car engine driven log splitter

[Bedlam]

Great post, I got diverted as usual with the Red Green show clips LOL

 

[archerm3]

You'll have to do a couple of things to make such a contraption go:

You'll have to disable the differential action in the transaxle-weld or somehow lock the spider gears to the axle gears.
I'm not trying to be a wiseguy here, but can you envision and do that?
Sure, you could simply lock the brake on the opposite wheel, but that will cause the axle you're using to spin twice as fast-and you'll probably wear out the spider gears before too long.

You didn't say what sort of transaxle your Civic has (auto or manual), but if it's an automatic, the inability to keep the transmission in any particular gear (other than LOW) will make matching the engine's torque band with required speed a real chore.
Not impossible, mind you, but a real pain in the backside, if you asked me.

If the fact that your fuel consumption will be relatively high for the amount of wood that gets split doesn't bother you, you should look into making a belt drive setup under the hood, like the way that the older snowplow hydraulics used to be.
That way, you wouldn't need to render a four wheeled, 2500 lb logsplitter "immobilized" for all intents and purposes.

Good points, heres some others based on what he says..my experience is minimal in hydraulics though so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Car engines don't have governors on them like diesel engines or small 2 cycle engines, so unless you rig up a cruise control contraption, your engine will bog down significantly when you activate your hydraulic power.

Tapping your power steering pump sounds like the easiest, that way u don't have to mess with the front wheel drive tranny headache, remember, there is no driveshaft, only half shafts. Don't know what kind of flow you could get out a stock PS pump, or you could replace it with an industrial hyd pump ($$$, oops, coulda bought a used splitter for that coin)

 

[zmoz]

Zmoz, you me kinda' like this:

YouTube - Redneck Log Splitter

LOL, I'd hate to see what happens when that axe head comes flying off! Once I had a little carbide tooth from a 10" blade come off and hit me in the chest - that was enough to make me stop buying cheap blades!

 

[beenthere]

How about this one, seein as we were talkin being mobile.
YouTube - SSC4WD the world biggest Firewood Processor

 

[Iplayfarmer]

How about this one, seein as we were talkin being mobile.
YouTube - SSC4WD the world biggest Firewood Processor

I'd be more impressed if the chainsaw were more like this one.

 

[beenthere]

He He He.... I would be too.

 

[gordyy]

my brother inlaw built one years ago out of junk laying around the shop, an international 6cyl enngine with the bell housing attached welded an adaptor inti the tranny unput shaft to out the pump on put a battery on and used an old hoist cylinder wasnt the fastest mover but you could slpit anythng withit


sorry abiyt the spelling recovering froom some knee stuff
aint that liquid dilaaded some goood stuff coming out of that buutton

 

[ol'George]

I built a log splitter over 20 years ago using a 4 cyl Chevette engine.
It is still in use it and it works very well.
The pump is a Vickers 210 pump --10 GPM's.
It is coupled to the crank shaft with a magnaloy coupling. the pump is mounted on the bell housing area where the transmission would be mounted
It has a 6" cylinder from a garbage truck ram, it has a stroke of 36"
the engine runs just above an idle, maybe 1200 rpm's and it has enough to power to split anything I put in it.
it uses little fuel.
I boxed the H beam to provide a reservoir for the hyd fluid,
the larger tank in the picture is for gas.

 

[toyfarm]

I built a log splitter over 20 years ago using a 4 cyl Chevette engine.
It is still in use it and it works very well.
The pump is a Vickers 210 pump --10 GPM's.
It is coupled to the crank shaft with a magnaloy coupling. the pump is mounted on the bell housing area where the transmission would be mounted
It has a 6" cylinder from a garbage truck ram, it has a stroke of 36"
the engine runs just above an idle, maybe 1200 rpm's and it has enough to power to split anything I put in it.
it uses little fuel.
I boxed the H beam to provide a reservoir for the hyd fluid,
the larger tank in the picture is for gas.

Your not the first person i've seen with this type of set-up. The one's i've seen work very well and are economical!