Thoughts on 3pt log splitters?

[Wagtail]

I'd prefer a stand a lone woodsplitter for convenience and to have the use of my tractor

I agree.

Plus it then frees up the tractor for moving the rounds/split wood around.

 

[lej]

I have both and the tractor is

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?

a lot quieter. My tractor is just as fast and just as powerful as the stand alone splitter and it cycles very slightly slower at an idle. To keep the remote engaged I installed a barrel latch.

 

[oldpilot]

I've read through these posts for a second time, and I'll stick with the 1975 Sears Roebuck three-point log splitter. The last time I did this I split two cords in eight hours working with a helper. I think that was five years ago and I'm only now hitching up the splitter again to replenish my firewood. So that's less than two hours a year, which I figure is GOOD for the tractor, which has only 208 hours on it. To be sure, after ten years of dust my wife went on strike and we stopped heating with wood. Now it's all for the fireplace. I'll be 94 on Sunday and I go to bed early, so there's not as many fires as there used to be.

 

[TMGT]

I bought a cheap older splitter years ago, I use the tractor to load the rounds on the splitter. I would rather put the hrs on a cheap small engine then the expensive tractor!

Sent from my SM-S921U using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[dodge man]

I actually went and bought a DeWalt 20ton battery powered splitter. Probably asking for trouble but we will see.

Post up a pic and how you like it, didn’t know they made one.

 

[dodge man]

I looked at the Dewalt splitter on the Home Depot site. It looks similar to a gas powered but with batteries. It looks decent, curious about the speed and battery life. The price seems high to me at over $2k.

 

[taxidermst]

I have had a split fire on my kubota l2250 for over a decade. My only regret is not buying it sooner. No issues, great splitter.
Have heated exclusively with wood over for over 30 years, so have a little knowledge to back up my post.

Paul B

 

[Oaktree]

If you are not going to get into firewood, does it make sense to own something for occasional use?

Before I bought my splitter, I rented one from Home Depot. If you have stuff organized and a person helping, you can split a lot of wood in one day. For $100 once a year, is it worth having something that takes up space, has to be maintained and ties up capital?
.........
But I am a numbers guy and not much into having lots of "toys" that accumulate until I need to build another storage building.

By "get into firewood", are you referring to doing it commercially? If I were planning on running a firewood business I'd be more likely to get a processor.

I bought a used (gas) splitter maybe 25 years ago and never looked back. A grapple load of wood will last me 2-3 years, so the splitter doesn't get used every year but it sure is handy to have it to use when it's convenient for me rather than renting one and having to get it all done at once. Plus...have you rented anything from HD lately? They seem to have gone out of their way to make the process as painful as possible.

Don't forget about those that are smart enough to cut over a trailer or wagon, so they don't need a tractor to bring the rounds to the splitter!

My firewood gets unloaded at the side of the road, I'll pick logs off the pile with my forks, cut it right there and stack the rounds nearby. I'll then set up the splitter right next to that pile and split away.

 

[Mudfarmer]

Three-point! No contest. No maintenance, mine works like new 15 years in. Originally it cost about two thirds the price of a stand-alone with a GOOD engine. There's no small motor fuss on a cold, rainy winter day. Since I have better things to do on nice days, I am usually splitting in foul weather. I Back the tractor up to my woodshed just enough to get the splitter under cover. With the splitter on the 3-point, I'm not standing in an enclosed space sucking up small-engine gasoline exhaust. The diesel exhaust pointed in the other direction about ten feet away is blown off by the wind.

Only issue is making sure you have compatible couplers on the tractor. Hydraulic hose couplers are the one thing NOT standardized in the machinery world. If not compatible, assuming you are not a hydraulic pro, budget a couple hundred more to switch them out. I actually loaded up my tractor and splitter once and trailered down to the hydraulic shop to ensure I got the hook-ups right.

Finally, ignore all the nonsense about using a front loader to load an unmanageable round onto a stand-alone splitter. Assuming you don't knock over the splitter, by the time all the maneuvering is done you could have chain-sawed the block lengthwise a couple of times down to safely manageable size (and in my case under shelter out of the rain).

 

[Spanner]

Horses for courses.