Fire wood processor

[bassgrinder]

I have not been on the forum for a while might致e even been a few years I had posted that I had started collecting items to build a fire wood processor. I did start this build however it has been delayed, setback, maybe even table completely.
The work was going very slow due too other work that was more pressing. Now the work has suffered a setback, which leads to a tip I could give - watch out for stepsons or what not. with unchecked substance addictions so they don't trade (items that have taken hundreds of dollars combined with countless hours of work to make) in for a few $ worth of scrap.
That is right he took advantage (and the splitting portion of the project) and got about $25 in cash. I was lucky I had the cylinder off and was still doing some work on the wedge or they would be gone also. But yeah I had the splitter done, and had even used it as a mounted attachment on my CK580 and was adding a guard too protect the cylinder and was revamping the wedge. His mom asked me if he could scrap some of the stuff I had around. Silly me being nice, I let him a lot stuff that I could spare and even though I stressed that he only take items I gave him and only load when I was there to make sure that was the case, he got his Mom to let him come when I was at work and helped himself to a big load of let痴 say unauthorized items, the splitter section being one of many. I discovered the items missing too late, the guy at the scrap yard remembered the splitter unit and it had already been shipped out. The worst part is his Mom refuses to believe he would actually do that and is still mad at me for declaring he is not welcome on my property for any reason most likely for good. And it is really hard to get moving back forward on the project just shopping for materials is hard while I can't help but be thinking I already bought twice the I beam I needed and now since I have no I beam I am about to buy more. I was at the steel yard a few months ago and looked at the I beam, when I saw how much it was I could help thinking about the whole thing all over again and it got me so p1$$&% off I just went home.

 

[bassgrinder]

Now I have been reconsidering the whole project altogether. My reasoning behind building another wood processor was to allow me to
Number 1 thin out the wooded section of my property enough to go grow grass for my horses to graze there while also using the wood to heat my home and my woodstove. My thought was once all my trees were gone I would find a source for logs that I could hopefully buy cheap enough that with the wood processor I could make enough firewood to sell in addition to what I needed and be able to pay for the cost of the logs and my operating expenses making my firewood free.
Number 2 if I could pull off the above it would allow me to continue burning firewood hopefully long past an age (rapidly approaching) that is feasible for me to do so, in other words no matter what I don’t plan on cutting and splitting firewood the way I’m doing now for very much longer, it’s harder and harder to get enough done each year. As I get older I am having a longer and longer list of things I would really rather be spending my time doing then cutting firewood, I used to enjoy it and it was kind of relaxing now it is just a tedious time-consuming backbreaking chore that I would be well rid of. A nice fire wood processor would bring a big change in that. Lately however I have been kicking around the idea of instead of building the wood processor just switching my current wood stove to a pellet stove and writing the cost of the pellets off to being able to unshackle myself from the chainsaw and splitting maul.

 

[bassgrinder]

Now a good portion of the project has sprouted legs and walked off what I am left with is a good 29 ton cylinder that I was able to pick up for $40 and have about 3 hours of time repairing it, I’m sure I could sell this on Craigslist for enough to pay off my original investment and a modest profit for my time. I also have a brand-new splitter valve that I got for very reasonable price a while ago and it today’s prices I could likely get my money back on that to. The only other thing of note was the engine I was going to use for the power plant it is a Nissan TD 27 diesel four-cylinder it came out of an industrial air compressor trailer, I have about $750 and that and could probably either get at least that much out of it or use it for something else myself that would not consume so much time.

 

[bassgrinder]

This could possibly turn to a new thread on swapping engines in tractors but?
I have actually in the past couple years found myself mentally calculating what it would take to put this engine in my 1962 580 CK I have been running the CK on 3 cylinders now for almost 2 years and am not sure how much longer it will last. 2 falls ago while I was working on firewood I spun a rod bearing this is my 2nd engine in this tractor and I was not financially prepared to go out and buy a 3rd so I dropped the pan disconnected that Rod, reached up with my torch and clipped the rod off. I pushed the piston all the way to the top of the cylinder then reached up with my big welder and put a couple spots a weld on the cylinder below the piston to keep it from falling down. I then used a piece of rubber and to hose clamps to restrict the flow of oil from that journal in the crankshaft and replaced the pan. I disconnected the line to the fuel injector for that cylinder and routed it back into the fuel return going to the tank. The engine actually runs fairly decent not as much power course the worst pain is I have to idle it a little higher to keep the engine from stalling and that makes the torque converter want to kick in so if I am working I sometimes have to put the main transmission in the neutral at times I normally would not have to, such as dumping a bucket of dirt in my pickup bed or trailer. Anyways given the luck I have had with used engines for this tractor which is really all I can afford or one could argue all the tractor is really worth every time I run the Nissan engine I think to myself boy that would be a sweet little engine in that tractor. The engine in my tractor is the D188 which I believe is around 40 to 50 hp, the Nissan is the same engine they run in their pickups at 100 hp but for this application the injector and governor are tuned to max out at 50 with more torque at the lower RPM. Hmm maybe just what the doctor ordered for the CK. Time will tell what I値l decide to do but sometimes I think to myself the money I would spend on another engine to the CK would buy me a lot of wood pellets that I could move around my yard all day long with a Nissan powered CK and likely never have another moment痴 concern over the tractors engine.

 

[bassgrinder]

I have also added another tractor, I was able to pick up a case model D I think it is about a 1952. Really nice shape pretty much mostly restored. I was able to get it for $750 it wasn't running at the time and I took a chance. So far it looks like it paid off I reset the timing of the magneto/distributor and had a minor battle with the points that did not want to be set open and close as they should. The engine seems to run very good now. I have a few hours of dragging my pastures and a few hours of pulling some logs out of the woods, so far so good seems to have some pretty decent power I believe it is rated at 30 to 35 hp I haven't gotten any pics it yet when I do I will post in the appropriate section