least assembled in the US with some US made parts. Truthfully though, this Oregon does what I need so maybe I'll have it and use it for years to come.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Hokie , Did you send this msg directly to Neil so that he can respond…??…or did you just “blind side“ him in an OTT forum he likely never visits…??… because that criticism seems a bit “harsh”… when IN FACT in his video he actually DOES address using the Power Beyond loop instead of using a bungee to keep a remote lever operating which will not likely give the desired performance one might be expecting…. ?

If you call that blind siding he got blind sided. If you think its unfair drop him a note and let him respond if he wants. He is a YouTube star and criticism from his viewers comes with the fame. I doubt I am the first or the last to publically criticize one of his videos.

As to his analysis he was doing fine talking about the advantages of a gas engine splitter right up until he started on the remote valves. If he had skipped the scare tactics about bungee cords, over heating remotes, open versus closed center hydraulics, and the lack of heat management on little tractors and simply said you need to plumb a log splitter just like a backhoe it would have cut a couple minutes of unnecessary BS from the video and I would not have criticized his commentary. Instead he made a big deal out of it and made a clear and intentional suggestion that a log splitter posed a threat of damaging the tractor. That is simply not accurate.

I have seen his video on hydraulic powered front mount snow blowers and why they are a poor idea on these small tractors. That was a lot more even handed and factual.

Dan

 

[GreensvilleJay]

If you're serious about making split firewood, just buy a 'wood processor'. Saves a HUGE amount of time and pain to the body. Anything else either requires a gang of 3 or a LOT of time 'solo' to split a cord of wood.