High flow skid steer splitter

[Waltzie]

Hey guys,

Been lurking for over 2 years. Enjoy most of the knowledge here....

Anyway, I am building a skid steer splitter to break up larger rounds, and am wondering if using the high flow circuit to power the 5" cylinder is a good idea. My old one was a smaller cylinder and ran in the regular flow circuit, but this cylinder is so huge I am worried it will be sloooooow.

Thanks for any info.

 

[hupte]

in your pic i'm not seeing the size of the splitter or cylinder? I'm thinking a 5 inch cylinder is big but idk if your hyd are strong enough to push it thru a knotted round or a big crotch. i say try it and see. there will prolly be some one coming along with a math formula for you. here is a vid of mine in action, maybe it will give you some ideas? originally I had a push block. problem was the round was always pushed out of the way and just out of a comfortable reach for the skidder. so I had to back up and turn a lil, then come forward. hence slowing down my splitting operation. so in short i recommend a push wedge.

 

[Waltzie]

Thanks for the reply.

The pic is just a grapple and skid loader pic, as the log splitter is just a pile of steel waiting to be welded.

High flow on the skid loader is 37 gpm @ 3,050 psi.

I was just curious if that amount of GPM would damage anything.

 

[muddstopper]

If you skid steer can pull 37gpm at 3050psi, then i would go for it. You didnt say what size rod or cylinder length, but for a 5x2.5x24 cyl, your cycle time would be around 6sec. Biggest problem you might have would be the size of the ports in the cyl. As long as the port size matches your skidsteer hose size, I wouldnt even hesitate using the high flow hydraulics.

 

[Waltzie]

Ok... Thanks for the great news. It is a 36" cylinder, and I believe a 2.5" rod size.

 

[Waltzie]

All done now just needs paint. I stayed with the low flow cycle since the cycle time should still be adequate. The port size on the cylinder was only 1/2".

 

[muddstopper]

My 5 in cyl had 3/4 port bosses welded to the cyl tube, but inside the ports, they was a tiny 3/8 dia hole for the oil to flow thru. I took the cyl apart and drilled the little holes out to 3/4". It made a big difference in speed. I got my cyl from Northern tool and it was a good thing I took it apart. The insides where full of metal chips from machining from the factory. Nothing like good old chinese quality.

 

[Waltzie]

There are no ports welded to my cylinder. I also got mine from northern tool and I'm now curious if I have the same metal pieces inside of mine. How did you go about taking the cylinder apart?

 

[muddstopper]

There has to be two ports welded to the cyl barrel for the hoses to hook to, one at each end. To take the cyl apart, you will either need to borrow or make a spanner wrench to screw the cap out of the rod end. The cap should have two little holes right in the very end of it. I took a piece of 1in sq tube and made it into a "Y" and just ran two small bolts thru each leg of the "Y" . I put a piece of pipe thru the pin holes in the base of the cyl to hold the cyl from turning and then just unscrewed the cap. The cap will be pretty tight, but it will screw out. Once the cap is unscrewed, just pull the rod all the way out. Just be carefull reassembling the cyl so that you dont cut the green Oring seal around the piston. the barrel will have a taper cut on the inside lip edge to help start the piston back into the barrel. I cant say whether or not your cyl could be full of metal, I only know mine was. After seeing what was inside of the cyl I bought, I wouldnt trust another one without taking it apart first.

I probably should have asked which cyl did you buy, the welded cyl or the tie rod cyl. That will make a difference in disassembly procedure and type of ports

 

[Waltzie]

Thank you very much for your reply. That helps a lot. My cyl is a welded cyl, and does not have anything external to hook my hoses to. I needed threaded male with o ring ends on my hoses to attach them.

 

[muddstopper]

Where you screwed in your threaded male fitting for your hoses are your ports. Remove one of the fittings and look down in the port and see if the bottom of the hole is as big as the part your screwing your fitting into. I'm not trying to be mean, but if you dont know what the port is on your cylinder, you probably shouldnt attempt to take the cyl apart.

I remember a thread on here where someone had pictures of the Northern tool cyl and how they modified the ports. I'll try to find it for you.

Found thread, pic in first post of this thread. http://www.arboristsite.com/communi...ictures-finally-finished.251912/#post-4687740

 

[triptester]

Waltzie ,if your cylinder is the one pictured in the earlier post you have a tie-rod cylinder.

 

[muddstopper]

Waltzie ,if your cylinder is the one pictured in the earlier post you have a tie-rod cylinder.

Well, dumb me, I hadnt even noticed he had the cyl mounted to the beam in some of the pic.
Waltzie, your cyl is a tierod type cyl. The hyd ports are machined in the endcaps. Since the machining operation would most likely be done while the caps are not attached to the cyl barrel, you shouldnt have to worry about machine shavings being left inside the cyl. I would hope the manufacturer washed the parts before assembly. Taking the cyl apart is pretty straight forward, just remove the nuts off the tierods and pull the cap off. There is a Oring groove machined in the cap to seal around the barrel and care needs be be taken to reassemble that the oring is inside its groove and the tierod bolts are torqued evenly.

 

[Waltzie]

Thanks for the replies. I managed to get both end caps off and everything looked to be clean. As far as speed it is fast enough, as I use the time the cylinder is retracting to get set up on the next piece. It's about 8 sec each way. I believe using the high flow would be a waste in this application.

 

[Waltzie]

Here is the link to the trial run.

 

[hupte]

thanks for sharing. I thought about building one like that, but I did mine a lil different. I thought this would give me the option of splitting horizontal or vertical down.

 

[Waltzie]

Hupte,

I think I like your design better than mine.

I have a couple of little tweaks to do prior to paint, but I am now seriously thinking of rotating the splitter to a sideways version like yours. The only advantage to my version is reaching in and breaking large piles of rounds down.

 

[sam-tip]

On my Bobcat A300 high flow only works pushing. Not retracting. So a big shaft cylinder helps. But it does make a big difference splitting. I had a 5" bore on one splitter and had lots of power but was slow. Switched it to a 4.5 inch bore 2.5" shaft and 30 stroke. Perfect combination. My other TM spliter is 4" 2" shaft 24 stroke. Very FAST with high flow! Most used.

I have notice a difference in power with the high flow. It is two pumps in parallel with high flow. 23 gpm standard pump and 13.5 gpm high flow pump = 36.5 gpm rated.

My machine was a std flow machine but I converted it to OEM high flow for splitting speed. Also upgrade oil cooler system. Same cooler just bigger fan on cooler. It was cheaper to upgrade the hydraulics than trade the machine. I was lucky the wiring harness had the wiring for the high flow solenoid. Had factory check for I did conversion. Then the dealer had to flash the CPU to know it was now a high flow machine.

When I split I put the machine into adjustable wheel speed mode and run the engine at about 1400 rpm. The adjustable wheel speed lets me slow left right spin down for better control. This is a joystick controlled machine.

 

[hupte]

Hupte,

I think I like your design better than mine.

I have a couple of little tweaks to do prior to paint, but I am now seriously thinking of rotating the splitter to a sideways version like yours. The only advantage to my version is reaching in and breaking large piles of rounds down.

thanx!! a couple things I would do different, one is space it out away from the machine farther so its easier to see. and I should put a protective plate around the hoses.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

On my Bobcat A300 high flow only works pushing. Not retracting. So a big shaft cylinder helps. But it does make a big difference splitting. I had a 5" bore on one splitter and had lots of power but was slow. Switched it to a 4.5 inch bore 2.5" shaft and 30 stroke. Perfect combination. My other TM spliter is 4" 2" shaft 24 stroke. Very FAST with high flow! Most used.

I have notice a difference in power with the high flow. It is two pumps in parallel with high flow. 23 gpm standard pump and 13.5 gpm high flow pump = 36.5 gpm rated.

My machine was a std flow machine but I converted it to OEM high flow for splitting speed. Also upgrade oil cooler system. Same cooler just bigger fan on cooler. It was cheaper to upgrade the hydraulics than trade the machine. I was lucky the wiring harness had the wiring for the high flow solenoid. Had factory check for I did conversion. Then the dealer had to flash the CPU to know it was now a high flow machine.

When I split I put the machine into adjustable wheel speed mode and run the engine at about 1400 rpm. The adjustable wheel speed lets me slow left right spin down for better control. This is a joystick controlled machine.

Most folks I've talked to say don't bother to make a skid steer high flow, sell it and buy a high flow machine, much cheaper and alot less headache.

Does your machine have a tach? I've never been in a Bobcat that did.