Splitter project question... 2 stage or 1 stage.

[Sandhill Crane]

Thank you CylinderService. Greatly appreciated.

I had to plumb in a dump valve as I was calculating up to 65 gpm of flow on the return stroke. Speed in a hydraulic splitter costs money.

Yes, the TW-6 has a dump valve. And yes, it cost a whole lot of money.
I think Eastonmade is the one running higher psi, but don't hold me to it.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

Yea Eastonmade does run higher pressure but smaller cylinders. They look to be a good machine.

 

[muddstopper]

So far, cheapest option is to have this splitter and pump combo work. I'm almost there... Want to say we are under the $400 mark. Lots of hours spent already...

Looks like dad has some time tonight to cobble on it with me.

I finally sold my old car, however, all the 5x100 rims (including the rollers I had that I had on the splitter) went with it. Trying like heck to find 13" tires or some 5x100 doughnut spares to put on the old rims. I can borrow some doughnut spares from a friend, but he wants them back in the spring, so I put a feeler on craigslist.

Since the pump woodruff key I have is smaller than the keyway on the jaw coupler, I'm thinking about shimming it out with some tiny strips of roof flashing.

Realize this is a little late, but they do sell step keyways to adapt form one size key to a larger or smaller size.
https://www.grainger.com/product/5W...vice^c-plaid^82128463317-sku^5WA62-adType^PLA

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Mudstopper, we got it machined. but thats pretty cool. Dad thinks the pump shaft wore due to the incorrect key sizing in the first place (IE, the coupler was spinning on the shaft)

Getting closer: Got a the 17.5 Hydraulic tank. Got the steel to mount it. Found some parts to an old grill handle to mount the gas tank to the frame that looks really good.

I got the harness stripped and mostly translated for removing the interlocks and deck PTO wiring. I'm sort of tempted to keep this Deck PTO wiring and just bridge the switch interlocks. Haven't decided which will cause the least damage and will be the most reliable- afraid that a big bundle of wires will attract mice and be suceptible to water, but cutting it ALL off might kill opportunities to use the Deck Pto switch wiring to run a solenoid or a cooling fan for instance.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Some pics of the progress. Just need to weld on the gas tank and then all the rest is wiring and plumbing. Got the wiring harness and schematics all laid out trying to make my mind up on the wires to keep and cut out.

Dad welding on the tank brackets. Welded it on with heavy duty channel iron and 1/2 inch bolts. Didn't want it coming off going down the road!!!

The motor and motor bracket were raised 3/8 to help with squaring. Old channel rails were way funky. Motor bracket is bolted and raised on 1/2" plate in addition to the 3/8.

 

[siouxindian]

http://www.splitez.com/log_splitter_wood_splitters.html . this site may help you.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Not much progress lately. today was the first time since before Thanksgiving we worked on it. I'm plumbing the return side and dad is mounting the motor. We cannot get it to sit flat so he's looking for some brass shim stock. Having a tough time finding the right hardware to bolt on the pump and the motor too. To the top for pics tomorrow hopefully.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Pipe fittings installed in the tank and hose cut for the pump pickup. 1" elbow to a 3/4" nipple with the threads cut off for a hose barb. Can't hook it up till the motor is bolted down and we have our final alignment worked out.

1" Pipe fittings installed in the tank for return from filter. Return filter to control valve 3/4" and return hose plumbed up.


New guts placed in the broken hitch. Will be cutting off excess material and shortening this up. It will still be removeable, as will the front legs, so it will be easier to store and won't be so long, and the front legs have to come off to tow it

The sawdust on the floor is from actuating the control valve with compressed air and blasting hydraulic fluid and water all over the place and not anticipating the amount of fluid that I'd be dealing with or the force with which it would be dispensed. Was good to get all that crap outta there but boy what a mess.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

2 nights between dad and I and 1 day of dad's good progress. Pics tonight. All the major issues have been worked out.

All thats left is the battery and wiring, a couple hoses, welding the gas tank bracket up, and making the control panel to hold the lawnmower controls, and hooking up the fuel line. Hes got the appropriate punches at work for the ignition switch, the throttle cable, and the choke pull, punching it into an old electrical box door. We don't have a plan for the muffler yet. The front legs need welded up and the hitch needs a hole for a pin drilled.

If dad gets the tank bracket welded up, I definitely see a test fire this weekend though!

 

[FlyingDutchman]

When stripping the harness I removed all safety switches and ended up keeping the hour meter, low oil pressure light, and the PTO switch. Dad is putting the hour meter and oil light on the dash but until we end up using the PTO switch switch circuit it it'll get tied up behind. The reverse interlock circuit was the most complicated. Ended up having a relay that de energized and interrupted ground to the pto clutch to turn it off. Took looking at a bunch of diagrams to figure that out. I just permanently grounded the circuit so it just turns on and off normally with pto switch. Going to disable that mf-er on my 1641 the same way. So far, all circuits test out and the engine cranks nicely.

We decided to raise the control valve to take some strain off the back of the operator. 5 1/2 inches. Used fine thread 3/8ths bolts.

Getting very close here.

 

[GM_Grimmy]

Ewww, butt splices!! Throw those away and get some solder and a soldering iron and some heat shrink. That will hold and make a much better connection.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Yeah, too late now. (As much as I agree with you, GM Grimmy)

Splitter is running and splitting! Ran with choke till the old gas cleared from the carb then ran great... Still needs proper exhaust. The top cylinder leaks out the rod seal a bit but absolutely nowhere near as bad as I expected. No other leaks at all. I was ready with oil pans and totes errywhere for some massive failure. Split about 10 logs in the garage with much wooping and hollering! Dad was pretty happy with it too.

Needs some work on the front legs and hitch before it can be "deployed in action" but its a runner.

 

[kevin j]

Ewww, butt splices!! Throw those away and get some solder and a soldering iron and some heat shrink. That will hold and make a much better connection.

I use the CSS (crimp, solder, seal) splice and terminals for important applications. Crimp in place, then apply low heat solder flame. There is low heat melting solder inside the ferrule, and glue on the ends that melts and seals it up. Don’t recall if they are T&B, or another brand. I get from Waytek Wire in Chanhassan MN by inet. Not cheap, about 75 cents to a buck apiece, but way better strain relief and sealing than simple terminals and heat shrink.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

The dash and the other half of the electric box door it was made from. Low oil pressure light shining. Hard to see but dad even bent the bottom to the right contour. And we are keeping the sweet 50s 60s vintage teal/white paint.

Tank from the Cub strapped in tight.

Impromptu safety shields on the hose fittings. They aren't actual hydraulic fittings. If the cylinders don't hold up I'll probably switch to a single and get real fittings.

Exhaust is just the Cubs flipped up and the muffler dropped on with an impromptu heat shield for the dipstick tube. Nothing looks good in the scrap pile ATM.

Lastly the legs reconstructed with a removable pipe section so we can remove the legs for towing, used to not be removable. It's a little too heavy to horse around by hand so we added a jack too for moving it around without a vehicle hitched.

Tomorrow is the first test run outside on tough rounds. Wish us luck.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

It works great, and is plenty fast. 2 hours and 2 people busy as hell despite the slow cycle times (definitely won't need to increase them as we were rarely waiting for the ram). We only stalled it twice when splitting things that really shouldn't be split. All in all, a great tool that is going to work wonders for my wood yard and my dad's. I soaked two coats straight through with sweat running rounds and the wheebarrow trying to keep the area clean.

Two separate piles, dry stuff in the first pic and wet to season in the second. The second pile goes 12ft back.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Yesterday cut for 5 hours and got ready to split all day today at my dads place. Splitter went down the road fine after some prep.

Splitter had low power and was bypassing on the splitting stroke. On the retract stroke it would run over relief just fine. We split about 5 logs and it was done. Swearing did ensue.

We tore apart the control valve expecting to find bad seals, only found the seals on the spool ends indicated in the drawing. Took hours to find the right drawing... It leaked anyway, so it's good to replace the seals

The cylinders have leather cup seals which can act like a check valve on failure. The issue likely lies with a cylinder and I have a spare, but it was buried in the dirt for a time, hopefully it shoes promise. Parts seem to be available in the event we need to rebuild some cylinders. In the meantime I'm a bit disappointed and hope we can just replace a cylinder instead of rebuilding.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

The control valve went back together without incident once the $.50 orings were purchased.

The top cylinder was bad, and bypasses on extend. Bottom cyl works fine.

The spare cylinder was dry inside when we found it, with oil in the head end of the cylinder and air pressure, it bypasses near the end of the stoke. Looking like a cylinder rebuild or three.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Had another hydraulic fluid mess. The 30 year old connections to the cylinder were too tight to remove, so I decided to remove them, then the cylinder. The rod got away from me while draining into a bucket. Had a 12" tall fountain of hydraulic oil land about 40% in the bucket. All the rest went underneath and ON the splitter....

Also once I got it all torn apart, the spare cylinder is 1" longer than the old ones, so we lose a bunch of throw on the splitter (1" each way) even if it does work. I cleaned it up really well and tied it with air/oil and it was still bypassing anyway. Too frustrated to tear apart the other cylinder and budgeted too tight for a $40 rebuild kit.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Taxes worked out okay for the first time in years a huge relief.

Ordered 2 kits.. Baum Hydraulics had them for $20 each. Tore down the bad cylinder. Leather cup seal failed. The o-ring on the rod seal was squared off pretty bad. Everything else seems okay. The seal kit should go a long way to fixing it both the bypassing and the rod leaking.

The way the splitter is set up the cylinders hold dirt and water it has to flow up to get out. I think I'll rebuild the other one too just to clean it out. And I'll have to replace the remaining old hoses as disturbing them has caused the jackets to break. will just need a couple 4 footers is all. Maybe a couple 90 degree fittings.

Anyway... Heres Wonderwall

 

[rancher2]

Pictures of those cylinders bring back old found memories of rebuilding cylinders on a old JD 45 loader and I had a loader on a ford 961 that had the same seals. Good luck with the rebuild and I hope that gets the splitter going again.