Backhoe Wood Splitter Improvements

[F.L. Jennings]

I built this wood splitter attachment for my backhoe last winter and am always trying to make it better, more functional etc. Recently I added the following features that are showing themselves to be very useful.

1. A detachable (just hooks on) wood ramp that is 5 feet long and about 13-14" wide. I made spring loaded anti-rollback bars and placed them along each side. These allow round wood to roll over them then they spring back up and won't let the wood roll back. The ramp will pivot in any direction to suit whatever slope the boom is. The universal joint method even allows the ramp to be used When I use the splitter in a near vertical position. The pivoted foot frame allow the whole thing to be set up level and used as a work platform while splitting wood.

The bucket attachment and linkage pins on the hoe boom were used to mount the assembly.

2. A pair of split wood returns (bringer-backers) that are very loosely connected to the truck assembly (wood pusher). These have proven to be a great labor saver. When wood is split you often want to resplit (sometimes multiple times such as with kindling) and these split wood retractors or "bringer backers" as I jokingly refer to them keep me from having to bend over and pick up all of the split pieces, even though a piece will sometimes fall off.

They are VERY loosely connected (threaded 1/2" studs) to the truck assembly. This loose connection allows them not to be damaged when twisted grain or other unruly wood trys to mess things up.

We started heating with wood again last winter so my tired old bones needed some hydraulic assistance. The whole thing works great and is largely built out of metal I had on hand. The Cylinder rod pin I turned on a 9" lathe andt then welded it to the plate truck assembly. I have split 4 or 5 cords with it so far and can do it right in the woods.

Here are a few drawings of what I have made so far. Mines not all painted yet so these pictures are much more explanatory than a lot of unpainted iron. Some welds are shown unpainted

Thought this might give somebody a few ideas or that you could improve on what I've done. I don't have $50 in the whole thing and it can be removed easily and the bucket re-attached. The tractor is a Kubota L4200 and the backhoe is a 9ft. Bradco. After I get the thing painted up and looking nice I can post pix.

PARTIAL ENLARGED VIEW

 

[ultrarunner]

Very innovative and great graphics too!

 

[wowbw7]

great inovation. like to see your cable system control details...

 

[Willl]

Are you operating it while in the seat like this ?

YouTube - Backhoe Wood Splitter

 

[Willl]

I'm thinking of copying this guy.

YouTube - BACKHOE WOOD SPLITTER

 

[DavidVT]

F.L. Great graphics and interesting idea. Can you post a photo to show how you position the rest of the backhoe?
-------------
I love this one as Willl linked above (using stabilizer for wedge):
YouTube - (stabilizer)BACKHOE WOOD SPLITTER

Wow, now the splitter video has made me go down the YouTube rat hole.. check this one out.. nothing to do with spitting wood..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zn4eVaRhGM

 

[wowbw7]

found these pics of a backhoe splitter on the net. i think i'm going to copy this one. there were no details on the build, just the picture with captions on it. a

 

[F.L. Jennings]

I didn't spend much time on these graphics but I think you can see how the cylinder is controlled.

1. The control arm assembly is just a 1/2" pipe fabrication with a vertical control handle that rotates independently from the arm. The vertical pipe sits down over a vertical rod that is welded to the angle splitter frame.

2. The control cables (3/32" steel cable with plastic coating) have a loop on each end. one end goes over a stud welded to end of control crossarm, and the other loops over the hooked bar that fits over the joystick handle.

3. The control cables goe around homemade sheaves that I turned from bar stock. They are each supported by a piece of 3/4" sq. tube that is bolted to the outrigger framing.

4. I use the outrigger positioning to set the slack/tension in the cables.

5. When operating the splitter;

a. I stand just to the right of the loading ramp after having filled it with rounds to be split. As I split pieces many of the larger ones need to be resplit. The retactors pull the split pieces back up and some times I stack one on top of another to save a cycle of the cylinder. Very large pieces when split, I just take one half (or whatever) and lay it aside on top of the other wood on the ramp. THis keeps me from having to always bend over to pick up pieces.

b. The ramp can be used at either side of the splitter/backhoe boom.

c. The boom is normally extended to near horiz. to about 18" above the ground. At present I usually rest the splitter on a chunk of wood to keep the boom from settling lower. I intend to make a swing down support on the bottom of the splitter frame so that using a piece of wood is not necessary.


d. The splitter can also function in a near vertical position with both inner and outer booms pulled in. The pivoting ramp/work table can be used no matter what the splitter angle as it can adapt to whatever you are doing.

I designed and built this splitter with economy in mind. I'm a geat believer in using whatever you have at hand to create what you need. The cable and a few fasteners etc. are the only money I have invested in this, except of course welding materials (wire and gas)

I have seen the backhoe splitter on youtube where the operator sits in the normal backhoe operator's seat and it looks great. When you have to deal with larger wood and/or tough wood I think you would find yourself always having to get off the tractor for some reason to deal with a problem. I split some stuff that is 24" in diameter or greater and I do not see any material of that size being split on that unit.

Yesterday I split 2/3 of a cord of 22" dia. Hickory and am still very pleased with the operation of my "junkyard brainstorm." As a professional mechanical/structural designer I refuse to create things that won't work or that I couldn't make myself, although some of the more complex ones take a little massaging from time to time! I was a journeyman tool & die maker before going into engineering 40 years ago, so I've made a lot of stuff and designed a lot of stuff. I had a lot of fun making this one and am really enjoying using it - especially since 100% of our heat is from firewood.

Everything is pretty much finished so I will paint it all up some for appearance's sake.

Frank Jennings, Senior Designer
Mid-South Engineering Co.

The cables attach to a bent bar that is welded to each side of a 1" pipe coupling. This coupling (top end closed off) just slips over the end of the joystick that controls the cylinder and the outer boom.

This photo shows the cables going around one of the WR sheaves and hooked onto the joystick fitting.

 

[wowbw7]

F.L., I like your idea of using the outriggers as cable adjusters. did you consider any other way to do it? my stabilizers tend to leak down too much for that to work for me. i'm trying to figure a way to go from horizontal to vertical without wasting a 1/2 hour 're-rigging' my controls.
the design i'm fiddling with is going to have a support at the far end too. thinking maybe 2x2 square tubing with a 6" square plate at the bottom, that swivels up and outa the way for vertical splitting.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

F.L., I like your idea of using the outriggers as cable adjusters. did you consider any other way to do it? my stabilizers tend to leak down too much for that to work for me. i'm trying to figure a way to go from horizontal to vertical without wasting a 1/2 hour 're-rigging' my controls.
the design i'm fiddling with is going to have a support at the far end too. thinking maybe 2x2 square tubing with a 6" square plate at the bottom, that swivels up and outa the way for vertical splitting.

If you are going to split in both horiz/vert positions a separate set of cables might be best. I've settled on the horiz as my favorite since I have no wood to really lift and I do far less bending over. Setting up my controls, including stretching out the booms, etc doesn't take over 5 minutes. When I set up to split I'm usually going to be there a while. The tension to operate the joystick IS NOT banjo string tight (too tight will not work too well) but actually has some slack in the cables. Your bleed down of the outrigger cyls may not be a big problem, especially if the outriggers are "laid out" a little. The weight of them will be enough to keep things stretched out.

Whatever you do, do with labor and fatigue in mind. It's easy to do something a few times, but if you have to do it for hours on end (bending over, lifting wood etc) it gets old fast!


Here are a few more pix. I've been busy cutting/splitting wood lately so haven't snapped any new photos but will soon, which I will post to this thread.

I didn't even have controls when I took this photo - just a piece of old telephone cable with each end tied to the joystick and each side running around part of the outriggers. Sort of like reins for a horse.

This is last winter's photo and have made many improvements, including the loading ramp, moving controls closer to tractor, shortening the control arm vertical post, making split wood retractors & etc., but it still might help you.

I have added a plate keeper either side here (over the existing stub pins) the plates bolt to the angles & have a "half hole" that fits down over the pin and keeps the entire assembly from pivoting around the rearmost pins. - Just some keeper plates -

As far as tensioning goes you can use fixed position mounts (connected to whatever is handy and out of the way) and small turnbuckles to adjust the tensions. I started w/turnbuckles which you can see in the stretched out photo, but really didn't need them.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Looks a little freaky, Mr. Jennings. I'm sure it works like a top, but I was a little scared of it at first. Then I got this Rube Goldberg-esque feeling about that clothesline contraption.

I like the one that attaches a splitting blade to the outrigger. Elegant simplicity. I'm wondering if my Woods BH6000 has enough ooomph for that.

 

[schmism]

I like the one that attaches a splitting blade to the outrigger. Elegant simplicity. I'm wondering if my Woods BH6000 has enough ooomph for that.

+1... someone needs to tell eddie about this... lets see him rig it up on his full size machine.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

I like the one that attaches a splitting blade to the outrigger. Elegant simplicity. I'm wondering if my Woods BH6000 has enough ooomph for that.

The outrigger cylinders positioning gives them a big disadvantage mechanically, especially with small lightweight tractors. Tough wood, large wood won't split that easily. The cylinders are not able to apply most of their force in the correct direction.

If you are just playing at it though I suppose they're OK for non-serious wood splitting of small, straight grained easy-to-split stuff.

 

[KeithInSpace]

...non-serious wood splitting of small, straight grained easy-to-split stuff.

Or my little, itty-bitty logs. I cut my stock to about 12" to fit in my itty-bitty fireplace.

My outriggers pick up the rear of my tractor with backhoe attached without much problem...figure 800# of backhoe and another 800# at the heavy end of the tractor. Totally agree the mechanical advantage is to the Log's benefit, but with a thin maul, it just may work. Worth a shot, anyway. I'm just a guy with a bunch of trees/logs trying to find another use for my cute little tractor. And my wife hates me swinging the axe...makes me wear a hardhat.

 

[wowbw7]

F.L., i figured a way to make your cable rig adjustable, which i think i'll try on mine. if each cable is, let's say, 20 feet long, make it 10 ft of cable attached to the lever on the tractor, run thru the pulley that is attached to the top of the outrigger, then have a clip on the other end. then replace the remaining 10 ft with a light weight chain attached to your control lever. the outriggers could then be left in the full upright position, with the length of control cable being adjusted by attaching the clip to a link in the chain. to use the splitter vertically, simply shorten the chain.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

F.L., i figured a way to make your cable rig adjustable, which i think i'll try on mine. if each cable is, let's say, 20 feet long, make it 10 ft of cable attached to the lever on the tractor, run thru the pulley that is attached to the top of the outrigger, then have a clip on the other end. then replace the remaining 10 ft with a light weight chain attached to your control lever. the outriggers could then be left in the full upright position, with the length of control cable being adjusted by attaching the clip to a link in the chain. to use the splitter vertically, simply shorten the chain.

I've found that the control works better if it has some slack in it. A banjo string tightness is stiffer to use.


There are all kinds of ways to run the cables. I've just overhauled mine and put the cross bar for the cables below the operating handle. A vee shape of the cable bar puts it toward the tractor and away from you. You could also;

1. Make the control in such a way that you use an up or down to reverse rather than back and forth.

2. Rig it up for a foot control so your hands are free.

I split a rick of 24 - 28" dia. Red Oak yesterday afternoon. It looked like this before I cut it into 16" long "cookies."

I just increased the length of my splitter wedge from 14 to 17" so the it would shear the loose top fibers of larger wood.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

Here in a plan view is the operation, splitter is set about 30" above grade to reduce bending over.

1. operator stands beside wood ramp/work table and loads wood into splitter.

2. Retractors bring wood back so you don't have to bend over to pick it up. Support on either side of wedge contains the split wood (see original color graphics. I widened both of these to help contain larger wood when it is first split. the large half moon pieces of 18" tended to fall off of the splitter. Now they stay on. Large half pieces on the operator side I lay on the work table as they are retracted. The retracted pieces on the far side are flopped back into the splitter cradle for another pass or two. I'll place pieces two deep and come up with for pieces to save cycles.

On my tractor I set the rpms at about 1400 for a decent extend.retract time. It will split larger pieces with the tractor at an idle, but the cycle time is too long for me.

3. Larger pieces that have been split can be laid on the wood to be split.

4. pieces split that are OK are tossed into a pile, trailer etc.

5. I generally load a good amount of wood onto the ramp (which has been set near to horizontal) this is a combination of rounds and large pieces which I may have had to bust up with wedges and maul.

6. the operating handle is above the incoming wood and is out of the way as are operating cables.

 

[jdmar]

Wow!
Peter

 

[POC]

I know the torsion would be great, but you could link your ramp to the outrigger of the BH and use it to lift the "ground" end of the ramp to near horizontal to allow for easier loading onto the splitter.

Love your design by the way. Gives me great ideas!

 

[F.L. Jennings]

I made an alternate control arm yesterday. A horizontal pipe shaft running through a sleeve welded to top end of pipe stanchion. A vertical 6" arm is at each end of the horiz. pipe, one pointing up, the other down. A horizontal operating handle with a wood grip is welded on to the horizontal, rotatable pipe. Cables attach to the short vertical arms. With this arrangement I can operate the splitter with an up-down motion rather than a back and forth movement. Works OK.

I never quit tinkering but am always trying to make things a little better.

Now, if I can make a short conveyor using a car engine starter with rpm's reduced for the drive and lugged link chain so all I have to do is roll a large piece onto the frame and let the lug carry it up the incline to the horiz. part.! I can carry a 12v battery anywhere and it's not running continuously and will power the starter all day.