I am not YET in the market for a powered splitter. However, My Brother in law and sister just bought a new John Deere diesel tractor. They are telling me I should use it to run a splitter, as now I use a maul. It is a larger tractor as loaders go (maybe the model is 4020?) I know nothing about running a splitter from the hydraulics nor the PTO. School me on pros and cons of a tractor mounted splitter vs a portable gas powered unit. Cost, cycle time, set up etc....
Downside is the tractor is dedi ated to the splitter while in use, hamstrinvs the loader wifh forks or a grapple.....
Hydraulic pump capacity/flow will dictate your splitter ram speed. Also unless the appropriate splitter/valve setup is made/purchased you will have to have someone sitting in the seat to run the hydraulic lever or walk back & forth to the operator station. Most of the tractor mounted/towed splitters that I have seen locally just run off the tractors hydraulic system & require the operator to pull/adjust the levers on the tractor itself requiring a trip to the tractor with every split. If that’s a 4020 it will have either dash mounted hydraulic lever or console mounted ( beside the seat). I ran one off an International 1066, I could reach thru from the back & run the lever because it was floor mounted but it was a really slow process. Also most tractor mounted splitters I have seen are 3point mounted, I have seen a few towed type but not many.
There are probably several other folks that can give you a better description & how to speed up the flow capabilities & add on control boxes at the splitter itself.
IMO it’s a no, here’s why any John Deere tractor of size starts at $40,000. Let’s say a diesel motor last 10,000 hours. Any implement on a John Deere is minimum $1500. A regular‘s splitter at the box store can be had in the $1200 range. It makes far more economical sense. To buy a $1200 splitter and then use the tractor to move wood etc the one I’ve used are slower
If the splitter runs of the PTO the controls are on the splitter vs the console. My buddy had one, that ran off pto, to me it seemed that the cycle times were slower than a gas powered unit.
3 point splitters have their own function valve & run off the rear remotes on the tractor, tractor is simply a large diesel powered pump. They tend to be slow unless the tractor is equipped with a high flow remote to run a hydraulic snow blower or tiller. I have a tow behind pto powered splitter that makes a crap ton of power & the beam raises & lowers to load logs. Very interesting concept that costs way too much fuel to be efficient. Why run a 40hp engine to do what a 6 or 8hp motor will do just fine? No point tying up a tractor & putting hours on an expensive power plant when you can run it with a $200.00 efficient engine. I don't know anyone that has a tractor powered splitter that actually uses it (6 or 7 different people). Now a loader mounted splitter that you can run off a front remote is a good set up in some applications, especially larger rounds that you can drive up to & split. If you want a pto driven splitter head west with a trailer & I'll make you a deal can't pass up.
When I was looking at them the 2 I found was the run off tractor hydraulics and they were $500 cheaper then the run off a pump the was pto powered. The salesman made a good point that the pto powered pump can be run at lower rpm than the one ran off hydraulics. I wound up going with a Champion from Home Depot because it was cheaper than the tractor run machine and I can still use the tractor when I am working on my log pile.
I actually like having a tractor powered splitter. Mine has a prince pto pump, 20 gpm, thats single stage, so it never slows down even during a hard split. Has its own open center valve so no messing with the tractor levers or anything. Cycle times are more than fast enough for me. I split most of my wood where it falls, so i just inch the tractor along the tree and i never have to move rounds. The splitter is enough ballast on the back that i can move pallets of split/stacked wood out of my woods. No separate machine needed to tow the splitter in the woods. So much quieter also. Running at 2000 rpm, the tractor makes half the noise of those air cooled gas bangers. I can have my family close by and have a conversation with them. Plus its one less engine i have to do maintenance on. I only put 20-30 hours of splitting time on the tractor a year, which is a drop in the bucket for a diesel engine. That being said, i agree that a gas splitter is more cost effective solution.
Right on! I never could see the sense in using a tractor for splitting, especially a diesel. My splitter uses a 5 hp engine and very little gas.
I have very clear memories of using a splitter run off the back of a tractor at the family farm up in PEI. A Case International, can't recall the model or name of the splitter. Questioning everything as young kids do I asked why they used the splitter run off the tractor and my great uncle said he was wary of gas splitters because one exploded up in their are and killed the people using it. Wasn't until later in life that I kind of pieced together that this story might have been part of it, but the other part would have been my uncle's advanced age and the ease of use based on the design. I guess getting to my point, I've used one a few summers in a row 20ish years ago and it worked great, but everyone above is making great points. I personally use a 7 ton electric splitter and it works great. Like most things I think you'll find people are big fans of the set up they have and use. In short- you'll probably wind up liking whatever you end up doing, but the advice from the guys above is something I'd at least consider.
If you're planning to use the tractor/loader for any other function like moving the split wood, then the tractor mounted splitter doesn't seem to make sense.
Thanks all for the responses. I will likely not get a tractor splitter unless it runs off the front hydraulics. Who am I kidding.... I will keep splitting by hand till my kids are gone.
If you would like to try different splitters, I think you know you would be more than welcome to come to one of our GTG's in the spring. We usually have a few every time along with several different saws.
The dates have not yet worked out for me... Or the time. But I keep hoping to get up there to participate.
Good choice...there's a reason you see cheap used ones for sale so often...worst case scenario you could buy one of those, that way maybe you break even when you sell it
