hello from rural west central WI.

[topofthehil]

what a great site.
I consider myself lucky to have found this site and fortunate to be a member.
my wife and I have a farm along the bluffs of the Mississippi river.
horses, cows, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks and who knows what other animals reside here.
I also have tractors, which leads up to a question for anyone who can assist me.
recently we have installed a Garn boiler and now have the task of feeding it.
it takes up to 32" chunks of wood.
I would like to build a PTO driven log splitter for my 32 HP tractor that is capable of splitting up to 30" chunks of wood.
it will be mounted on the 3 point hitch... I think... not sure yet.
I would like to be able to run a lift grapple as well as split the wood, so I would need a multi lever valve that could control the splitter cylinder as well as a lift cylinder.
I found some threads on the subject, but nothing that suggests what combination of what pumps, valves, cylinders, ect... would go together to make DIY splitter that would split 30" logs.
I have the steel and the welding skills, but no bill of materials or a dwg showing the parts, connections, ect...
does anyone have a link to a thread, or know where I can get information on what materials I need to build a splitter for my tractor?
if you could build a splitter from scratch what would you use for parts to split 30" logs using a PTO?
thanks for you help,
topo

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

Welcome to the TBN "neighborhood"

Tom in Vermont

 

[elalexander]

Hi and welcome. You will be able to find log splitter ideas along with pictures here. Go into one of the build it yourself type discussion groups and submitt a topic. A really great bunch of people and a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Thomas]

Kick back enjoy and do share w/us.

 

[Hillbilly John]

Hello from some other hilltop in Wisconsin. I installed a garn 4 years ago and have for the most part been satisfied with the performance. I am concerned about rust in the tank. I have kept chemicals in per their suggestions but the top of the tank is getting pretty rusty. Their response has been that I haven't kept the tank full but the tank level changes several inches from low temp to high temp so that seems a little bunkish to me.

I heat 2 good sized buildings with mine. The house is about 5k and the garage and shop is almost 2k sq.ft.

Just wondering if the top of your tank shows any rust?

BTW: Forget the 32" splitter. I was going down that road but wised up. Them 32" chunks of tree trunks can get pretty fatiguing. I have mine cut 16-18 inches and put two lengths. you can get more wood in that way because you can pack it in a little tighter. Just my 2-cents worth.