Hydraulic log splitter on a 3-point hitch work well?

[Gordon Gould]

As you can see from the posts many people are happy with thier 3pt splitters. One question I have is your 20 ton requirement. This might be hard to get. A splitter with a 4" cylinder will only give you 15 ton if your tractor has the typical 2500 psi hydraulic system. ( Pi X r squared X psi ). The splitter may have 25 ton written all over it but you will only get 12 to 15 ton if it has a 4" cylinder with your 2000 to 2500 psi hydraulic pressure. That being said - in most cases 12 to 15 ton is enough. Search some old threads --there is alot of info on splitters here. ( A 3" cylinder, which is faster, will only get you 7 to 9 tons )

 

[lungdoc]

Our 14 ton unit goes through everything we've thrown at it including lots of gnarly hardwood. Hard to imagine needing more unless you have a lot of oak or extremely hard wood.

 

[MikeInEburg]

I agree that most folks are happy with 3-piont hitch and understand that it won't be as fast as a stand-along unit. When I was making this same decision, the desire to avoid another engine was overshadowed by the desire to have front end loader available to lift the larger rounds for me. I roll them off of the bucket and onto the splitter, avoiding lots of heavy lifting. It has worked great thus far...
Mike

 

[Furu]

I use a Speeco three point splitter on a JD 4720. Cycle time is a bit slow ( 6 seconds) in idle but if you bump the RPM just a bit, cycle time is much better and if any faster could result in a pinch problem. As well as being better than idling the engine for long periods with all the problems than can create. Below is the company description. I am VERY happy with the unit. It is I beam construction.

LS400197 is a 3-point hitch log splitter. Fits tractor categories 1 and 2. Splitting force and cycle time depend upon tractor hydraulic pressure. Tractor hydraulic system should be capable of delivering 6 to 25 gpm of oil at 1500 to 2500 psi for adequate splitting force and speed.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I agree that most folks are happy with 3-piont hitch and understand that it won't be as fast as a stand-along unit. When I was making this same decision, the desire to avoid another engine was overshadowed by the desire to have front end loader available to lift the larger rounds for me. I roll them off of the bucket and onto the splitter, avoiding lots of heavy lifting. It has worked great thus far...
Mike

This is the way I feel also. A stand alone unit makes more sense for my use. The splitter and mess stay at the landing where the wood is skidded to. Normal size stuff gets split into the bucket then loaded into the 1-ton. Big stuff is lifted onto the splitter in the bucket.

 

[Matt W]

Another option:

Has worked well for me. Can be dropped and still used if the tractor is needed otherwise. A result of getting a deal on the splitter and owning an 8N at the time.

 

[sixgun]

I have a 3pt model with its own oil reservoir and 11 gpm pump that is powered by the tractor's pto. No worries about cycle time and messing with tractor hydraulics, and I can get away with fairly low engine rpms. I wish the reservoir on the splitter was bigger (it's about 8 gallons), because it does get pretty warm after about an hour or two.

I have gotten around the loss of tractor use issue by staging my rounds ahead of time in a straight line pile and just inching my way down the line. After they're all split, off comes the splitter and the tractor bucket/carryall box are use to get it to the stacking area.

 

[955er]

I have a 16 ton ramsplitter for my 955. 7.2gpm, 2500psi. At 1800rpm it moves plenty fast. At 2500rpm it outruns me. I agree with earlier posts. If you are going 3 point, go with a 3.5 inch cylinder or less.

 

[DanD78]

I run one on my JD 3320 using the power beyond system. I run the engine at 1500 rpm and it works faster than my old body wants to. I think the pump on this tractor is rated at 8 gpm. I do miss not having the tractor to lift heavy logs on to the beam with the hydraulic top link you can lower the beam to the ground and roll the big chunks on to the beam instead of lifting. I need to fab a catch table to keep thet big chunks up at the wedge to make them smaller.

Dan

 

[mooseracing]

For some of us that have older tractors you can build them to be as fast as standalone without any problems. There are plenty of affordable 20-40 gpm hydro pumps that can be purchased. The other nice thing is having a single stage pump can make the tractor splitter faster since it doesn't drop to the slow stage.

I don't have a front bucket, so I make sure all my rounds are small enough to lift, which 90% of the time isn't a problem, or they then get noodled.