Gas to Diesel Splitter Conversion

martyinmi · March 09, 2013, 10:19:32 AM

I put this 10 hp diesel engine on my splitter a while back.

There was just enough room for the coupler mount to clear the splitter main frame.

I split some Ash and pine with it and it worked as good or better than the 1650 series Briggs did.

I ended up pulling it off and putting the gas engine back on it. The diesel is just too loud and way too stinky.
It only takes about a half hour or so to make the switch.
I bought the diesel quite a few years back because of it's ability to burn just about any oil- filtered used motor oil cut 50/50 with diesel, clean used vegetable oil, filtered transmission oil, even filtered gear lube mixed 30/70 with diesel or kerosine. I've even had this one running on pure used 15W40 filtered Shell Rotella.
I made a three stage filtering set up using a 20 micron filter, then a 10 micron, then a 2 micron.
The engine is supposed to be a clone(from China of course) of an old air cooled Yanmar. They were supposed to be bulletproof and simple to work on.
Hopefully I won't have to find out!

thecfarm · March 09, 2013, 10:30:36 AM

Interesting it will burn all that so called fuel. :D I have a splitter that is set up just about like that. My I beam looks differant but motor sits in the same place. Nice tractor. My wife has a 30hp,T1510,that we really only use to mow with and put a snow blower on the back. I use it to take the wood spitter down with and get my tractor to put the wood in the loader.

martyinmi · March 09, 2013, 11:10:05 AM

My tractor is a TZ 25 DA.
I work the snot out of that little thing.
It is my grass cutter(60" deck),snow pusher, garden tiller, log forwarder, ect.

My wife is not allowed on it. She is really hard on things that she didn't pay for! There are a few scratches on the hood, a ripped seat, and a broken tail light to verify my accusations! >:(

thecfarm · March 09, 2013, 12:22:11 PM

Just the opposite here,I'm really not allowed on her tractor. She can see the ~~damage~~ things that I have done with mine. But saying that her tractor has never seen the work that mine has,never been in the works,never dug rocks,never hauled wood with it. It's one of those tractors that anyone would like to buy. Except when they see the amount of hours on it.

sawguy21 · March 09, 2013, 12:47:05 PM

Quote from: martyinmi on March 09, 2013, 11:10:05 AM
My wife is not allowed on it. She is really hard on things that she didn't pay for! There are a few scratches on the hood, a ripped seat, and a broken tail light to verify my accusations! >:(

She must be related to my wife. :D

Ivan49 · March 09, 2013, 08:59:58 PM

If my wife gets on any of my tractors I don't want to be around and I just hope they are out of the pole barn or I will need a new barn and maybe a new tractor ;D

SPIKER · March 09, 2013, 09:22:54 PM

Quote from: Ivan49 on March 09, 2013, 08:59:58 PM
If my wife gets on any of my tractors I don't want to be around and I just hope they are out of the pole barn or I will need a new barn and maybe a new tractor ;D

That is how MOST barns get the 2nd Garage Door on the other end of the shop! :D

Mark

leonz · March 10, 2013, 12:41:16 PM

Quote from: martyinmi on March 09, 2013, 10:19:32 AM
I put this 10 hp diesel engine on my splitter a while back.

There was just enough room for the coupler mount to clear the splitter main frame.

I split some Ash and pine with it and it worked as good or better than the 1650 series Briggs did.

I ended up pulling it off and putting the gas engine back on it. The diesel is just too loud and way too stinky.
It only takes about a half hour or so to make the switch.
I bought the diesel quite a few years back because of it's ability to burn just about any oil- filtered used motor oil cut 50/50 with diesel, clean used vegetable oil, filtered transmission oil, even filtered gear lube mixed 30/70 with diesel or kerosine. I've even had this one running on pure used 15W40 filtered Shell Rotella.
I made a three stage filtering set up using a 20 micron filter, then a 10 micron, then a 2 micron.
The engine is supposed to be a clone(from China of course) of an old air cooled Yanmar. They were supposed to be bulletproof and simple to work on.
Hopefully I won't have to find out!

Hello Marti,

you can still use your diesel for your log splitter if you wish to do so.

You can purchase a catalytic converter for your clone from Foley Engine in Massachusetts. you will need to let the diesel warm up for 10 minutes or so before hand and there is no diesel smell or exhaust smoke and it only exhausts carbon dioxide and water vapor. You can also pipe the exhaust into a 5 gallon bucket of water to reduce the noise.

I have one on my gas powered commercial wood splitter and I am glad I bought it to replace the muffler on the Honda engine(GX340) which was making me sick while using it. when the Honda Dies I will be replacing it with a Duetz or Hatz Diesel.

sawguy21 · March 10, 2013, 03:49:53 PM

If the diesel works for you great but it would not be my choice for that application. Too noisy and heavy for me and if the Haatz or Deutz goes down a new splitter would be cheaper than repairing it.

Al_Smith · March 10, 2013, 04:19:33 PM

I once saw a single cylinder air cooled diesel on a chain trencher .German made engine with a crank that came out of the flywheel with a ratcheting exhaust valve .

It was really slick of design .It took 4 revolutions to completely lower the valve .Meanwhile the increasing compression warmed the cylinder and allowed some inertia to be built up in the flywheel to carry it over center once full compression was reached .At full compression you could not pull it over even using two hands . My Lawd that thing was noisey enough to waken the dead but it certainly had the lugging power .

martyinmi · March 10, 2013, 06:50:31 PM

Quote from: leonz on March 10, 2013, 12:41:16 PM

Hello Marti,

you can still use your diesel for your log splitter if you wish to do so.

You can purchase a catalytic converter for your clone from Foley Engine in Massachusetts. you will need to let the diesel warm up for 10 minutes or so before hand and there is no diesel smell or exhaust smoke and it only exhausts carbon dioxide and water vapor. You can also pipe the exhaust into a 5 gallon bucket of water to reduce the noise.

I have one on my gas powered commercial wood splitter and I am glad I bought it to replace the muffler on the Honda engine(GX340) which was making me sick while using it. when the Honda Dies I will be replacing it with a Duetz or Hatz Diesel.
[/quote]
Thanks for the information Leon. I don't think I'll be putting that stinky thing on any time soon. I bought it as a "just in case things get real bad and we run out of gas" kind of thing. Our back up heat is fuel oil, so if things got real bad I'd hoped I'd be able to cobble up that little diesel up to maybe run a small generator and run off the heating oil in the basement.

Logging logginglogging · March 11, 2013, 09:34:28 AM

Quote from: thecfarm on March 09, 2013, 10:30:36 AM
Interesting it will burn all that so called fuel. :D I have a splitter that is set up just about like that. My I beam looks differant but motor sits in the same place. Nice tractor. My wife has a 30hp,T1510,that we really only use to mow with and put a snow blower on the back. I use it to take the wood spitter down with and get my tractor to put the wood in the loader.

I do the same thing with my desiel, I need a batter filtering setup tho, mine is kind of temporary... Can you post a picture of your filtering setup? I have a oil filter relocation bracket for my filter.

Logging logginglogging · March 11, 2013, 09:39:24 AM

I am selling my lil Case 310 dozer with loader this spring, But keeping my backhoe, I cound get along with out it. It a Allis 715B, I absolutly love it and use if for everything, including portable staging when staining the house

martyinmi · March 11, 2013, 07:41:52 PM

[/quote]

I do the same thing with my desiel, I need a batter filtering setup tho, mine is kind of temporary... Can you post a picture of your filtering setup? I have a oil filter relocation bracket for my filter.
[/quote]
I'll take a picture tomorrow and try to post it- that's iffin' I don't forget!

r.man · March 11, 2013, 11:02:11 PM

Martyinmi, I have been thinking about adding a vertical exhaust pipe to my splitter for health reasons. Bad enough that I have to breathe exhaust when I use a chainsaw but no reason I have to do the same with the splitter. It will probably require either a flex joint for vibration or something that will do the same job. I think it should dump out at least 6 ft up to be away from my breathing area.

Logging logginglogging · March 12, 2013, 02:26:54 PM

Quote from: martyinmi on March 11, 2013, 07:41:52 PM

I do the same thing with my desiel, I need a batter filtering setup tho, mine is kind of temporary... Can you post a picture of your filtering setup? I have a oil filter relocation bracket for my filter.
[/quote]
I'll take a picture tomorrow and try to post it- that's iffin' I don't forget!
[/quote]

Thank you... that will be good to see

martyinmi · March 12, 2013, 04:44:58 PM

A few shots of my northern redneck filtration set-up. smiley_hillbilly_tub_base

I know it's crude, but it actually worked very well. I did quit using it a few years ago after I had to put new injectors in my '94 FL 80 Freightliner's 5.9 Cummins. The filter set up did a good job of getting enough fine particulates out of the fuel mixture, but I didn't have any provisions for removing the water/antifreeze. Water eats up fuel injection components!

martyinmi · March 12, 2013, 05:00:00 PM

A few shots of my splitter after I put the gas engine back on and made and installed my "back saver".

I am about 235lbs. and my 72lb 11 year old can lift me up with this. I've only used it on one piece of wood so far, but it was a chunk much larger(30" diameter-24" long Ash) than my old back cares to lift anymore. I raise it up until it's level, a spring pulls the bar underneath up and a notch in the bar catches on the splitter beam, then I use my LOG-RITE peavy to roll it onto the splitter platform. It works even better than I'd hoped. 8)

r.man · March 12, 2013, 07:09:07 PM

Marty, you have confused me, not that it is hard to do. You keep the platform in the down position for splitting, lift it to level and then roll a block on to the bottom part? I am having trouble visualizing this. You then put the peavey handle into a socket on the bottom part to give you leverage and lift the bottom and block up to the top platform height to be slid across to the splitting area. Is that right? It looks like something I would be interested in building for mine.

Al_Smith · March 12, 2013, 07:23:32 PM

Marty is just a confusing fellow in general .That so called 35 ton rated TSC splitter is a tip up and it tips up very easily .I've used that same exact model and it does a nice job and it's not a problem to up end it if the round is a heavy one .

martyinmi · March 12, 2013, 08:43:44 PM

Quote from: r.man on March 12, 2013, 07:09:07 PM
Marty, you have confused me, not that it is hard to do. You keep the platform in the down position for splitting, lift it to level and then roll a block on to the bottom part? I am having trouble visualizing this. You then put the peavey handle into a socket on the bottom part to give you leverage and lift the bottom and block up to the top platform height to be slid across to the splitting area. Is that right? It looks like something I would be interested in building for mine.

The platform is in the up position all the time- except for when lifting large pieces of wood. When I have one that is too heavy,I lower the platform,then roll a piece on to it(when it's in the down position), insert the long lever(that silver piece of conduit), lift up on it until the notch on the arm catches on the lower portion of the splitters I beam. At that point, the chunk of wood is ready to be rolled up(about 8") and on to the splitter platform with a cant hook or peavy.
I didn't have to buy anything to make it. The square tubing came from old calf pen gates that I welded together more than 20 years ago, the conduit and hinge material came from the scrap pile.
That's me- I'm all about recycling! :D
If I need to take it somewhere, I pull 2 pins and the whole thing comes off.
Definitely not an engineering marvel, just one of the many boring things my kid and I do do instead of watching the Super Bowl or NASCAR ;)

Logging logginglogging · March 13, 2013, 01:22:33 PM

Quote from: martyinmi on March 12, 2013, 04:44:58 PM
A few shots of my northern redneck filtration set-up. smiley_hillbilly_tub_base

I know it's crude, but it actually worked very well. I did quit using it a few years ago after I had to put new injectors in my '94 FL 80 Freightliner's 5.9 Cummins. The filter set up did a good job of getting enough fine particulates out of the fuel mixture, but I didn't have any provisions for removing the water/antifreeze. Water eats up fuel injection components!

what do uou have for a pump to pump it through these filters?

martyinmi · March 13, 2013, 06:34:20 PM

I never used a pump, just air once in a while. For the most part, I'd just let it gravity flow through them. I'd have my "witches brew" mixture as homogenized as I could in a 55 gallon drum. I'd then lay the drum down in my loader bucket and lift it up a little higher than the tank I was filling and let it fly. If I did it outside in the winter, I'd sometimes have to use a couple pounds of compressed air(I have a valve stem threaded in to the barrel) to help force it out.
I never tried using a pump. I was always afraid that the by-pass in the filters would let loose and I'd end up with debris in the fuel.