Gripe about tiny tires on hydraulic splitters

[ChoppyChoppy]

I bought a nice home made splitter last year with a Honda GX 160 motor. It's made from the front axle of a small truck on a rail road track and has 15" wheels. Tows great at any speed and never had a problem splitting 50 cord since last summer. No leaks no worries. Glad I didn't buy one of those box store splitters plus I got it for a lot less ($500). Quality doesn't have to be expensive if you know what you are looking for.

View attachment 444640 View attachment 444641

I'd fix the hydraulic plumbing if you haven't already. The filter would be better suited on the return line and not the suction.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Heh! My 1970's ish Didier has (I think) 1970's air still in it's original tires. The tires are so weather checked I'm afraid to add 'today's' air for fear there might be a chemical reaction and they'd blow.

Then again, my splitter only travels 20 ft. on my lawn - no highways for this oldie.

 

[chuckwood]

Anytime I'm moving my splitter either on my property or to a nearby location it's moved with one of the ATVs. If I need to take the splitter beyond the reasonable ATV driving distance then I put the ATV/splitter combo on my 16' trailer. Drive on - drive off.

My trailer is only 12' long, so I can't do that. But I do use an ATV to tow it around in my woods to the splitting site. If my splitter had big highway tires and axle, springs, etc. - it would be heavier, more difficult to tow and make my ATV have to work a lot harder to move it around on bumpy and hilly terrain. I'm quite happy with mine just the way it is with small wheels. I've towed rental splitters before, and with my F250 I can hardly see the thing back there, backing up is difficult unless I remove the tailgate.

 

[cantoo]

Valley, leaf season is only a few weeks long and cops never give us a hassle. It's not legal because of the pipe but I live in farm country and I'm far better than lots of the stuff driving down the road. I used to have one mounted on the rear but it was a pain back there. Some guys mount them on top of the box but the pipe still runs to the front. Ever sat in the driving seat of a big crane, they can't see crap?

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

The reason they don't put road tires and suspension on splitters. There would be many more rants the opposite way." Why the hell do they put these expensive road tires and suspension on something Im only going to drag around the pasture and yard".

I personally wouldn't want suspension on a smaller splitter. Would make it squat even lower when you put a chunk on it. I drag to mine some so I even put outriggers to keep it stable. Self levels that way too.

 

[NorthernOntario]

I personally wouldn't want suspension on a smaller splitter. Would make it squat even lower when you put a chunk on it. I drag to mine some so I even put outriggers to keep it stable. Self levels that way too.

I put 1200lb trailer leaf springs on mine when I built it, and just a single post at the front to set the splitter level. I've dropped some big rounds on it and haven't noticed any squatting. I figured the same thing... dropping the weight onto the splitter would make it move/bounce/sink... but if it does it's not noticeable at all.

 

[GrizzlyAdams86]

My splitter's axle has 4-bolt Ford Falcon hubs on it that runs 13" rims with the metric equivalent of 6.00x13 tires. The axle has been rebuilt and the tongue as well and had a 2" ball coupler and safety chains added and some reflective safety tape added as well for going down the road. Push comes to shove I also have magnetic tail lights I can put on it as well. Only keep about 15-18psi in the tires so it doesn't bounce all over the place when going down the road. But I will only tow it locally (10-15 miles max) and on back roads as much as possible, usually no faster than 45-50 mph. My only gripe is good used 13" car tires are not easy to find anymore.

 

[svk]

My only gripe is good used 13" car tires are not easy to find anymore.

Heck even finding decent used 15" tires for my utility trailer is a chore these days. Everything is low profile now.

 

[zogger]

Heck even finding decent used 15" tires for my utility trailer is a chore these days. Everything is low profile now.

HAHAHA, If you were closer you could have my used thornbirds, that'd be some badazz trailer tires!

 

[ppkgmsy]

Ive never roaded a splitter. Always been put onto a trailer.

For the reasons stated.

Or on the back of the pickup.

 

[VW Splitter]

My splitter tires came off the front of my truck, I was putting new tires on the truck, the rears were shot but the front tires still had a little life left in them. Saved the front tires for the splittter.

 

[cantoo]

Just had to put new wheel bearings in one side of my Speeco today. I've only towed it on the road a couple of times, maybe 150 miles max. Rest has been from the wood pile to the barn and back a ton of times. I'm thinking all the vibrating can't be helping much. There is no way the bearing went on those few miles. My new splitter has some decent tires on it. The oil tank might be a little overkill though.

 

[blades]

Moving my splitter between the shop and my home is a pain ( 14 miles). I can tow it but have to stay under about 30 otherwise its bouncing all over even with tires aired down( rough roads)- so I put it on small trailer. Doing so at the shop is easy, fork lift pick up and set it on, at home pia as I have set things up so I can get it up the ramps on to the trailer. The splitter has enough weight at the coupler that you can't pick it up. Course ramps come in pairs and you need 3 to roll it on with a come-a-long. One of these days maybe I will put a sprung axle under it. Not really usable if left on trailer, combination makes it too high and of course everything gets in the way.

 

[mbergeon]

This should fit the typical 1" x 3-3/8" speeco spindles, then pick your rims & tires:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Wheels...l-Hubs/HIGH-SPEED-WHEEL-HUB-4-BOLT-1-1133.axd

 

[sb47]

A little rant.

What's up with the tiny tires and non high speed axles on most new splitters???? I'd gladly pay a little more to have more ground clearance and the ability to pull the thing down the freeway. 45 mph limit on these things isn't cool.

As noted, highway towable axles, wheels, and lights are available from many log splitter manufacturers. Usually seen on the larger, heavier, and much more expensive models, such as rental units, since you essentially have to add the cost of a trailer.

Think of these smaller models as being designed to 'tow' around a property, in and out of a garage, etc. Same thing with medium-sized, homeowner-grade chippers, generators, etc.

Philbert

When I bought mine they told me it was not street tow-able. Just a cheap solid bolt welded to thin sheet metal with small, light duty tires.
Only good for towing around the yard.

 

[AIM]

I have the 35 ton Husky with the small tires and to be honest I just hook on and go. Don't look back. I pull mine at 55 all the time. Big deal if it bounces around. They will go where the truck goes.

 

[triptester]

This should fit the typical 1" x 3-3/8" speeco spindles, then pick your rims & tires:

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Wheels...l-Hubs/HIGH-SPEED-WHEEL-HUB-4-BOLT-1-1133.axd

I thought about using new hubs to allow for bigger tires but you have to be careful to get hubs with at least a 5x4 1/5" bolt pattern. The hubs with a 4x4 bolt pattern are only for 8-10 inch wheels.

 

[bigbadbob]

My homebuilt has 13 inch tires and a spare,, tows nice.
BBB

 

[JeffHK454]

I have the 35 ton Husky with the small tires and to be honest I just hook on and go. Don't look back. I pull mine at 55 all the time. Big deal if it bounces around. They will go where the truck goes.

Hits the nail on the head! I've pulled my old SpeeCo all over gods country and never had a problem.

Heck, the tires and bearings on my splitter are the same parts my dads old Sea Nymph trailer uses ..they've been back and forth to Canada more times than I can remember.

 

[svk]

Just to refresh back to the original post, it's mainly the lack of high speed bearings that I have the problem with. Although taller tires wouldn't hurt.