I forgot to mention... you must have a beefier truck than me since that's a lot of tongue weight. You need a serious truck when the axles are towards the back like that.
Is that contraption bolted or welded to the beam? Looks like a mod I may have to consider doing when I get some down time.
I didn't even notice that until you said something. Very cool idea! I wonder how much the splitter moves not being hooked to something.
I would weld a bracket that holds a piece of structural steel square tube, and use a hitch pin to hold the tube in the bracket. That way the upright can be removed if you store your splitter outside with a cover over it. Given how much pressure that part of the splitter faces from the ram, I'd be reluctant to make any holes for bolts. But I'd like to hear what jo191145 says about his setup.
That rendition which was #2 was just held on by scaffolding safety pins. While those pipes take a lot more pressure than I ever considered they would work if accidents never happened LOL. I don’t know about anyone else but accidents follow me around. That pipe system was totally abandoned eventually and I rebuilt much stronger. Havent used that splitter in 3-4 years. The newer version is welde on just as Johnathon suggested in his post. No pin to hold it in place tho, gravity does that well. Let’s see if I can remember things to watch for. First build it a lot stronger than you think you’ll need. I was going off my experience as a Mason pulling things up on the scaffold with a pipe and well wheel. Straight up and down doesn’t put much force on the pipe. Changing that angle like I did with the winch changes that dynamic alot. First accident was underestimating the strength require to stop the top from swinging. Had an indent type rig to keep the swing fixed. Tore it right up first use. Yes I went with a fixed swing. There’s not much need for a swinging top arm with rounds in the size you’re willing to go horizontal with. It’s not centered, maybe 10” off center. Pull the rope a bit to clear the beam then a gentle push and the round is centered. So it’s a fixed arm. Moving parts under weight cause injuries Second accident was a large round that separated at the top of the foot and kept going forward over the top. Bent the original pipe and tore up the pins before I noticed it was happening. Original pipe was just 1 1/4” black pipe. Chose that size to fit between the traction plates on the bottom of the foot or in other words it was easier. Third accident was not slacking off on the winch line before splitting. It can move and pull down on the pipe quite hard before the dog pops off. Tore another safety pin and hole up. Plus another dog that would have entered space if not for the winch line. Think that’s about it. After tearing up the holes and bending the pekoe a few times everything was weakened to the point it just wasn’t going to work. Scrapped it and built one of the proper strength. I’ll include a pic of the new improved model.
Here’s a pic that that shows the offset angle of the fixed arm. Dont have any good pics of the top. FWIW it’s a 2”x2”x1/4” steel square pipe now. Heavy to lift out of the socket but strong.
Pretty cool idea. Love to see the progression of it. Your final product looks to be very useful. Here's an idea from another recent post here and maybe you've already saw it. There are these peices of metal called log dogs. It's an eyelet and a cone that you hammer in the end of the round instead of using log tongs.
