Now that I have the truck going again, I'm thinking about splitting wood as I load it. That way I can put it away as soon as I get home and I don't get ahead of myself. I snagged an accessory belt driven hydraulic pump last year along with a pto that is supposed to fit my transmission. I could rig it up either way and have auxiliary hydraulic ports on the back bumper. That would allow me to put quick fittings on my electric splitter and split right into the truck. I could have the fittings at the splitter valve and bypass the pump/reservoir completely. I'm just thinking out loud because I'd rather be next to the idling truck than a screaming log splitter motor.
I think I would get a 110v motor to drive the belt then have a power inverter to run off the alternater
So if I'm reading this right you have an accessory drive belt hydro pump and a seperate pto unit that installs on the transmission? Neither of which are installed on your vehicle yet. What kinda truck you talking about?
Ok that's the one you just rebuilt the head on. That was a fun thread to read thru. So with the onboard hydro system..... are you going to have a reservoir mounted somewhere? What size tank? Id kinda assume the belt mounted pump would be easier to install if you have the mounting hardware for your engine. Otherwise that could get fun fabbing up. How about the pto unit? Usually the trans has to have a pto cover to install. What transmission is in your truck? How would you idle up to use the pto?
Yeah, I'd have a small reservoir, 2-3 gallons. It would be a round tornado style like I made for my splitter. I have the brackets from the a/c, smog, and p/s on the engine, so I could use one of those mounts for the hydro. I have a ZF transmission sitting in the shop that I want to swap in this summer, and it has 2 pto ports. I was told the pto unit came off a zf, but I have to see if it mates up. I have a manual idle control, so idle speed is not a problem. I was looking at the hydro unit today and the flow rate would be ~1gpm for every 100 rpm of engine speed. I don't really wan't to run the idle up to 1,500 rpm just to split wood. 800 rpm would be great, but I would need a 60 gpm (rated at 3000 rpm) pump to do that, and this one is only 30 gpm. I looked into a bigger alternator and a 240v inverter so I could just plug the splitter into the truck, but the cost would easily be $1,000+. I moght just have to set the splitter up with a quick-change motor mount so I can swap between gas/electric, but I really didn't want to do that.
Might be kinda hard to find one of those a smaller diameter. I was just thinking of spinning the pump faster could get your engine rpm down some.
That's going to be one heck of an inverter (for an automotive application) and most alternators aren't going to have the output necessary to run a 3+HP electric motor on a splitter. Every cycle would max out the alternator and still draw from the battery.
A single cylinder engine would be cheaper to run. Depending on your exhaust, you could be standing in fumes all day at the back of the truck.
kind of my thought too. How about a portable engine/tank type power unit. Frame mounted and some disconnects on the hoses you could use it anywhere. Just throwing it out there
This wouldn't be all that different than a roll-back (flatbed wrecker) setup. Just a hydraulic power unit run off the transmission PTO. Is the PTO output 1:1 with engine RPM? Usually, they are a good bit faster than actual engine RPMs IIRC.
I didn't look into the pto gearing yet. That's a great point. I will have to check when I am out there later. If it's geared up, then I should be ok.
