That is a dream trailer/unit for me!!!! I actually have a splitter laying out back like yours on the boom and have been thinking about mounting it on a rear boom of my tractor but not near as handy as your unit!!
Oh yeah, I could not resist having that. No sense getting dry while splitting wood, sitting on your keister doing nothing but running levers. The log trailer is driven by its own small engine and hydraulics, but I wanted a bit more power and speed for the splitter, so I used a Prince PTO Pump driven by the tractor. Speed is controlled by the tractors hand throttle. The seat, PTO and hydraulic tank reservoir sits on a 3 point hitch carrier with a hitch for the trailer underneath the seat. The splitter valve then goes up to the arm rest on my left hand. The seat, is fully functional; if you are going to split wood, it better have lumbar support...and this one does, along with recline, and forward and back to get comfortable with the log loader controls. I put a 4 way head on it because it takes some time to get everything lined up to pick up a round, so I figured get 4 splits on the first shot. Overall it is pretty heavy and now that it is a proven design, I might put a lighter splitter head on it, but it works. Here is a slightly different angle on it.
Naturally I would not have the log bunks on when I split wood; this was just a trial run with photos. I would put my dump body on that fits over the log bunk holes. The dump body is dumped via the log loader, in this case just a chain between the splitter and the dump body. In this way you just back up to the woodshed and dump it. I have enough capacity in my woodshed so I do not stack the wood, just push the wood inside with my front loader on my tractor, or use my bulldozer. I wish the dump body was bigger, but the loader struggles to pick up the dump body when it is loaded with gravel. If I did a lot of firewood, I think plywood sides would be a great asset. This is what the dump body looks like...
I have a lowly County Line 25 ton I bought this summer. I had been splitting by hand for many, many years prior to that purchase. I'm amazed how well it works. Today I noodled some oak and ash that measured from 37" to 44" in diameter. The quarters were still so big I had to use the loader on my U.A.L.V. to get them on the splitter and hold them there until the wedge came down on them. That little machine never even gasped!
Homemade one that my oldman built back in the early eighties. Pulled it out of the brush and refabed and rebuilt. Tell you what this thing has split alot of wood in the past.
This is my first Winter with my new splitter. I’ve wanted this exact model (Split-Fire 3465) for probably 5 years now.
Hey where you been ? Welcome to the club, Piston! And thanks for posting! Thats a great looking splitter! I like the idea of being able to split both directions.