It's almost alive! My splitter build.

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dave_dj1

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For those of you not familiar with what I am building, I'll start at the beginning.
Here is what I started with:
I bought this stuff from a scrapper last year.
Cylinder is 4.5" bore and 30" stroke, pins are 1 5/16"
DSCI0035.jpg

Tanks are 17 gal according to tag, they measure about 17" square. The top was 3/4" steel bolted on, with internal pump. I got rid of the top and welded a 1/8" plate with the necessary bungs. Filler, vent and return. The return has an internal pipe going down in about 14". Tank does have a baffle and the filler has a screen and magnet.

DSCI0032-1.jpg

Mock up:
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Motor is a new 11hp predator from HF for $219 after coupon.
Axle was off an old pop up camper, tires and wheels off a Honda Civic, I had to cut the center out of the rims with the plasma cutter to fit over the hubs, it came with small fat wide tires.
A friend gave me the beam, I just had to cut it to length (about 8')
This morning I started bolting it together:
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lift cylinder came in the stuff I bought from the scrapper, not sure of diameter but it has a 6" stroke.

front hitch is like a receiver, take it out and turn it sideways for traveling
SDC10852_zps10b603c9.jpg

I decided to build a little removable dog house over the motor to protect it
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Not so much for me but my brother will use it and I know how he takes care of stuff! LOL
I ended up buying a 22 gpm pump and mount from Surplus Supply
Only things I'm lacking now is the valve, the half of the love-joy for the pump and some hoses.
I put some oil in the motor today and a little gas, two cranks with the choke on and it was running, very smooth and quiet. I was impressed.
 
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Looks good! However I think you need to slot or cut a hole in the aluminum plate where the flywheel/pullstart of the engine is, as the engine will eventually over heat from it.

-Charles
 
Looks great, really like what you did with the diamond plate. Should add lots of life to the engine. For the money the greyhound and predator engines are hard to beat, I am using 13hp with electric start for my build. Do you plan on an out-feed table of some sort? I had used angle iron with the point up for my hydro splitter that I sold and it worked well.

Does lowes sell sheets of diamond plate? How much is a sheet and what is the thickness, that would be great for my splitter build.
 
Looks great, really like what you did with the diamond plate. Should add lots of life to the engine. For the money the greyhound and predator engines are hard to beat, I am using 13hp with electric start for my build. Do you plan on an out-feed table of some sort? I had used angle iron with the point up for my hydro splitter that I sold and it worked well.

Does lowes sell sheets of diamond plate? How much is a sheet and what is the thickness, that would be great for my splitter build.

Lowes sells it in a variety of sizes but they are all over priced. Id shop around. You pay for the conv factor at Lowes or any other "One Stop Shop" store.
 
Thanks guys. I just hope I can scrounge the funds for the valve in the near future.
The diamond plate didn't cost me anything, my brother gets it from a friend of his that works at a trailer factory, mostly scratch and dent. It's over 1/16" thick but not quite 1/8".
I do have the outfeed table in the works, I just need to get to the metal place for a piece of 1/8" sheet.
I want to make a slip on 4 way at some point for some of the easier stuff.
 
Well, in the pile I bought originally there was a dual acting valve, no detent. I decided to hook it up temporarily just to exercise the splitter. The only things I had to buy were a 3/4" swivel 90 coming out of the pump and a 1/2" swivel 90 for the valve. I salvaged as many parts as I could off the hydraulic tanks. I fabbed up the mount for the valve. Oh yeah, I bought the other half of the Nova fitting for the pump so now the pump is all mounted and hitched up. I used some single wire return line for the suction line. It's only about 10.5" long.
Tomorrow I am going to start putting the fluid in the reservoir. All I need now is a piece of 3/4" single wire return line and a filter.
I'll try to remember to get a pic of it now.
 
Real nice build dave. that doghouse you made is awesome. I think I need one. :clap:
 
Thanks guys, it's been a good learning experience (read lot's of head scratching). Some friends and I were talking about it yesterday, one said he didn't know anything about hydraulics and I said "I only knew enough to get into trouble"!
tripster, I have been thinking about that too, I'm not sure what else to do though.
any suggestions?
 
Thanks guys, it's been a good learning experience (read lot's of head scratching). Some friends and I were talking about it yesterday, one said he didn't know anything about hydraulics and I said "I only knew enough to get into trouble"!
tripster, I have been thinking about that too, I'm not sure what else to do though.
any suggestions?

Plug it in and see what you get...

John
 
Well I hooked it all up and started it up! Ran good but cylinder would barely extend, retracts amazingly fast. I did notice a little fluid coming out the front of the cylinder.
I tore the cylinder down, turns out it's only a 4" bore (not the end of the world). I was very disappointed in the performance.
Now I either have to find a shop within 50 miles that can rebuild it or order a new cylinder.
Anyone know of a shop around Albany NY? I'm about 50 miles from there, the only one I knew of went out of business a year or so ago.
For those that know, is it possible that the valve is bypassing? It seems to me that if the cyl. were that bad it would be slow in both directions.
The valve is a Cross B series, spring to center, no detents. It's not the valve I want, just one I had so if I have to junk it, it's no big deal. I was just wanting to try her out.

the 3/4" return seemed to work fine.
I'm just disgusted with the whole mess, I guess that's what you get for trying to save a buck.
Oh well, back to square one.
thanks,
dave
 
If the cylinder piston was bad it would move the same speed in both directions. I'd look at your bypass on the valve to see if it is set to very low pressure.

John
 
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