Can I build a splitter out of golf course mower?

[Hellbent]

Splitter Guru's, ASSEMBLE!!!

For a low budget (read no budget) splitter build I came across a Jacobson HF 5 VW diesel powered reel mower that is used to cut golf courses.

I can't find much in the way of background info other than the engine is a 33hp liquid cooled Volkswagon and that all the reels and everything was hydraulicly powered...

Is this something that would score me a pump, a 3 spool valve and hyd. lines that I could use for building a splitter? He wants $350 which to me seems like a good deal provided this stuff would work.

I already have a 4x2x36 cylinder and a 13 hp B&S I/C gold engine that I plan to use simply because I already have them.

Would this work or am I just better off buying a pump and valve/s?

Thanks, Hellbent

 

[blades]

$350 will get you a pump and a standard valve with some left over for the tank. That 13hp will run a 16gpm pump maybe even a 20 although that is likely over kill. Besides the B&S is much simpler to service and likely use less fuel than the 33hpVW. The pump/s in that mower would all be single stage and maybe not much more than about 4-6 gpm maybe less which would make for an awfully slow cycle time. With D at $4/gallon not much saving there vs gas. Being a mower likely a very high hour use on the d and time for rebuild.

 

[dave_dj1]

^^^^^^^^^
what he said

 

[GeeVee]

Wait. The reels all run hydro, and are probably lifted and lowered hydraulically, plus the ground travel is hydro. It has big horsepower, and a pump to match. I almost bought one too, (I waited and someone else stepped in a got it for a song) thinking it could actually be a PROCESSOR, (or a BSM). if it has three reels or five, each of those reels could run - a conveyor on each side, maybe a saw bar, and lifts, and of course the splitter ram. Each reel is a small wheel motor, the large actual wheel motors are useful, the pump and engine are useful. I'd look closer, and start by finding the specs on the machine and verifying the HP and GPM.

Granted, the reels probably have some sort of gear ratio, but they have to spin fast and for hours on end, so 4-6 gpm seems low unless there's serious ratio, and for pushing a conveyor belt, slow is fine anyway, or a round two feet at a time. The wheel motors must use higher gpm, the weight of the machine and intended ground speed dictate.

If nothing else, it could be parted out for parts, and scrap metal for whats left you don't use, you can get your 350 back.

I'd look a bit closer at the GPM on the pumps and all hydro motors before passing....

 

[blades]

GeeVee take a look at tractor specs for the hydro systems. typicaly 4-6 gpm for outboard equipment maybe ten for the hydro trany if equipped that way in the 30-40 hp class units. all single stage as well. Takes a lot of HP to keep a 20 gpm single stage pump at 2.5-3k psi. without stalling something out.

 

[zogger]

If it still runs at all that's a heckuva price for parts for any sort of projects. If you could get it to mow again, it's more valuable as a mower I would think, you could sell it and just buy a splitter.

The engine would be cool for an ecomodder retrofit into some light car.

 

[Rusty Barlow]

Granted, the reels probably have some sort of gear ratio, but they have to spin fast and for hours on end, so 4-6 gpm seems low unless there's serious ratio, and for pushing a conveyor belt, slow is fine anyway, or a round two feet at a time. The wheel motors must use higher gpm, the weight of the machine and intended ground speed dictate.

I've been around turf equipment all my life, and haven't seen a gear - reduced hydraulically driven reel yet. An HF 5 is a lightweight fairway unit and the reels probably turn about 1900 rpm +/- variable to match height of cut and mowing speed - which probably tops out at about 6mph.

 

[cantoo]

I have tons of those projects laying around here. I ended up buying a brand new Speeco and used it the next day. Sometimes the best deal you make is the one you walk away from. The Cushman is a 3 wheel hydraulic drive diesel unit and has been sitting for 3 years at least. I was planning on a self propelled splitter and conveyor. I sold the Kubota before I ripped it apart. You can see in the background part of my fenceline of projects, the better stuff I keep inside my barn. The old sleds are my son and nephews.

 

[GeeVee]

Blades, You are probably right, I am no hydro genius, but are you suggesting 4-6 gpm for all three or five reels, or per EACH reel? Either way, 4-6 gpm might be plenty for a conveyor on one end, round stuff on the other, log lift in the middle. However, I am sure I can get a hydraulically driven motor that will turn something such as a ? 48" bar running chain at 14k on very few gpms. They're made with gears inside..... Not magic.

Rusty- Gears.... GPM.... output Not rocket surgery.

How many hands you got to try and run all your levers ( and consume available GPM) at once?

Speed kills.

I assure you, I don't do anything by hand I can get a machine to do for me.

 

[Hellbent]

If it still runs at all that's a heckuva price for parts for any sort of projects. If you could get it to mow again, it's more valuable as a mower I would think, you could sell it and just buy a splitter.

The engine would be cool for an ecomodder retrofit into some light car.

Bad news, he cut off the reels but kept the motors for them so no go on the mower fix up.

I planned to use the 13 hp briggs to run it and had thought of the diesel for something else like an ecomod. Great minds think alike!

 

[Hellbent]

I did find out that the engine runs but smokes... Everything else is supposed to work. He wasn't sure GPM on the pump but I'm sure it has to be above the 16gpm range and so the briggs will probably struggle.

Man, Where do I go from here? I'm guessing shy of "log splitter" specific hydraulic components I'm not going to get something very workable for what I need. Am I right?

 

[blades]

Drive motors can be geared down for a conveyor speed. Better off with a two stage pump less work for eng. as 90% of the time on a splitter it tends to stay in the high flow low pressure range. Using power beyond type valves you can power lifts winches or just about anything else. Just a note: say a lift, you would only need a 1/4" line and likely a flow restrictor in that circuit so as not to toss a round into the next county. Plenty of info here on splitter builds and Hydro circuits if you do some searching.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Still seems like a pretty good deal for the start of a self propelled processor.

 

[Rusty Barlow]

Some specs can be got at the Jacobsen site: http://www.jacobsen.com/americas-ma...e=en_us&action_findmanuals=Submit&Product=360

Cantoo - that Kubota with the blower would be sweet. We bought a Billygoat walkbehind blower with an 8hp (I think) Honda a few years ago and it has been one of our biggest labor savers.

Zogger - Beware reel mowers for general duty. They are great at what they do, but require constant (daily) adjustment to cut well, are difficult to sharpen without special equipment and really only cut well in a certain height range, often lower than lawn height.

 

[blades]

Yep have to lap the reel blades and redress the bed knife every so often otherwise they start skiping like a dull scissors cutting hair. Used to do about 1/2doz or so a month of the old push mowers way back when. I do not do them anymore too time consuming as people keep trying resurrect 50 year old push mowers That the bearings and such are all frozen or dried out.

 

[nathon918]

I did find out that the engine runs but smokes... Everything else is supposed to work. He wasn't sure GPM on the pump but I'm sure it has to be above the 16gpm range and so the briggs will probably struggle.

Man, Where do I go from here? I'm guessing shy of "log splitter" specific hydraulic components I'm not going to get something very workable for what I need. Am I right?

smoking could just be the injection pump... id check compression to make sure though!

 

[cantoo]

Rusty, I have a turbine blower for the front of my Steiner but we very seldom use it. We have a Walker for leaf collection. My wife a few leaves in the fall. I don't like to do the actual work I just like to make the toys to make it easier.

 

[Oliver1655]

With a 4" cylinder the odds are it has 1/2" ports. 16 gpm is normally the highest flow recommended for 1/2" lines. A higher volume pump will need 3/4" lines.

 

[Rusty Barlow]

Leaves are just the beginning of what you can do with a big enough blower - aeration cores, thatch after vertical mowing, sticks, walnuts, filling after core aeration.

Sorry for the blower derail.

 

[kubotakid]

Most of the reel mowers were lower pressure like 1500 psi be sure to study the specs before you design your splitter.