Wallenstein 3pt wood splitter rebuild

[CDN Farm Boy]

Back around Christmas I found a sorry looking wood splitter rotting away in the back corner at one of my local rental yards. Somehow someone had managed to rip the wedge off the end. It was the double 2x4 beam that failed, not the wedge or the welding. Their ,attempted 'weld' to re-attach was amateur at best. It was twisted and the cyl and beam weren't parallel with each other. It needed a new beam and push plate for certain and likely rod seals. Figuring a couple hundred of new seals and steel to build the new parts, the $200 he wanted didn't seem too bad so I bought it.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I'd swapped the QDs for ones compatible with my tractor and cycled it. Yup, new rod seals were in order. Picked them up for less than $20 and new steel came to $106. If the valve turns out to be faulty, they're only $80 at Princess Auto so things are looking good to be running for about $400. If I do have to get a new valve I'll get a 2 spool and add a log lift.

Spent today cutting off the old crap and salvaging the wedge and sleeve for the end of the rod that the push plate is based off. Got to love having a plasma cutter. Beam pieces cut and cleaned up and ready for welding.













It should be a fairly straight forward rebuild with the plans of adding an outfeed table and possibly the previously mentioned log lift (if I need a new valve).

Where I'm stumped is how to build the push plate. More specifically how to secure it in the beam. The way it was, it was welded in and I had to cut it apart to remove it. I'd rather have it bolt in somehow.

As I have a 3/4" x 4" piece from the cyl sleeve down between the 2 rails, I'm thinking of drilling and tapping the bottom of it for some 3/8" fine thread bolts. I should be able to get 4 of them in there. This is the easiest way I can think of to make it removable but not sure if the 4 bolts in tension will be sufficient.

 

[2458n]

You did a great job in spotting what it was in the scrap pile. Some of the rough looking welds showed that the rental shop did not have a good welder working there as the horizontal welds looked crummy. keep up with what your doing and you will be fine.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Thanks.

Any thoughts on my 4 bolt idea for the wedge attachment?

 

[rswyan]

Nice find, nice project ...

On the push block attachment ... dunno ... hafta chew on that one for a bit ... but four 3/8 bolts seems kinda light ...

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Nice find, nice project ...

On the push block attachment ... dunno ... hafta chew on that one for a bit ... but four 3/8 bolts seems kinda light ...

Ya, seems light to me too...which likely should translate into IS too light. I could squeeze four 1/2" bolts in there but I don't know if there would be enough meat left of the 3/4 stock to not just rip the threads out.




Would 1/8" of meat on each side be enough?

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

And speaking of too light, the original beam rails were only 1/8" wall. I'm using 1/4".

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Here's another question: Do I want the push plate to just touch the wedge or stop short or not worry about how much contact it makes? It seems from the factory it made contact about 1.5" from full extension. I'm not worried about loosing the length in split capacity, I have no intention of working with anything other than 16" rounds.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Had some dinner and came back to the garage to scratch my head a bit more. Changed the orientation of the 3/4 x 4 piece which will now allow me to get 7 3/8" bolts in and make building it both easier and stronger. A belly full of pork chops can be a good thing apparently.

From some info in mikefromnh's splitter build thread, these 7 bolts should give me about 93,000 lbs of strength. That should be plenty. Could likely go with 6 bolts for about 80,000 and still not have to worry and save myself one hole to have to drill & tap

 

[rswyan]

Here's another question: Do I want the push plate to just touch the wedge or stop short or not worry about how much contact it makes?

Just touch or just short ... no way I'd build it so that you could go beyond the initial point of contact with full extension.

Mine stops about 1/4" short from the bottom foot on the wedge ... it's about 1 1/2" short of the upper portion.

It seems from the factory it made contact about 1.5" from full extension.

Yikes - that might account for why things got torn up