Splitter Upgrade & Snow Plow Recycle

[Rocosil]

Note: I posted this originally by mistake in the Chainsaw Forum. So, this is not double bragging, just a feeble attempt to correct a stupid error. :blush:

Having thoroughly enjoyed the splitter picture thread here, I decided to do something about my little, 25 year-old Northern Tool, 16 ton, 5hp, 11gpm, strictly for home-use, splitter, and in the process get rid of a 6 ft snowplow blade (left over from when my truck went up in flames) that had for years been irritating my wife by sitting on her lawn.

This splitter came 22" high, so job #1 was to raise the rail 9" to bring it up to the height of my dragging knuckles with a couple of 9" long pieces of 4" angle iron scavenged from the plow and welded lip to lip in an approximate Z shape. With the working height now raised, a log lift became all the more desirable. This I made up from the swivel frame (my snow plow terminology is sadly deficient) of the plow, split down the middle and re-welded to change its shape from A to H, and a 16" portion of the plow blade. Most of another 16" section of the blade was welded to the opposite side of the rail as a log retainer. The remainder of the blade was used to make up two trays to catch the split wood. Most of the bits and pieces that hold everything together also came off the plow, except for the cover of log lift arm, which was sheet metal from a washing machine and the handle on the lift valve and the fences at the end of the trays, which were rods that came out of the innards of the same washing machine. I relocated the extended support leg of the splitter from its original position at the end of the rail to the corner of one of the trays, thinking that the rather heavy lift with a log on it might tip over the whole splitter. This turned out not to be the case, but it does make the whole contraption a bit steadier.

The bought pieces were the lift valve (yard sale), hoses, hydraulic fittings, a 2" x 10" cylinder, and the scissor jack, which came from the trunk of an Oldsmobile in a junkyard. Total outlay about $180, including about thirty bucks in cut-off wheels and welding rods.

Here are the pix:

Bob

 

[mga]

not bad!!

i love seeing the engineering some of the guys do around here.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Now that is nothing short of darned fine work even if it was made from new let alone a junk snow plow Now make sure you tell everyone how much better your back feels after a session with it. Two years ago I rebuilt my splitter from a tilting beam back ache special to a comfortable working height horizonal with log lift. I had purchased an outdoor boiler and no way I was going to run that old setup enough to feed it. I keep forgetting to take a camera when we have it and the elevator running filling the truck but some day,,,

 

[gink595]

I like it, great job making that.

 

[Rookie1]

Are you going to make a new leg for the front. It doesnt look to stable with the auto scissors jack holding it up. Otherwise I like what youve done.

 

[Rocosil]

Now that is nothing short of darned fine work even if it was made from new let alone a junk snow plow Now make sure you tell everyone how much better your back feels after a session with it.

Thanks, Butch. I haven't had a true splitting session with it in its new configuration yet, but I'm sure its going to make a difference. I just turned 76, and the old back is beginning to get wonky. Hardwood stems are getting to be difficult to come by around here, and I've cleared most of the usable stuff off my own land, but we've had some big winds of late, and there is a lot of blown-down white pine lying around that can do for firewood if properly dried and not burned in an air-tight stove. Some of the rounds of that are over 2 ft in diameter, and no-way was I going to wrestle those up onto the beam without mechanical advantage.

Bob

 

[Rocosil]

Are you going to make a new leg for the front. It doesnt look to stable with the auto scissors jack holding it up. Otherwise I like what youve done.

Actually, the way I have that scissor jack welded up it's pretty steady, and the extra leg on the tray helps a lot as well. In actual operation I plan to just slip a large round under the tongue. Although this thing won't be moved around a lot, the jack is there mostly to raise and lower the tongue for towing with my riding mower. But I agree, adding some sort of leg would be neater, and I may get around to making one up.

Bob

 

[jags]

Very nicely done.

I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[olyman]

have had that thought to do the same thing to my large log splitter for quite a while--but always had the use of a tractor with loader--that is now gone--so may be building mine very soon---

 

[Chuck Diesel]

Nicely done