3 point wood splitters

[btd]

2012 DS4510, 13 gpm pump. Green wood doesn't stand a chance, twisted seasoned beech gives it a workout but the tractor has the power (run off remotes, not pto) but the cylinder could probably stand to be rebuilt.

[overclocking]

To clear up a lot of mixed information I just wanted to add my experience.

3pt splitters are not slow. Its possible if it connected to the remotes then it would be, but most of the ones I see are pto driven. These are much faster then any regular splitter I have ever used and much more capable of splitting big wood.

I use a timberwolf tw3 with log lift and 4 way wedge and using a conveyor 2 cord an hour is average with two people.
Some of these splitters will split 3 ft or larger hardwood log 4 ways without blowing your back out.

I have a video I made somewhere of the tw3 lifting and 4 way splitting 40 inch round cherry logs with minimal effort.

Since using the 3pt unit I have never even thought of firing up the old pull behind.

[Kwill]

I like mine. Its nice not having another gas engine setting around several months out of the year not being ran.

[Woodcutter_Mo]

 I definitely like the idea of not having another engine sitting around. Most of the 3 point splitters I've been seeing do run off the remotes. As long as it's not super slow, would be fine with me. I would prefer one that worked both vertical and horizontal but all of the splitters I see that can work vertically have the wedge on the cylinder for obvious reasons. I wonder if a person could make the wedge and plate removable as to be able to swap them around?

[Gearbox]

What is slow 20 seconds ? That is 3 blocks a min. 180 blocks an hour . Try splitting 180 blocks an hour for 4 hours by hand with a mall . What is slow ?

[Woodcutter_Mo]

 The faster it will split, the better but speed isn't my ultimate goal, being able to split more difficult pieces without messing with hammering wedges as much is what I would like. Sounds like these setups will probably work fine for my uses.

[gspren]

  A few years ago at a farm auction I bought an older homemade 3 pt splitter that uses the tractors hydraulics. It is a well made unit with a 4" X 24" cylinder and came with hoses that will fit either my JD620 or my JD2355, problem is the splitter has an open center valve that's non-convertible so I can only use it as-is on the 1956 JD620 which puts out about 900 lb of pressure so only good on easy stuff. The three options I see are get a different valve for the splitter, get a pto pump so I could use any tractor including the little Kubota or just keep borrowing the neighbors Iron & Oak splitter.

[btd]

Easy straight grain wood splits with just a few inches of travel of the cylinder back and forth, hard to split stuff obviously chews up more time, but, I think an efficient setup is as important (or more so) as cycle time. Imo
Find the happy place between speed and fuel consumption and all is well if you're not trying to make a living at it.

[62oliver]

I run my homemade splitter off the hydraulics on my JD310C, or the aux hydraulics on the skid steer.
  I just split wood for my own use and the few hours per year that amounts to doesn't bother me. It is less hassle than maintaining another engine that you don't really use that much.
  I doubt that it is more than 12-15  hours per year average.
And especially on the 310 it is fast.

[york]

My first splitter was three point mounted,but had its own source of hyd.
8hp-16 gpm pump,nice thing about it,it was self propelled,could move it around with ease...

[chevytaHOE5674]

Much cheaper to run and maintain a small B&S type engine than it is to accumulate hours on a tractor.

[Ivan49]

In 1972 I built one and at the time I used it on a JD 50. I just split about 5 to 10 cords a  year and even if it was slow it was easier than swing a maul. I later used it on my White which ran a little faster but speed was not my goal my goal was to split wood easiernd not have to work on an engine every year just to split wood. I still use this splitter a few times but most of the time now I use my wood processor as I don't have to lift as much. I would not want to guess how many cords I have ran thru the 3 point splitter because many years I used it to help my neighbors out. Now he has one that I built for him and he stills uses it

[gspren]

In 1972 I built one and at the time I used it on a JD 50.

Ivan, did you use the tractor hydraulics or a pto pump?

[Woodcutter_Mo]

Much cheaper to run and maintain a small B&S type engine than it is to accumulate hours on a tractor.

 That's a good point, although since I would be using it mostly for my own firewood I don't think it would rack up too many hours on the tractor. Now if I started selling alot of  firewood, I think it would be a good idea for the splitter to have its own engine. In fact I have several engines that I could use if I were to build my own splitter or if I decided to make the 3 point splitter self contained in the future.

[chevytaHOE5674]

To all you guys talking about having to work on a small b&s type engine yearly what you having to do to them?

My Tecumseh on my splitter is 25 ish years old gets used 2 weeks a year and I've never worked on it other than changing the 1 quart of oil it holds and maybe a spark plug. Same with my rototiller it's got a 40yo Briggs and gets used 1 day a year and I've never had to work on it....

Way less maintenance than a tractor that has fuel/oil/hydraulic/coolant filters to change and those fluids to maintain

[armechanic]

I change the engine to my tiller in the spring and back to the splitter in the fall. I started this in 1991 when I returned from Desert Storm, had to buy new engine last year. I guess I wore it out changing it.

[Hilltop366]

Most problems with seldom used engines are rotten gas, Rusted gas tanks and mouse nest.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Treat your gas with something like stabil or run it empty when your done.... lots cheaper to do one of those two things than run a tractor....

[Kwill]

 I started building mine as a stand alone splitter. You can tell from the pic. But I bought a loader for the 8n and need a front pump to run it. So I decided rather than having to buy  2 pumps one for splitter and one for tractor I would just buy one and add a set of remotes on the 8n to run the splitter. Then I gain a set of remotes on the tractor to run the splitter or whatever I need to and I don't have another engine to maintain. Plus all the wood i cut is here on the farm  and I won't be taking the splitter anywhere. Worked lout great in my situation

 

[47sawdust]

Kwill,
Great idea,seems I would like to see the hyd.plumbing set-up.I take it the loader and the splitter each have their own reservoirs?

By the way I was looking through your gallery and and came across  the bicycle snowplow.It looked like you(?) were plowing snow out in front of a tavern.Genius at work,beware!My wife and I loved it.
Great collection of antique and elderly items.

Had a fella here with a sign out front his place..."We buy junk and sell antiques"