Upside Down Woodsplitter Build

[BrokenTrack]

The older I get, the lazier I have become, and that applies to splitting wood. With a little thought I realized I could put my log trailer to use and build an upside down woodsplitter so that I could sit on my bottom and just run levers...and yes my new woodsplitter has a cup holder! The fabrication was kind of intense, but I will try and breeze through the text so you can see it in the photos.

Basically the woodsplitter comes in two parts; the "carrier" and the woodsplitter itself.

The carrier is where I mounted a pto pump onto the tractor, then fabricated a carrier to mount to the 3 point hitch which would hold the hydraulic reservoir tank, a seat, and a hitch for my trailer. The seat came from a Ford Focus and has all the adjustability: forward and back, recline and even lumbar support! Basically I used a PTO pump so that the woodsplitter was detached from my log loader hydraulics (which has its own separate engine and hydraulic system) so I could get more flow.

On the woodsplitter end, I mounted it to my boom so I get 365 degree rotation, and added a 4 ways splitting head.

In operation I just use my log loader to hover the upside down woodsplitter over the round of wood, pick the round up by pinching it, but not completely splitting it, only doing that when it is over the dump body of my log loader, over my pile, or over another trailer or dump truck. (My bunks can be removed and a dump body put in its place).

 

[Einthewoods]

I have never seen anything like that. ..very cool! What a great build, nice job!

 

[Thomas]

Very interesting. :thumbsup:

 

[BrokenTrack]

I had all the parts kicking around so it was a cheap build, but now that I have proven it works, I might build a new splitter head for it and make it lighter in weight. My loader can handle 800 pounds, but a lighter splitter head would be easier to navigate into the wood pile.

 

[Egon]

Neat idea. You could even split into a trailer etc.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Neat idea. You could even split into a trailer etc.

I do not have a photo of the upside down woodsplitter with the dump body on it, but I do have one of the dump body. It is kind of small so for firewood I would add sides, but it can at least be dumped.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Nice!

 

[CincyFlyer]

The older I get, the lazier I have become, and that applies to splitting wood. With a little thought I realized I could put my log trailer to use and build an upside down woodsplitter so that I could sit on my bottom and just run levers...and yes my new woodsplitter has a cup holder! The fabrication was kind of intense, but I will try and breeze through the text so you can see it in the photos.

Basically the woodsplitter comes in two parts; the "carrier" and the woodsplitter itself.

The carrier is where I mounted a pto pump onto the tractor, then fabricated a carrier to mount to the 3 point hitch which would hold the hydraulic reservoir tank, a seat, and a hitch for my trailer. The seat came from a Ford Focus and has all the adjustability: forward and back, recline and even lumbar support! Basically I used a PTO pump so that the woodsplitter was detached from my log loader hydraulics (which has its own separate engine and hydraulic system) so I could get more flow.

On the woodsplitter end, I mounted it to my boom so I get 365 degree rotation, and added a 4 ways splitting head.

In operation I just use my log loader to hover the upside down woodsplitter over the round of wood, pick the round up by pinching it, but not completely splitting it, only doing that when it is over the dump body of my log loader, over my pile, or over another trailer or dump truck. (My bunks can be removed and a dump body put in its place).

I no longer burn wood, so when I dropped a few dead ash trees in the fall, I cut them into ten foot lengths and dumped them on the edge of my neighbor's yard. I watched him and the little woman cut them to 15" long pieces for their whole-house system, and then split them. It looked backbreaking ('cuz it was) and I thought that it would be much easier to lower a splitter down to a log than to heave a heavy piece up onto it. Even a vertical unit requires handling the pieces while they are still heavy (more than 20" diameter for a lot of them).
What I had in mind wasn't at all like yours; yours is much more useful, as you don't need to move the whole unit to go after a pile of logs. And, even better, it exists now! Good job.

 

[2ndhalf]

Very Nice! and By the way it is "Virtuosly Lazy". I had an instructor who used that term for doing things smarter not harder; it is now my term.

 

[Redlands Okie]

Neat idea. Now it just seems you need a rock splitter to go with that last picture

 

[BrokenTrack]

I am working on it...well a homemade rock picker!

I am clearing forest into farmland here so I have a lot of rocks that need to be picked, and picking rocks by hand is the WORST! I tried to get my (4) daughters into it, but they were not impressed; to the tune where now we use rock picking as a punishment threat! (You can do your homework or pick rocks...choice is yours!)

I have found that to be successful at farming, going into debt and buying everything need just is not going to cut it, so I build homemade equipment, or modify what I have already kicking around.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

Very cool, a video of it in operation would be great!. How is the Wallenstein trailer holding up? They're priced attractively but seem to have some" weak links" in the design compared to there manufactures. You're thoughts?

Matt

 

[square1]

f it had two cups holders that may just be the most useful contraption ever. Sometimes the better half doesn't get my text to restock the energy drinks in a timely manner

 

[BrokenTrack]

Very cool, a video of it in operation would be great!. How is the Wallenstein trailer holding up? They're priced attractively but seem to have some" weak links" in the design compared to there manufactures. You're thoughts?

Matt

I actually thought it was the other way around. I thought they were pricey and the others were inexpensive and made to match. I am hardly brand loyal, I just thought I over-paid for this machine.

Not that I am not happy with it. In a years time it has paid for itself. I am happy with that, and keep finding things to add to it to make it rather a Swiss Army Knife on this farm. Surprisingly the thing I use it the least for (logging) was the reason I bought it.

I lost the market on 8 foot pulpwood so I have been doing tree length wood with my skidder instead, but this time of year, moving round bales for my sheep is a big help. It is really fast at doing that.

 

[bcp]

Lots of ideas:

upside down wood splitter - Google Search

Bruce

 

[BrokenTrack]

Lots of ideas:

upside down wood splitter - Google Search

Bruce

There are a lot of different upside down woodsplitter designs out there, but many have one major design flaw and that is they cannot be rotated to pick up a round to split it. In order to do that, like on the skid steers, they must be spun around to get the right angle. A mini-excavator is a little bit better because it has 365 degree rotation, but still lacks the ability to really maneuver the woodsplitter to get on the round.

Mounting the upside down woodsplitter on a log loader solves a lot of those issues. Not only can an operator swing the boom around, they can reach out and in, but also rotate the woodsplitter 365 degrees once they are where they want it. That is a lot of flexibility and means a person can split a poke of wood with the tractor sitting in just one spot before it needs to move.

None of the other ways are really "wrong', just a little more limited.

 

[bcp]

I was thinking more about ideas for the design and mounting of the splitter itself than what it was mounted on. The articulation of the log loader makes a big difference in ease of use.

Bruce