car engine driven log splitter

[skenk]

Has anyone thought of using a car to drive a hydraulic pump for a log splitter. I have a 93 civic that I was thinking of using - body is shot but engine/tranny a still good. Basically put the car on blocks, remove the wheels, lenghten the drive shaft and connect to a pump. Given its 1.5 litre engine puts out about 100hp it should have no problem driving a good sized pump, without working the engine.

I am sure with the right pump, you could use a 48" cylinder, split slabs green, stack to dry then use a buzz saw to cut to size.

 

[rus_geek]

Wouldn't it be easier to belt drive the pump? The engine is already setup to run power steering, AC, etc.

 

[RPW]

Talk about over power I think the largest log splitter I've seen only had about a 20hp motor. Any I agree use the vbelt routine. Axles on cars are split, and what I mean without some restriction on the oposite wheel your pump won't turn an the other wheel will spin like crazy. It will depend on the differential in the transaxle. Also you will need to keep the pump under its rated top speed.

Good luck.

 

[zmoz]

I've seen people run log splitters off the power steering of the truck they're driving! Personally, I'd sell the Honda for scrap value and buy a good used 10-20hp single or twin cylinder engine.

 

[jbarker855]

Interesting idea, but I don't think it's worth your time. The engine is way oversized for the job. You'd burn way more fuel than necessary to do the job at hand. I agree with Zmoz. Scrap the car. But a log splitter, even a used one. I have a 15 year old rinky-dink 5 horse splitter. I have encountered only 2 logs in 2 years that stalled the hydraulics, and I split them both easily by simply repositioning them. You don't need a 20 horse splitter, and definitely not a 100 horse splitter. But there is no arguing that it would be cool and interesting to have a "93 Civic logsplitter".
-Jay

 

[towmotor]

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.

 

[Czbilly]

We used to use a splitter that had a 4 cylinder Continental engine for power. The guy who built it used the crank to drive a hydro pump. It was water cooled and electric start and a great machine. They even had the alternator hooked up to run lights. This would have been a much larger set up than a small honda car engine. I think with a little planning and thought you could make a great set up using what you have on hand. As far a fuel consumption I doubt you'd be running the engine hard enough to really notice. With the car you'd have the tires and wheels, power plant, electrical system, and radiator. Pull this and you'd still get a few bucks for scrap to buy a cylinder and I beam. Good luck.

 

[turnkey4099]

We used to use a splitter that had a 4 cylinder Continental engine for power. The guy who built it used the crank to drive a hydro pump. It was water cooled and electric start and a great machine. They even had the alternator hooked up to run lights. This would have been a much larger set up than a small honda car engine. I think with a little planning and thought you could make a great set up using what you have on hand. As far a fuel consumption I doubt you'd be running the engine hard enough to really notice. With the car you'd have the tires and wheels, power plant, electrical system, and radiator. Pull this and you'd still get a few bucks for scrap to buy a cylinder and I beam. Good luck.

And imagine driving it in a parade!

Harry K

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would part it all out and sell it. Probably get enough to go to the store and buy an new splitter.

Chris

 

[Egon]

Why bother with the hydraulics feature. Just weld a larger rim on the one already on the front end and then weld an Axe head to that. Very slow rotation and place a chuck of wood down to be split about every second revolution. Chain the other front wheel to the frame so it can't move.

It shouldn't break the pocket book!