svejkovat

I've decided to put together a log splitter. I weld, so I began looking for pumps, cylinders, and control valves at Surpluscenter.com. As I added up material costs i started to discover what I suspected initially. It just might not be worth the labor. Looking around a bit I came across two things...
HarborFreight.... and a 20 percent off of any single HF item coupon in the back of Road and Track magazine. Good thru Dec '09.

As I looked through their online offerings I rather warmed to the idea of simply (did I say simply? that's what I'm here to ask you guy's opinion on) welding mountings onto the rear bumper of my 1994 4.3 liter WorkTruck.



http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=65454


The coupon brings this PTO splitter down to 400USD. If it's not too difficult a proposition to install a pump and reservoir under my hood, and then plumb lines to the back bumper, I'd really like the setup of this. I could keep the PTO splitter upright in the back of the garage when not in use, don't need to worry about making a tow trailer out of the splitter, don't need to muck about with a separate gasoline engine, etc, etc.

The truck is 2WD, manual tranny, no air, no power anything. Under the hood is nothing but vacant space (with a battery, engine block, carb, and brake master. Oh, and a radiator.) But did I say lots of vacant space?

Is this a bad idea?

92chevysilvy

I have one question... why?

svejkovat

"I'd really like the setup of this. I could keep the PTO splitter upright in the back of the garage when not in use, don't need to worry about making a tow trailer out of the splitter, don't need to muck about with a separate gasoline engine, etc, etc."



I was hoping that anyone who has experience with engine driven hydraulics might, rather then ask me why, kindly explain why not?

lukemoore646

better look into engine powered ones that pull around like a trailer first, not saying your idea wouldnt work and i do like it but it may be too good to be true, and everything i buy at harbor freight i usually breaks, but then again i broke a 15/16 gearwrench so maybe i might be hard on stuff

old dog

you will have to look into what pto you can get for the 4 speed transmission ,you will have to get the specs for the cylinder as far as diameter ,stroke and operational psi ,and the type of valve and the type of pump needed to run the system .i would suggest a direct mount pump and pto .you will have to figure out were to mount the hydraulic tank .you should find a truck equipment shop to help design a system.

svejkovat

Thanks old dog. All the specs for the splitters hydraulic needs are in the downloadable users manual. 11gpm max @2400 psi. There are a few sources for a very good, two stage "log splitting" pumps to match this perfectly. All I'm really looking at doing is taking an existing plan for a diy splitter (there are literally dozens of them on the net) and swapping out the little motor for my truck motor. Same plumbing, reservoir, etc. It wlll be used for nothing but wood splitting.

This kind of thing always astonishes me. Guys are building these splitters from scratch left and right, and surely substituting the power of the V-6 since it's right there waiting, with an open space where the air conditioning pump would have been, is no more (possibly less) work than using a recoil start briggs and stratton.

The part that amazes me is that I've posted this on three forums and basically gotten the same sort of "uh, why?" sort of response. And then while I'm trying to get info on the net for installations of hydraulic clutch pumps for pickup trucks, there are a few for snowplowing, a few for dumper beds, and A WHOLE BUNCH FOR COMPLETE ****ING IDIOTS WHO ARE SPENDING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS JUST TO GET THEIR TRUCKS TO JUMP UP AND DOWN VIA HYDRAULIC STRUTS AT ALL FOUR WHEELS!!!!!!! Mind, I'm not talking adjustable height for different load/environment conditions. I'm talking neon underlit bouncing..... for bouncing's sake... for christssake.

If I posted a question about how to put in hydraulics to get my chevy to bounce around like a dim witted-jack russell terrier I'd have half a dozen guys giving me enthusiastic thumbs up and all sort of choice advice. But no..... "You want to split logs to heat your home?" "That's a lot of work man."

I can get the 14ton splitter with a 24inch stroke 4inch bore cyclinder with 24x16 capacity for 400 dollars at HF. It breaks? Big deal. It's all repairable. I can get an 11gpm 3000 psi two stage pump at the same site for 109 dollars (or get a Barnes with same spec at surpluscenter.com for 130 dollars). I can get a 12vdc serpentine belt electric clutch at surpluscenter for another 69 dollars. A reservoir and tubing and plumbing would be another 100 dollars. Labor to put it together? No more than would be for any diy log splitter.

That's about 700 dollars for an extremely capable splitter that does not need trailering and takes up about two sq ft of storage space when not in use.

Bouncing trucks. I've landed in hell.

lukemoore646

whoa.... calm down just a touch. i think i am starting to understand the whole picture now but i wanna know where you are going to mount the unit and what transmission is in your truck, nothing that you wanna do is stupid (at least not as stupid as bouncing trucks) but it helps to explain why you would like to do this and helps people come up with ideas. when i think of splitting wood i think of helping my parents split wood when the logs were sometimes 2ft across and 3ft long, we werent going to pick them up to a horizontally mounted splitter so we just bought one that tips to verticle and pulls like a trailer, that was great for us but maybe your gonna split smaller pieces and can be carried around easier so then you could just mount the splitter on the tailgate, put a log in, split it and toss the pieces in the back. that makes sense to me anyway

mudmaniac

Are you just looking for someone to tell you it sounds like a good idea? You already have this well planned and you are no doubt going to do it because you can, I love ingenuity but for the money my 25 ton trailer mounted splitter works just fine.

wffokker

You might want to look into crank mounting that hydro pump,

wellmax

could be the same problem many have when they hook up the wood splitter to their small tractor, just not enough gpm to run the splitter ram fast enough.

I have a "Brave" Brand splitter

http://www.braveproducts.com/itemdet...d=&searchtext=

Have had the unit since 1985, still runs like a champ and will work you into the ground.

when you have your wood split you just unhook it and you are gone. In woods or at wood pile the Tractor or truck is free to pull logs or haul wood as necessary and you do not have to worry with splitter attached to your vehicle.

unless you work in a hyd shop you are going to have a lot invested in pumps hoses connections, etcs:

must have a two stage pump to make wood splitter work unless you have a 100 hp tractor

I would not want splitter attached to my truck.
Just my two cents!!!