«Previous    Next»
Garbage Truck Wood Splitter
Hydraulics from an old garbage truck work great to power a homebuilt wood splitter, according to Norman Zemlicka of Cobb, Wis. The family needed to upgrade 10 years ago when his son bought an outdoor stove that could handle 30-in. long blocks of wood.
    On a trip to a salvage yard, a garbage truck hydraulic pump caught Zemlicka’s attention and, at $50, the price was right. Later he purchased the 25-gal. reservoir tank and the rest of the hydraulic system.
    “We mounted the reservoir tank on the rear half of an old wagon with an 8-in. I-beam for the splitter and put the hydraulic control on top of the tank,” he explains. “The hydraulic pump from the truck is operated by the pto of the tractor. The cylinder we used has a 22-in. long stroke and 6-in. dia.”
    The 856 IH tractor’s 1,000 rpm’s are more than enough to run the heavy-duty hydraulics with plenty of power and speed. Zemlicka’s son, Rick decided to make good use of that and welded 4-way and 6-way splitters out of heavy steel from an old plow. He can interchange them on the main splitter made of 1 by 8 by 22-in. steel.
    The split wood falls onto a wood chute made out of steel pipes. The splinters and debris fall through, and helpers remove the split wood. Each year, the Zemlicka family splits wood to supplement heating fuel for three or four homes.
    The splitter works well, Zemlicka says, and has plenty of power to split the hardest oak and stringiest elm. If they ever decide to upgrade it, they might change the I-beam. Though it’s adequate, the powerful garbage truck hydraulics could handle a heavier-duty beam.
    The splitter cost about $300 to make.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Norman Zemlicka, 407 Benson St., Cobb, Wis. 53526 (ph 608 623-2001).


  Click here to download page story appeared in.



  Click here to read entire issue




To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.
Order the Issue Containing This Story
2013 - Volume #37, Issue #6