Ruggedmade 28 vs 37 ton

buzz-saw Before I put the hydraulics together, I thought they made a mistake with the hydraulic valves. They were identical detent valves. I called them and they said the lift valve detent was defeated by something they did to the lift cylinder.
Don't know what that was though.
The lift is really nice to have

 

The detent works off of pressure so since the valve is basically oversized for the lift cylinder then that would build excessive pressure and not allow the detent to work.

 

Careful with how much you drill it out...they restrict that to slow down how fast the lift can move...if they didn't you could launch logs into your neighbors yard!

 

I found a guy on YouTube that drilled the holes out to twice the diameter, if I remember correctly. He said it was too fast, I’m thinking 150% of the diameter for about double the speed?

 

Drilling out the ports where the hydraulic lines go ?
Don't know about that one ?

I think I will leave mine just the way it is. Move the control handle part way and the lift is plenty fast for me.

 

If it gets too fast you can always put an inline flow control valve in.

 

If you know what the hole diameter is you should be able to look up approximate flow rates...but I would say you are close...I know on plumbing when you go up a size it often almost doubles the flow. (6" doubles 4", 8" doubles 6", etc etc...)

 

I am very new to hydraulics, and I stumbled upon flow control valves looking for dump valves. Both seem like a better idea for the system in the long run. I guess I’ll have to do a refit of the splitter once I get my fabrication confidence up.

 

I have done my fair share of hydraulics back in my younger days dealing with industrial and commercial trash compactors as well as refuse trucks and other equipment so I have quite a few years that I was doing hydraulic work.

A flow control valve does just that = control flow. The problem is that the valve only controls flow which is nothing more than a restriction in the line that you can adjust. This restriction would most likely behave just as the restriction in the cylinder does. You need to dump any excess oil from the lift cylinder valve back to the tank or return side of the system , this way some oil would go through the flow control valve and any extra gets returned.

Just a valve in line won't do it , there is still too much coming out of the control valve with basically no where to go unless it gets sent back to the return side.

 

Ok so today I tried to tow from the opposite end. This is so I can pull the splitter out of the pile of split wood. I rigged up a beam with a trailer hitch. But before I used it I had to reverse the Y shaped stand under the wedge, so it would release and lean away from the direction of the pull. Just had to enlarge one hole and flipped the thing around. Split a pile and it pulled right out just fine. It did puke some hydro fluid on a knotty log too.
Oh and I used some firehouse to protect the lift hydraulic lines under the beam. Didn't like how the lines could abrade and chafe in the aluminum bracket supplied with splitter.

 

I was thinking of adding something like this to dump fluid back into the filter rather than bogging so much.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200339005_200339005

 

Thats exactly what you would need , something like that dumps the extra oil back to the tank.
I wrapped my lines with heater hose as well to protect them from chafing.

 

I used split corrugated wire loom on my lines. mikeward , if you haven't figured this out yet, throw a round under your log lift & power it down to lift the heavy end of the machine to set the stand.

 

amateur cutter I assume you used the wire loom on the elec lines to the battery. That's what I plan also.
Or did you mean the hydraulic lines to the log lift? I'm sticking with the fire hose. rubber on rubber and plenty of room for the lines to flex inside hose.
I switched the stand around cause it was buried in logs and they had to be moved to get it up out of the way. Now I just unpin it and pull forward out of the pile of splits and then pin it up.
I don't have a heavier end on splitter anymore. I moved the tank/wheels 4 or 5" closer to center to balance it from both ends. Much easier to move by hand.

The log lift is awesome. I'll try to use it when I change blades on rider mower!
Thanks for your help

 

I for got you said you'd moved your axle. I used the corrugated loom on the cables as well as the hoses. The fire hose is better, but I didn't have any.

 

Some pics to show trailer hookup. Just bolted together, still have to weld and paint.
I'm pulling this with a golf cart or rider mower. I'm using junk laying around to do this.
Gotta come up with a good system to get the splits into wood skid. I hate stacking a pile of splits.
A second person would be the answer but that's not gonna happen.It does split fast though.

I want to stress that this splitter will never be towed on the road just in the yard!
If I need to move it to another location I will load it on my trailer!

 

What's old is new again, huh?

My old a$$ didier is push plate. We have a mtd h/v that my dad bought new in the late 90's. I am not a fan. It works, but far from ideal.

I've been looking at the rugged made push plate ones and the wife is on board after watching me load up the didier like this.

 

Horkn Wow I could not do that. You are almost working ground level. My brother had one of them for years. Traded it away and got a Huskee from TSC. I still have my 22 ton Huskee but it's 12 years old now, second engine etc and I'm not getting any younger. Don't regret spending the $ on the rugged made and am enjoying making mods so it suits me better. Fun.
The log lift is awesome.now my problem is I split too fast and have to figure out a new system for putting splits on my skids. I think I'm gonna make the out feed table much bigger so I don't have to bend to the ground picking up splits. That's for tomorrow

I'm thinking this is more of a customizable project splitter!

 

Threw together a 4x4 out feed table to stop splits falling on the ground. When table is pretty full, I stacked on firewood skid.
My back feels much better.
Gotta get something slicker than plywood. Metal would be best.
Gotta scrounge around. Have some roofing but hate to beat it up.
Thick plastic or some metal 4x4 would be perfect but works well as is

 

If I were to have a splitter like this, I'd have it feed directly into the trailer.

One less bit of handling.