Pto or Stand alone Splitter

[jpm1]

Personally i would stay with a stand alone, put another throw away motor on and your done. I have an American Splitter that was a stand alone. I converted to ride on the 3pt hitch because it sat to low to the ground. Well it sits in the barn now as a paper weight. Wore out 5 briggs and scrap iron motors, several valves and 1 pump. This was over probably 10,000 cord of wood. I have a new 30 ton from Northern and thats the way im going to stay. The little Honda has an auto idle on it and even though it runs fast its still cheaper to run, ( about a gallon every 3 hours or so ) and easier to replace than my tractors engine. We put close to 500 cord of wood through this splitter last year with no expense other than gas and an oil change now and then. Besides with a stand alone you can transport it real easy and you dont tie up a tractor with it on the back. Happy Splitting . . .John

 

[Herkypilot]

Personally i would stay with a stand alone, put another throw away motor on and your done. I have an American Splitter that was a stand alone. I converted to ride on the 3pt hitch because it sat to low to the ground. Well it sits in the barn now as a paper weight. Wore out 5 briggs and scrap iron motors, several valves and 1 pump. This was over probably 10,000 cord of wood. I have a new 30 ton from Northern and thats the way im going to stay. The little Honda has an auto idle on it and even though it runs fast its still cheaper to run, ( about a gallon every 3 hours or so ) and easier to replace than my tractors engine. We put close to 500 cord of wood through this splitter last year with no expense other than gas and an oil change now and then. Besides with a stand alone you can transport it real easy and you dont tie up a tractor with it on the back. Happy Splitting . . .John

John,
That's the one I have too. I added the wedge wings a month ago. There's pro's and con's, but IMHO there are more pro's. It's a very good splitter and I really like the idle down feature. The height of this splitter is right and it's convenient to just hook it up to the ATV and tow to my various piles of wood I have pre-cut around my property.
HP

 

[Obejuan64]

Getting a demo on timberwolf tw3 hd on a l3540, bringing 2 tuff logs.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I found 3ph splitters too slow and those nasty little engines really get on my nerves. Splitting firewood should be quiet and relaxing! Thinking about going electric but that is a whole new project and I already have enough of those Or a little water cooled diesel! There has to a better way!

 

[captjack]

The stand alone works best for me - we set the two facing into the shed - the loader tractor brings the logs next to the splitter and then we buck and split and stack right into the barn. I like having the tractor for moving stuff around just my .02

 

[Mudfarmer]

Can't beat tractor mounted if you have hills, and tight work spaces. Much more maneuverable. But then I wouldn't consider PTO driven. Run it off the tractor hydraulics.
Mf

 

[Sawmilllawyer]

Used both PTO and sand alone.Prefer stand alone. I am with the others on replacing the engine. When the B&S 5HP died I replaced it with a
$99.00 Harbor Freight 6.5 hp. honda clone. Still running after four years. does not start with only one pull like it did new, but still starts and runs good enough to split 5 to 6 ricks of wood a year for me and the same for my brother. Yes on the fuel stabilizer. As a side note the starter recoil usually goes out first on these motors.

 

[ovrszd]

Gordon, I'm not planning on running it from my tractor hydraulics, using a pto pump, no one tells you true facts about the pto hp to the one stage pump, I just want to know if I can run the pto power splitter to it max speed with 25 hp@pto, is there a formula a 10/21 gpm 1 stage ?

I built a 3pt PTO splitter several yeasr ago. Ran it with my Kubota 2910. Had no HP problems at all, Ran tractor engine at 1500rpms. I liked the setup just fine. Only drawback was it tied up the tractor. Now I have a self powered/trailer mounted. I like the versatility better. But as you mentioned, you got another engine to maintain also.

 

[ovrszd]

Should have read clear thru before posting I guess.

I used a 22gpm PTO pump on mine. It was very fast. It was also very powerful. I split a lot of hardwoods. I don't throw anything away so I expect the splitter to deal with knots and forks in a log. No problem there.

My trailer mount uses a 2 stage pump. It's a beast. It's also very expensive.