Thoughts on 3pt log splitters?

[oldpilot]

I have been considering getting a log splitter when I heard somewhere about a log splitter as a tractor attachment. Don't know why I didn't think of looking for that earlier. My question is this. Are they worth it? Some of the prices I've seen are on par with a stand alone splitter. I'm wondering if it is worth getting an attachment over a stand alone. Thoughts?

 

[oldpilot]

I bought a log splitter during the Great Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s when just about everyone in New Hampshire added or refurbished a wood stove. It came from Sears by mail order. That was on my father-in-law's 1952 Allis Chalmers. Not too long after, he bought an International Harvester tractor (actually a Japanese Bison with an American overcoat) which I ran for about forty years before it died and there was no one within fifty miles who'd work on it. So now I have a Mahindra, and (probably for the last time; I'm 93) on November 1 I plan to take the brush hog off and put the log splitter on. So the longevity of the thing is amazing.

The other great advantage is that I can use the log splitter in the woods with the trailer attached, so the mess stays in the woods while the firewood piles up in the trailer, ready to be stacked in the garage.

In all that fifty years the only expense has been adding a rear hydraulic outlet to the Mahindra.

 

[Tr3kker]

I have been considering getting a log splitter when I heard somewhere about a log splitter as a tractor attachment. Don't know why I didn't think of looking for that earlier. My question is this. Are they worth it? Some of the prices I've seen are on par with a stand alone splitter. I'm wondering if it is worth getting an attachment over a stand alone. Thoughts?

I briefly thought about going this route, just to reduce the number of small engines I have to maintain, but why put the hours on my tractor’s engine and hydraulic system. And with the 3pt units I was finding, I wasn’t seeing a cost savings.

 

[CoyPatton]

I have never ran a 3ph log splitter so no reference fir how they work, but the splitting I have done is with a stand alone splitter, often having splits dump from splitter into loader bucket. I don’t really want my tractor tied down to the splitter.

 

[tjandrews]

I have been considering getting a log splitter when I heard somewhere about a log splitter as a tractor attachment. Don't know why I didn't think of looking for that earlier. My question is this. Are they worth it? Some of the prices I've seen are on par with a stand alone splitter. I'm wondering if it is worth getting an attachment over a stand alone. Thoughts?

I had been considering a 3 pt. splitter, but while I was vacillating my sister in law won big at a casino, and bought a stand-alone from Tractor Supply. We store it for them and have free use of it in return.
Good thing she did. I didn't know it at the time, but our only tractor with enough flow has a snowblower on the back in the winter, and doesn't have remote hydraulics, anyway. It would be too much hassle to pull the blower, work with the splitter, then go back again. This way, we can use one of the smaller tractors to take the splitter to the woodpile near the barn, do the job, stack the wood or load it into the bucket on the bigger tractor, put splitter and tractors away when finished. Easy-peasy.
Plus, the splitter uses less fuel than running one of the small tractors fast enough to do the work. It's been years now, and the only maintenance has been putting tubes into the tires and replacing one hose that flexed when you flip the splitter from horizontal to vertical and back.

 

[akadave]

No chance I'm running up hours and maintenance on my tractor for duties a cheap splitter can handle just fine.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Pretty funny, how many hours a year do you guys think you would put on your tractor running a splitter??

50 hours a year would be one heck of a lot of wood splitting, are you guys saying you bought tractors that can't run 50+ hours a YEAR splitting wood?? What kind of junk did you buy??

I split more wood than most folks, and I bet you I average 50 or less hours a year on my tractor splitting wood.

SR

 

[sandman2234]

I am on the opposite side of the spectrum from Sawyer Rob. I live in Florida, don't own a fireplace or stove, but enjoy the exercise I get when i have time to split wood. I used to supply several relatives wood, not so much anymore. My brother had a job at a local yard splitting wood, and when they would wear out a spliter, he would grab it. I ended up with a few parts, and put a 3pt splitter together, and since it isn't used much, I don't have to worry about maintaining an engine. If I get wood then I just hook it up and go to work.
My tractors won't be bothered by a few hours of mid range running. The Jd2555 I usually use for this has plenty of flow to run a 3pt splitter. (over 18gpm)
David from jax

 

[kneedeep]

I picked up a 3 pt homemade splitter few years ago for $150, basically a bh lift cylinder mounted on a I beam with hoses for a tractor remote.
It is slow but powerful enough to split the toughest wood. I need to mount it on a SS plate to move around as the 3pt is rinky dinked for a subcompact machine.
I don’t burn wood for heat, just the hunting camp fire pit which burns most of the season.

 

[ZiggyD]

Why put wear and tear on an expensive tractor engine and get inferior performance to boot?