Conveyor - any convert a little giant?

[nvr-enuf]

Hello everyone

My converted (modified and improved!) rayco ls2526 splitter works great, almost too good because the results of piles of split wood

My next want is a conveyor to fill the dump trailer

I found a 16' long little giant farm conveyor for sale

Has any used one of these for wood and if so, how well did it work

Pictures would be helpful

Thanks

 

[T. Mainus]

I went through two of them before I bit the bullet and bought an actual firewood conveyor. It will work it just depends on how much you use them and what you are trying to do. I destroyed the first one in about 3 years. the second one didn't last a year. We would spend more time bolting paddles back on and putting the chain back on than you would splitting wood. But we are splitting wood to sell. If your just a homeowner than its probably going to be just fine. The elevators run pretty fast and when you get a piece of wood caught in it usually something is going to break. We tried slowing them down but it was never enough. We had them wired so you could turn it off or on from either side of the elevator in case something happened.One of the other guys by me just picked up a used power split single so he now has a used timberwolf conveyor, not sure if he's keeping it or not. The pics are from our first one.

 

[captjack]

I have a New Holland one that breaks the chain all the time -its a total pain in the @ss - I have been looking for a belt and might try to convert it to a belt drive. I have to agree with T.mainus you spend more time fixing it than splitting with it with the chain

 

[Joesell]

I've been using an old hay elevator for the last 7 years. It does need repairs once in a while but it's worth it to me because I only have about $500 into it.

The first thing I did was put a HF predator engine on it. It worked, but was way to fast. I ended up getting a jack plate for a mini bike and that really slowed it down.

I keep the main belt a little loose so if I get a jam it slips instead of breaking something.

It' a 20" wide conveyor. I buck all my rounds at 16". It seems stupid, but just keeping the splits at 16" has really cut down on the jamming. Also, I make sure to keep the splitter trash off of it. That can also jam at the top.

I'd love to get an actual purpose built firewood splitter, but they're way out of my price range. Until I can find someone giving one away, I'll make due with this old one.

 

[Jakers]

One of the biggest problems with the hay elevators is the bottom drive. I honestly believe if one were to re-engineer them to a top drive, many of the problems would be solved or prevented

 

[cantoo]

I have a grain elevator that I use and 2 for spares. I use mine a lot and have only had a couple of issues usually because of operator error. I keep my belt loose so that if a piece of wood gets caught it just slips the belt. I also have a Décor style light switch to turn it on and off quickly if needed. I keep a 5 gallon pail of used oil close by and when I get tired of the noise I pour some on the chains to quiet them down. There are pictures here if you search my user name and conveyor. I also split 32' wood but don't use the conveyor for that, I try to pick my battles.

 

[rancher2]

One of the biggest problems with the hay elevators is the bottom drive. I honestly believe if one were to re-engineer them to a top drive, many of the problems would be solved or prevented

I did that with my old ear corn elevator that we used for firewood. I ran it with a hyd motor and a jack shaft to make it run slow it worked pretty well and didn't jam up like it did when it was driven at the bottom. A few years back I found a old belt gravel conveyor it is all hyd ran lift and drive I had to gear it down some more for firewood but it never has a problem. I got lucky and picked it up for $500.00 with a bad motor and I had a motor laying around. Sold the old ear corn elevator for $300.00 so it all worked out.

 

[Streblerm]

We have been running an OLD hay elevator for many years, more than I can count with two “modifications”. The first is that we run the motor loose so that if something binds it slips the belt rather than breaking the chain. The second mod was pulling the covers off the bottom end as splitter trash tended to cause it to bind there.

This is not commercial use but a 4 family firewood co-op doing 30ish cords per year.

 

[Joesell]

We have been running an OLD hay elevator for many years, more than I can count with two “modifications”. The first is that we run the motor loose so that if something binds it slips the belt rather than breaking the chain. The second mod was pulling the covers off the bottom end as splitter trash tended to cause it to bind there.

This is not commercial use but a 4 family firewood co-op doing 30ish cords per year.

I forgot about that. My conveyor is 20" wide. I cut a 16" x 12" hole in the bottom about 6' up for the trash. That really helped a lot. I also drilled a few 1/2" holes in the bottom pan for water to drain out. It helps to keep it from icing up in the winter between uses.