Powerhorse 3 pt. log splitter design flaw

[etavarez]

WOW Jim

Great modifications! a couple of questions:
1. Did you have to remove the cylinder to make these mods? Since I can't see what the hydrolic connector configuration is under the unit, its tough to picture how you reversed the controls and hoses without having a bunch of extra hose under the unit.
2. It is difficult to tell what you are showing in your 2nd pic. It looks like a U-bracket bolted to the bottom on the back of the unit, but it isn't there in the other 2 pics?? just wondering what this is?

I'm planning on buying the 20 ton 3pt powerhorse to run off of my John Deere 5420. I have dual pumps that produce 15-16 GPM. What kind of cycle time do you think I can expect with this flow rate?
Again, you did a beautiful job on your modificaitons. I'm not as proficient with a welder as that yet but this is a great project to practice on.

Thanks

Eli

 

[jimgerken]

Sorry for my slowww response, been kinda busy with medical junk for a month. Back in action now. Still slow, but moving in the right direction.
No, the cylinder stays inside the frame and all plumbing is done underneith. So my mods of moving the control to the front end simply requires the right-angle fittings on the cylinder to be oriented facing forward instead of backwards.
Yes, pic #2 is a u-bracket. I made three of them. Their function is to keep the splitter hydraulic fittings and hose from resting on the ground upon it is lowered all the way. The u brackets also keep the hose suspended up under the unit, so it doesnt sag down. The brackets bolt onto existing holes.
I can not be sure what your cycle time will be, but be sure to let us know after you measure it. Mine is fine for me, and I guess I have 9 gpm on the implement pump.

Finally, I went ahead and moved the control valve to the opposite side (now on the right side of the tractor) of the splitter, keeping it up at the front end of the splitter, but spinning it around so the lever is foreward of the control valve. This keeps the lever and linkage further from the splitting operation, both foreward and upward. It also required one new hose, shorter by a couple feet. Now, with the control on the right side of the tractor, I can stand on the right side to operate it, and without walking around the tractor or climbing onto the tractor, I can reach the three-point lift lever and engine throttle lever. This helps one-man operation greatly. I swapped the work tables then, so the smaller table is on the side I stand up next to. The tables just pin in place, so that change was trivial.
I finished a special skateboard for it too, for storage. Built with angle iron and casters, it allows the splitter to be rolled off into the corner when not in use.
I should be able to get some pictures of this stuff eventually.

 

[jimgerken]

This new pic may show the channels better, the fourth one shown below. You can see in this pic how the hose and fitting would be touching the ground without the channel features. The other three attached pics show the unit as it exists today, with the control now flipped to the right hand side, and lever forward instead of back. I used it in this configuration for about twenty chunks of log, about two weeks before labor day this year, and it is a big improvement. It had made me worry about the wood coming up and hitting the lever and linkage when the valve was on the left side and facing back. So that is cured now. And it is really handy to have the control on the same side as the three point control lever. After all, the whole intent of the 3-pt splitter is to be able to drop to the ground to roll on a big log, and raise up to a nice working height so you are not bending over and fatiguing your back muscles, so moving the 3-pt lever happens fairly often.

 

[J_J]

etavarez,

If your new log splitter has a 4 in bore, and a 2 in rod, at 16 GPM, and 24 in log

Extend 4.9 in per sec extend time is 4.99 sec

Retract 6.5 in per sec retract time is 3.69 sec

 

[CBW1999]

I really like what you have done with the splitter- I think this approach is much better than the Case/Ingersoll design.

I imagine it makes it easier to load larger logs using a timber jack and keeping it low but, do you/ can you use it at other heights, or just lift it for transport?

 

[jimgerken]

Yes, I use it at the very lowest level if I want to roll a big one on. And I can raise it to any comfortable working height up to about 34 inches from the ground to the splitter bed top. Having a hydraulic top link makes it possible to level it at any height.

 

[955er]

WOW Jim

Great modifications! a couple of questions:
1. Did you have to remove the cylinder to make these mods? Since I can't see what the hydrolic connector configuration is under the unit, its tough to picture how you reversed the controls and hoses without having a bunch of extra hose under the unit.
2. It is difficult to tell what you are showing in your 2nd pic. It looks like a U-bracket bolted to the bottom on the back of the unit, but it isn't there in the other 2 pics?? just wondering what this is?

I'm planning on buying the 20 ton 3pt powerhorse to run off of my John Deere 5420. I have dual pumps that produce 15-16 GPM. What kind of cycle time do you think I can expect with this flow rate?
Again, you did a beautiful job on your modificaitons. I'm not as proficient with a welder as that yet but this is a great project to practice on.

Thanks

Eli

There are a lot of 20 ton 3 point splitters out there for the same money as the powerhorse that IMO are more robust. I got one that splits vertical as well. Trust me, you want that feature.

 

[jimgerken]

There are a lot of 20 ton 3 point splitters out there for the same money as the powerhorse that IMO are more robust. I got one that splits vertical as well. Trust me, you want that feature.

I can see how having vertical capabilty would be real nice. Before buying the Powerhorse, I was close to purchasing the Speeco from TSC. Its a 3-pt, and swings to vertical. What swayed me was that for the same money I could get the bidirectional Powerhorse to effectively double the thru-put. Most everyone who objects to a 3-pt splitter always says they are too slow because the tractor hydraulic pump is not two-speed. So I thought that the bi-directional would make it twice as fast, so removing that speed objection. And it is nice not to have to retract it between strokes. If every splitting operation was a new chunk you had to pick up, and the retract of a single-direction splitter had a detent, you would never have to wait. But, in about three times out of four splitting operations, you are resplitting a chunk, so its already on the table. There the bi-directional shines.
Just because there is a huge chunk of low-tech I-beam hanging under your splitter does not make it "more robust". I see nothing light duty about the Powerhorse (except all the 3-point features I already threw away and redesigned).

 

[Northland]

There are a lot of 20 ton 3 point splitters out there for the same money as the powerhorse that IMO are more robust. I got one that splits vertical as well. Trust me, you want that feature.

I would agree with that statement as I rented a neighbors gas powered SpeeCo with that feature and it worked very well.

Earlier this year I had skidded out some 22" diameter maple that I had bucked into 20" rounds that my new Hearthstone wood stove would accommodate. However, I had not anticipated those large, long rounds being impossible to hand split with my Fiskars Super Splitting Axe. When I tried and failed to split them by hand I rented the big SpeeCo and ran it 14 hours over the weekend to split about 7 cords of that big maple.

I liked that gas powered SpeeCo so much I just bought the 3pt version at my local TSC store earlier today. They had one sitting there for the past year so they gave it to me for $649 Canadian

 

[iointerrupt]

Inspired by Jim's modifications, I decided to convert the hitch mount on mine as well. But given that it was brand new, I didn't have the heart to take a torch to it, so I designed a simpler reversible conversion.

First the legs were turned upside down, this required drilling two new mounting holes in the frame, the only permanent change.

For feet I couldn't match Jim's nicely formed channel brackets, and instead just used 4 pieces of angle stock, mounting to the existing holes.

Finally for the top link attach point I fab'ed a vertical extension out of 3' of flat stock. The cross-brace on it is probably overkill, but it felt flimsy without it. Dimensioned drawing for the extension is attached.

I moved the control value to the vertical extension to get it a bit higher off the ground. The existing cylinder hoses reached just fine. The valve stick does hit the lift arm when the splitter is placed completely down on the ground, but works fine in every other position.

For a couple bucks worth of steel it makes using and storing the unit a fair amount nicer. Factory design should really be closer to something like this.