Log Splitter

[billbill1]

I have owned two of the trailer type splitters and have had very good luck with them both. The first one I bought was a 5 hp 22 ton and the one I have now is a 30 ton 8 hp. A friend had the 8 hp and had trouble keeping it running, he brought it to me several times to get it going and got tired of fighting with it. He told me that if anybody would give him $150 for it, he would sell it. I bought it and have used it for 3 years. It burns oil like crazy but always starts and runs. I cut wood away from home too much to have a 3 point one but I'm sure they would be fine if I only cut close to the house.

 

[Rara Avis]

The other advantage of a standalone unit is when there is more than one peson in the game...The tractor can be bringing the logs in while the other is splitting...

 

[dmccarty]

I have a the 3PH splitter from TSC. Works just fine.

One of the reasons I bought it was because the splitting is done standing up as opposed to bending over a trailer mounted splitter like the Troy built I was looking at buying.

My 48 HP tractor engine is burning around 1/2 GPH when splitting wood. It burns 1 GPH when running PTO RPMS. I have a 17 HP Kawasaki engine on the DR that burns about 1 GPH. I figured the engine mounted splitter would burn 1GPH as well thus the tractor burns less or maybe the same GPH. Its one less engine to maintain if the splitter is for the 3PH.

The tractor has 730ish hours and its seven years old. 400ish hours where in the first two years. IF I put 100 hours on the tractor per year now a days and IF the engine needs a rebuild at 3,000 hours, that is 20+ years from now. I bought the tractor to use it not have it sit. It looks like it takes 6 hours or so to split a cord, 4x4x8. I use 4-5 cords per seaon so I might put 30 hours on the engine splitting wood.

I stage my work with the tractor anyway and splitting wood is no exception. I bring the logs to where they are cut, split and then stacked. The logs are put in a big pile that sits on ceder trees to keep the wood off the ground. Behind the pile have put down 12-15 pallets. The logs are cut into rounds which are stacked on the pallets. When it is splitting time the splitter is hooked up and I split the wood from the pallets and then place the firewood on more pallets. This way I don't have to switch out attachments. Its just takes a bit of planning ahead.

Later,
Dan

 

[xlr82v2]

My 5hp Briggs powered splitter will run about 3 1/2 to 4 hours on a tankful of fuel... and the tank holds I think about 3/4 of a gallon...

That's not running full throttle... I only run it at just over 1/2 to 2/3 throttle while splitting... that's all you need for oak and hickory which is mostly what I split. If I get into some really tough stringy elm or similar, I'll bump up the throttle some, maybe... but I never run it at full throttle.

I try to split as much as I can out in the woods... that way I only handle and stack the wood once. If I need to get the wood out in a hurry, like when trying to get it out before deer season, I'll haul it home to split, but I'd rather split out in the woods. I've got a trailer made from an old Chevy heavy half p/u truck bed... I hook that to the tractor, then hook the splitter to the bumper of the trailer. If I'm on fairly solid ground with no big hills to go up or down, I've also got a 2nd trailer made from a p/u truck.. I'll hook that behind the first p/u trailer, then the splitter behind that. That's a pretty good load for my old 8N... haven't had a chance to do it yet with my new Mahindra, but I'm sure it will outperform ol' Henry!

And, I have to say, Chevrolet makes a darned fine trailer! (now where's that pic of my Ford Ranger pulling my Chevy trailer???)

 

[Ford850]

Thanks for all the replies. I liked the suggestions about the trailer models, and for me I think a stand alone splitter will fit my needs better than the 3ph model afterall. After looking at the TSC models again, I noticed the one 22ton unit I originally looked at was gone and replaced with this year's stock. So now after considering my needs and getting a closer look at the splitters I think I'll get the larger 35 ton trailer model. That uses a larger, heavier beam, and still uses the rolled top rails that the splitter wedge rides in. These rails extend out past the edges of the beam width creating a nice bed to hold the log. They have a 27 ton unit which uses a much lighter and narrower beam and components, and has a 5 hp Honda, but uses a little 11gpm pump (18 second cycle time). The 22 ton model has welded angle rails rather than the rolled style, and also uses a narrower and lighter beam. Since the angles are welded on the sides of the beam, the log rail is much narrower and it looks like a large log could roll off easily.
In my opinion, the 22 ton looks "ok" but they made it lighter and narrower now, making the top rail difficult to hold a log like the heavier beam. The 27 ton model is trying to take advantage of those wanting a Honda engine. I think that model is under powered and uses a small pump making it slow. For alittle more money I will go with the much beefier beam and splitter wedge sled on the 35 ton model. That comes with the 16gpm pump, fenders, front tongue jack, almost double the fluid tank size, wire wrapped hose, and a 12.5 hp industrial Briggs engine.
Overall I think they are pretty nice splitters. The worse thing about them is that old Husky name.

 

[JerryK]

Make sure your stand alone unit will operate in a verticle mode. Once you split some horizontally, try using it vertically...sit on a unsplit piece or something like an milk crate. Either back up to a pile of unsplit wood, or roll a bunch of the bigger ones over to your splitter on one side. Sit on the crate and drag/roll/slide/lift/whatever the wood over and split it, then toss the split wood into a pile on the other side. It will be easier on your back in the long run. I've split a lot of wood this way, some it too big to even think about lifting onto a horizontal splitter.

 

[Highbeam]

Make sure your stand alone unit will operate in a verticle mode. Once you split some horizontally, try using it vertically...sit on a unsplit piece or something like an milk crate. Either back up to a pile of unsplit wood, or roll a bunch of the bigger ones over to your splitter on one side. Sit on the crate and drag/roll/slide/lift/whatever the wood over and split it, then toss the split wood into a pile on the other side. It will be easier on your back in the long run. I've split a lot of wood this way, some it too big to even think about lifting onto a horizontal splitter.

I don't even bother splitting horizontally. I do like Jerry except my knees are good enough that I can actually kneel down and do it. After a long day I end up finding a nice round to sit on while splitting.

As a kid one of my jobs was part of a three person splitting team. One of us teenagers on each side of the sitting operator. Feeding him rounds and pitching the splits into a huge stack. 8 to 9 cords in a day.

 

[curly]

And, I have to say, Chevrolet makes a darned fine trailer! (now where's that pic of my Ford Ranger pulling my Chevy trailer???)

That would be a site to see...please take a pic next time you hook it all together

 

[xlr82v2]

850,

I'm not telling you that you shouldn't get the high HP splitter, but don't think in any way that a 5hp 11gpm 22 ton splitter is in any way "underpowered". 5hp will split any piece of wood that you can muscle up to it.

The bigger, more powerful splitters are bait for the "Tim Taylor" crowd... and that's straight from the mouth of a commercial splitter manufacturer rep!

Now, if you start talking about 4-way wedges and stuff like that, then, yeah, you might need a little more power... but aside from that, 5hp will do everything that 15hp will do, and do it a lot cheaper. And, unless you have a multi-person team operating the splitter, cycle time really isn't a factor in my experience... my 5hp splitter is waiting on me MUCH more than I'm waiting on it.

Just my experience, your mileage may vary

 

[xlr82v2]

That would be a site to see...please take a pic next time you hook it all together

Hahaha, Yep, I'll have to take a pic of it!

The trailer is really nothing to look at, but I think it would look even worse if I did try to paint it.