Building a Cub Mounted Wood Splitter - Part 4
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:27 pm
Now that I have the splitter mounted to Ellie with all the hydraulics hooked up and just about ready for a test drive. One of the things I knew was that the Cub Touch Control does not have a large reservoir and I would have to add hydraulic fluid pretty quick so that it would not overheat or thin out the volume too much where it might cause problems in the pump.
This has been the subject of a number of discussions, and we know that when adding items such as the various loaders that an auxiliary reservoir is part of the system and is a needed part. Even the hydraulically actuated blades that are normally simply filled with fluid to equalize the reservoir level can benefit from an auxiliary reservoir. This alone is a good reason for plumbing a reservoir into the system. I knew I wanted to plumb it in, but it originally was not part of this project yet a suitable one was hard to find. The more I thought about it though, plus the input from Rick, Eugene and others convinced me that I really needed to do it now and not later.
I already have modified the fill port on Ellie - Touch Control Fill Plug - Extension
And then modified it again of course when I did the Pressure Relief Valve project.
All of this other stuff probably makes this project a bit easier.
One of the biggest problems in adding the auxiliary tank is to find a small 1 or 2 gallon plastic/metal tank that would qualify. I have been looking at Princess Auto and other supply places for an approved auxiliary tank but with no luck. The vast majority of the auxiliary reservoirs were primarily steel and either 3, 5 or 10 gallon monsters that would be darn near impossible to mount to Ellie unless it was mounted to the splitter itself which was/is not an option.
While talking to Rick, again his genius shows up when he said that I should use a plastic gas tank. Hmmm, now that makes sense mostly because the tank will be plumbed into the return line/reservoir fill port so it is not under pressure and does not require a pressurized tank
Tecumseh has a very nice one on many of their items such as snowblowers. I visited one of my chums who owns Al's cycle and Terry had a couple in the back. For a few pesos.. it became mine.
The tank needs a little cleaning..
Rinsed with gasoline to clean out any crud. Rinsed with Methyl Hydrate. Now I can start figuring out how to put it into the system.
The first step was to remove the 1-1/2" NPT nipple and the 1/2"-3/4" NPT Street Elbow. They were then replaced with a 2-1/2"x 3/8" NPT nipple, a 90 degree NPT elbow and a 4" x 3/8" NPT nipple.
Add a brass 3/8"-1/4" NPT reducer.
Add a 1/4" NPT to 3/8" hose barb fitting - it is a Fairview Fittings part # (add part number)
Then a Tecumseh 32779? tank gasket which will provide the seal for the tank so that it doesn't leak. The original was weather cracked and split as well as exposed to gasoline. Best to use a new one.
The cleaned and neutralised tank is now ready to be mounted -
on the new hose barb assembly.
One of the things that needed to be considered was the weight of the tank. Even empty it would tilt so it was obvious that some brackets/braces needed to be made. So I tried a single brace mounted to the bolt at the hood/dash mount point. Good thing Ellie has a long eared dash. The brace is approximately 10" long and each end has a 1/4" hole drilled 1/2" from the ends.
It didn't take too long to realize that a single bracket/brace would not provide enough support for the empty tank as it wobbled a bit. Once full, the wobble would get worse, so a second bracket/brace was needed. I thought that maybe I could bend the stock so that I could mount it to the middle hood/dash bolt. Quickly I realized that was not doable or even smart. So, I ended up making a bracket/brace that mounted to the Touch Control
The bracket fits nicely, but needs to be moved to the opposite face of the tank.
That would take the list out of the tank or at least it appears so. Will see later as it really isn't all that important.
One of the other things I wanted to do but had to wait for the parts to come in was to install a clamp block on the back of the beam to keep the hoses a little neater. I managed to get that done at the same time.
Next on the list was to flush the Touch Control System. I disconnected the return line from the Pressure Relief Valve, capped it and then threaded in one of the lines I had replaced. This line was used as the drain as the system was flushed.
This is 2 gallons of Perma-Tran later. Not pretty.. but I think I got the vast majority of the contaminated Hy-Tran. Guess there was some condensation in the system
Just had to try it after I flushed the system. The splitter works
Was there ever any doubt
Nope, and it moves about the speed I thought it would. Not quite as fast as the 5 hp Honda powered tag-a-long that I rent usually.. but it is going to be a heck of a lot more versatile time wise at least.
Hopefully tomorrow I will actually get to try it out splitting some wood.
Building a Cub Mounted Wood Splitter - Part 5
This has been the subject of a number of discussions, and we know that when adding items such as the various loaders that an auxiliary reservoir is part of the system and is a needed part. Even the hydraulically actuated blades that are normally simply filled with fluid to equalize the reservoir level can benefit from an auxiliary reservoir. This alone is a good reason for plumbing a reservoir into the system. I knew I wanted to plumb it in, but it originally was not part of this project yet a suitable one was hard to find. The more I thought about it though, plus the input from Rick, Eugene and others convinced me that I really needed to do it now and not later.
I already have modified the fill port on Ellie - Touch Control Fill Plug - Extension
And then modified it again of course when I did the Pressure Relief Valve project.
All of this other stuff probably makes this project a bit easier.
One of the biggest problems in adding the auxiliary tank is to find a small 1 or 2 gallon plastic/metal tank that would qualify. I have been looking at Princess Auto and other supply places for an approved auxiliary tank but with no luck. The vast majority of the auxiliary reservoirs were primarily steel and either 3, 5 or 10 gallon monsters that would be darn near impossible to mount to Ellie unless it was mounted to the splitter itself which was/is not an option.
While talking to Rick, again his genius shows up when he said that I should use a plastic gas tank. Hmmm, now that makes sense mostly because the tank will be plumbed into the return line/reservoir fill port so it is not under pressure and does not require a pressurized tank
Tecumseh has a very nice one on many of their items such as snowblowers. I visited one of my chums who owns Al's cycle and Terry had a couple in the back. For a few pesos.. it became mine.The tank needs a little cleaning..
Rinsed with gasoline to clean out any crud. Rinsed with Methyl Hydrate. Now I can start figuring out how to put it into the system. The first step was to remove the 1-1/2" NPT nipple and the 1/2"-3/4" NPT Street Elbow. They were then replaced with a 2-1/2"x 3/8" NPT nipple, a 90 degree NPT elbow and a 4" x 3/8" NPT nipple.
Add a brass 3/8"-1/4" NPT reducer.
Add a 1/4" NPT to 3/8" hose barb fitting - it is a Fairview Fittings part # (add part number)
Then a Tecumseh 32779? tank gasket which will provide the seal for the tank so that it doesn't leak. The original was weather cracked and split as well as exposed to gasoline. Best to use a new one.
The cleaned and neutralised tank is now ready to be mounted -
on the new hose barb assembly.
One of the things that needed to be considered was the weight of the tank. Even empty it would tilt so it was obvious that some brackets/braces needed to be made. So I tried a single brace mounted to the bolt at the hood/dash mount point. Good thing Ellie has a long eared dash. The brace is approximately 10" long and each end has a 1/4" hole drilled 1/2" from the ends.
It didn't take too long to realize that a single bracket/brace would not provide enough support for the empty tank as it wobbled a bit. Once full, the wobble would get worse, so a second bracket/brace was needed. I thought that maybe I could bend the stock so that I could mount it to the middle hood/dash bolt. Quickly I realized that was not doable or even smart. So, I ended up making a bracket/brace that mounted to the Touch Control
The bracket fits nicely, but needs to be moved to the opposite face of the tank.
That would take the list out of the tank or at least it appears so. Will see later as it really isn't all that important.
One of the other things I wanted to do but had to wait for the parts to come in was to install a clamp block on the back of the beam to keep the hoses a little neater. I managed to get that done at the same time.
Next on the list was to flush the Touch Control System. I disconnected the return line from the Pressure Relief Valve, capped it and then threaded in one of the lines I had replaced. This line was used as the drain as the system was flushed.
This is 2 gallons of Perma-Tran later. Not pretty.. but I think I got the vast majority of the contaminated Hy-Tran. Guess there was some condensation in the system
Just had to try it after I flushed the system. The splitter works
Was there ever any doubt
Nope, and it moves about the speed I thought it would. Not quite as fast as the 5 hp Honda powered tag-a-long that I rent usually.. but it is going to be a heck of a lot more versatile time wise at least.
Hopefully tomorrow I will actually get to try it out splitting some wood.
Building a Cub Mounted Wood Splitter - Part 5