4 way wedge on home build splitter

[DonTee]

I have a home built splitter that was given to me by my dad. Probably built before I was alive. Anyways, it’s very slow, but has lots of power. So I’d like to cobble together a 4 way wedge if I can.

The wedge that’s on there is beefy sucker. It looks like it was made from pieces of steel welded together. And it’s welded to the I-beam. So I see a couple options here. The first is to grind off the welds and install a whole new 4 way wedge.
The second would be to add a piece of horizontal steel on top of the wedge. That would technically be a 3 way wedge, but maybe it would work the same as a 4 way.

The current wedge is 6” tall, so welding a piece on the top would give me decent spacing.

Pls see pics. Any ideas are appreciated

 

[salecker]

My splitter is like yours with just one splitting plane
You could make a complete 4 way to slip over the original and weld it on or try it temporally.
I am glad mine is just a 2 split.a 4 way would make to small of splits for my use.

 

[DonTee]

It would be nice to be able to test it before welding the piece on. Or make it removable.

 

[Riverbanks]

Is that a two handle control? I see black and red knobs? And I think ram height off of beam would be a problem, maybe think of raising that? Try for a centering of the split wood, I would hate to see a bent ram and leaking seal, but, for a hollow cherry round, like I get around here, it would be perfect with a horizontal tee welded on

 

[DonTee]

It does have two controls, but only the red one does anything. I was told the hyd control came from railroad track switching equipment. So I don’t what it did originally.

The wedge is 6” off the deck. That would make big enough pieces for me. My only concern is if I stick a really big, gnarly piece of wood in there. It would be nice to make the 4 way attachment removable.

For the most part I cut smaller trees. Lately I’ve been cutting a lot of ash. So some trees are bigger than I would normally split. I would say I usually cut about 16” diameter trees. Some of the ash are 24” diameter or more.

The ram seals do leak some. Not too bad. Check out the size of the ram. That sucker isn’t gonna bend. Lol

The ram is 4 1/2” diameter

 

[hedge wood]

Do yourself a favor and forget the four way. You will just tear that splitter up. That belt driven pump won't like a four way. Splitters need to be built to take the pressure a four way makes and they should be hyd adjustable so you can move them out of the way when not needed. I run one on my processor with a eight inch cylinder and it likes to break welds once an while.

 

[Corey]

If it is 'really' slow, as opposed to just 'normally' slow you could probably go through and see how the components are spec'd. Maybe you have a really small volume pump, single speed pump, or bad pulley arrangement? Possibly a modern 2-stage direct drive pump would speed things up?

 

[DonTee]

I did a motor swap on it last year. It had a really old Briggs on it when I got it. I think it’s a late 1950’s or early 1960’s model. Anyways, I put a newer Honda engine on the splitter.
When I had it apart I thought about trying some different pulley sizes to see if it would speed it up. I ended up not doing it, but am still curious about that.

This has an ancient looking Vickers “Hydraulic power pack” part number PK1-5200F-12-LH. I wasn’t able to find out any info about this unit.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I would make a new wedge for it that you can slip to a 4 way. You could purchase one already made and just make the adjustments to make it fit on yours. I have a 4 way for one of mine. Just as a heads up.. I dont use it on the bigger rounds.. just like 12 in stuff

 

[DonTee]

TSC has some wedges that look like these. I think you just drop that on top of the existing wedge. So maybe I could make something like that, then I could pull it off and go back to a single wedge if I’m splitting bigger stuff.

So what’s the minimum thickness steel I would want to use for that? 1/4”?

 

[Jags]

You will tear out 1/4" like a beer can.

 

[DonTee]

Lol. Yeah I was just reading something on another forum that recommends 3/4”-1” steel. I don’t think my welder can give good penetration on steel that thick.

Basically at some point I’m going to get a better/ faster splitter. The I have now works, and was free. I’ll probably just keep using it as is for a couple more years until I can justify a newer one.

 

[EbS-P]

Lol. Yeah I was just reading something on another forum that recommends 3/4”-1” steel. I don’t think my welder can give good penetration on steel that thick.

Basically at some point I’m going to get a better/ faster splitter. The I have now works, and was free. I’ll probably just keep using it as is for a couple more years until I can justify a newer one.

Just grind or cut it on a 45 degree angle and fill it all up with multiple weld passes. I’m not sure any welder could get good penetration on 1” material

I’d try welding on one wing. worst case it breaks off. Your standing on the opposite side. Grind it back smooth your out at most 2-3 hours. Best case it work super well and you can add another on the other side.

 

[DonTee]

Ok that’s makes sense. I’m not a super good welder. I can weld exhaust and broken tractor parts. That’s about my experience level. I’ll give it a shot though.


I’ll look around my dads and uncles scrap piles to see what metal they have. I might be able to scrounge up some 3/4” or 1” chunks to make wings. I think I saw some pieces of I-beam in the pile. Maybe I could hack off a few chunks of that.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

you want to use .5 inch weld together.. but stager to make the 45 you need

 

[DonTee]

Another option I would explore is getting a 3 point hitch wood splitter for my tractor. I’d like one that has its own pump though, since my tractor doesn’t have any remote hyd hookups.

I figure my tractor is always running well, doesn’t use that much fuel at idle, and is more powerful than any standalone splitter motor.

I guess the only issue would be finding a splitter with a pump that doesn’t have to be spun at 540 rpm to get decent speed/pressure. I’m not sure what engine rpm my tractor requires to get the 540 pto rpm, but it’s at a higher rpm than I usually use the tractor.
I idle it around 90% of the time. Just pulling trees out of the woods, and using the logging winch.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I kave a kubuta tractor.. I wouldn't consider putting a splitter on it. The cost of maintenance is so much higher.. cost of fuel higher not to mention dropping hours on an expensive pice of equipment.. the cost of a PTO splitter is roughly the cost of a mid grade splitter and cheaper to run..

 

[ericm979]

You could run a larger than needed 540 rpm pump at a lower rpm.

PTO pumps don't make as high a pressure as a two speed splitter pump so even with the same gpm you'll have less splitting power. 2200 psi vs 3000 psi.

Once you factor in the three point splitter, pump and tank, it'll cost significantly more than a new standalone splitter. PTO pumps cost a lot more than splitter pumps.

 

[blades]

tipically you need apx 2000rpm for your pto to be at speed weather it be 540 or 1000 rpm. this is also the main power band on most tractors. 3 point splitters are general made to be run by the tractors hydro system . that could be any where from5 to17 gpm. course if you do not have a rear remote or one that can be equiped with a diverter valve more dollars. slip on wedges - yep they slip on but almost always require hevy duty bashing to remove. they add considerable stress to your beam and oem wedge. yes they tend to shed wings on a regular basis. repaired quite a few units that could not stand up to the forces that come into play, over the years. Lately 3 point splits seem to be running at or more than a box store 20-30 ton stand alone unit.

 

[Isaac Carlson]

Here is mine. It started out very similar to yours. Slip on 4 way. The wings are set back almost 2".

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[FTG-05]

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[DonTee]

Speaking of PTO splitters, this one popped up locally for 300 bucks. It would need some improvements for sure (like a cradle to catch/hold the log). And honestly I don’t know that it would be any faster than my current splitter. Check it out.

It uses a PTO driven pump. And I would even get half a driveshaft. Lol.

 

[DonTee]

Also what are those wheels off of? A model T or something? Lol.

 

[salecker]

Love the old machinery that is still working.
Model A would be my guess on the wheels
VW on the OP's splitter

 

[DonTee]

Back when stuff was built to last...

The axle and wheels on my splitter are definitely VW. They took a front axle and welded it so it doesn’t turn anymore.

We have a doodlebug out in the field that hasn’t moved in years. It’s built out of various old Ford parts. I bet it wouldn’t take much to get it going again.