Three point log splitter

[ptsg]

Where I fail to understand the appeal of a 3-point splitter is that it ties up your tractor while in use. Now you need a second tractor to move logs, and bring them to the splitter!

It all depends on how one stages the logs/firewood. In my case, I bring all the logs to the same place, just by the firewood storage place, where I cut them all in sections to get ready to split. No need for a second tractor at all.

These days, I don't use the tractor to power the log splitter anymore since the tractor sits at the remote propriety most of the time and I needed to split at home, so I changed to 3 phase 400V electric motor.

Around here most people just use a 3 pt splitter with a PTO pump. Much better alternative than a screamer gas engine, specially with our gas vs diesel prices. A lot less fuel consumption too.

 

[grsthegreat]

The most common configuration of standalone splitter uses an 11 GPM pump on a 4" x 24" cylinder, for a full stroke time of 11-12 seconds. Painfully slow, IMO, not everyone is as impatient as me.

Running it off tractor hydraulics is usually going to be even slower, but again, some don't mind. Running off a PTO-driven pump would be much faster, but of course requires a splitter with a suitable reservoir (eg. 1/2 gallon per 1 GPM), for that to work.

Where I fail to understand the appeal of a 3-point splitter is that it ties up your tractor while in use. Now you need a second tractor to move logs, and bring them to the splitter!

Not the way i split wood. I cut trees into 6 foot lengths and haul them to my splitting area for stacking on forks. There, i cut everything into rounds and pile.

I back tractor into piles to split and pile split wood to dry during summer. Can tarp if raining. I dont split huge amounts of wood.

 

[CalG]

It doesn't really need priority valves.

The smaller pump will make its own hydraulic circuit that only feeds the steering and on some tractors the PTO valve too. It just shares the fluid with the bigger pump that handles the loader, remotes and 3 pt.

Pretty sure your Hurlimann is the same way but could be mistaken with the newer model after yours.

Yes, mine is the older model 435 Prince with but a single pump and a priority valve for the steering.

And so the question remains.

 

[CalG]

With a 3pt splitter, it's easy to move away from the split pile.

I cut off a pile delivered by logging truck. The cut rounds are in an area about the length of the logs delivered. If I have cut more than a single saw tank of fuel, the rounds can accumulate, and then so do the splits. Right at the business end of the stand alone splitter. I work alone, and even with a run-off table, splits pile up. I frequently have to toss away splits to get room to roll the splitter down the line to get to the rounds and get away from the splits.

But I don't want a 3pth splitter, the Timber Wolf I have is a fine machine and very fast!

 

[ptsg]

Yes, mine is the older model 435 Prince with but a single pump and a priority valve for the steering.

And so the question remains.

Easiest way to figure that out, would be to have access to a service manual. I'm sure they list those specs there.

They also use the some of the steering flow for the front axle diff lock.

 

[WinterDeere]

Not the way i split wood. I cut trees into 6 foot lengths and haul them to my splitting area for stacking on forks. There, i cut everything into rounds and pile. View attachment 3169015I back tractor into piles to split and pile split wood to dry during summer. Can tarp if raining. I dont split huge amounts of wood.

Hey, whatever works! You guys might have dryer weather in northern Idaho, than we do here.

Piles don't work too well here, they don't dry well and the bottom would rot, as we can be pretty wet here for long stretches of each year. If it's not stacked up off the ground, it will rot before it dries, in our local climate.

Since we're usually stacking in sheds here, parking the splitter next to where you're stacking and bringing the rounds to it, is usually most efficient. I bring either rounds or full logs over to my splitter, and then stack into my sheds off the splitter. But what works best here in eastern PA is maybe not the same as N. Idaho.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ya, i dont have any moisture problems like that. Heck, i can have down trees in woods and after 2 years on the ground, still not rotted.

 

[ruffdog]

The most common configuration of standalone splitter uses an 11 GPM pump on a 4" x 24" cylinder, for a full stroke time of 11-12 seconds. Painfully slow, IMO, not everyone is as impatient as me.

Running it off tractor hydraulics is usually going to be even slower, but again, some don't mind. Running off a PTO-driven pump would be much faster, but of course requires a splitter with a suitable reservoir (eg. 1/2 gallon per 1 GPM), for that to work.

Where I fail to understand the appeal of a 3-point splitter is that it ties up your tractor while in use. Now you need a second tractor to move logs, and bring them to the splitter!

I have run the common splitters at 11gpm and I have run 3pt splitters (painfully slow) that run off the aux hydraulics. My splitter has a 10.5hp engine with a 16gpm pump and it is as slow as I would want.

 

[WinterDeere]

Ya, i dont have any moisture problems like that. Heck, i can have down trees in woods and after 2 years on the ground, still not rotted.

yeah, our ground must hold more moisture. Any log laying on the ground here is pretty punky after a year. With oak, you can usually split off the rotten sapwood, and save the heartwood many years out, but ash just goes straight to the trash. I stack my logs on sleepers, up off the ground with a good air gap beneath, and even then 2 years is about the max time you can leave it in log form, around here.

Once split and stacked under shelter, it can last many years. The last two years, I've been burning wood that came down in a 2019 tornado, and which has been split and stacked under a roof for 4 years. Mostly hickory with some oak, it's been wonderful, so dry it lights easily without kindling, and never stalls out in a catalytic stove, no matter how far I crank down on the inlet air / burn rate. I can easily get 30 - 36 hour burn times on a 3 cubic foot stove, if the wood is dry enough, and put up soon enough after felling to still have good biomass.

 

[dieselscout80]

What type of valve is needed my a splitter do auto return of the ram hands free?