any type of log lifts for a troy built 33 ton?

looking for some ideas on how to add a log lift for a 33 ton troy built - i know nothing about hydraulics thinking of picking up some sort of electric winch but cant seem to find anything that someone fabricated

The problem with a winch is you need a way to power it. Fine if you are close to a source of electricity. Adding "power beyond" hydraulics to power a cylinder is the most common way. Some folk will just daisy chain another spool after the existing one.

Here is a pic of a lift that uses the splitting ram to pull a cable. Probably not something you would want with auto-return wedge on ram, but a source for ideas.

thank you Sir

gives me some ideas

An idea I had was to slave together two identical short cylinders, one to act as the pump mounted behind the wedge on a teeter totter pivot so it sits just high enough to clear it unless you push down on it. That way it wouldn't affect the auto-return but a manual return could power the lift. A ballvalve in-line could be closed to hold the lift up. This of course assumes that you don't need to fully retract the ram for long splits. A 24" ram splitting 16" rounds leaves 8 inches of travel on the return.

Something like this can work.

If you wanted to combine the "pump" cylinder with a short stop mod, you could forego the teeter pivot and just fix it in place. With the in-line valve closed and the lift table down the auto-kickout would short stop the ram. With the valve open, you could override the auto-kickout by holding the lever in the return position to lift the table.

You could rig the cylinder on the table such that the table could be lifted by hand without the cylinder moving. You could then use a stop dog to hold the table up to use as a work table and still have the short-stop feature.

Yea Now your over my head...lol I knew someone could figure it out form there. Sure wished I would have put one on years ago. (Back issues out the @ss now)

Here's a pic of my shortstop mod. It is a hardened drawbar pin. Note also that my wedge has a hole in the top of it. I thought of using that hole to hook a cable into for a log lift.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fHvN5YKzNm4/SiFMVI8hFpI/AAAAAAAAAXA/Kqd-g3343QE/s640/100_0345.JPG

Ok got to do this short stop mod. Is it just a pin threw the hole? Pat

PM sent.

I have also considered just using a hand crank boat winch to lift a table.

http://www.menards.com/main/store/20090519001/items/media/Hardware/Cequent/ProductLarge/261-4106.jpg

I've been thinking about a cheap 12v electric winch (Harbor Freight, $79) on a pole or crane and a some logging tongs to pick up the log. Such a setup would also let you drag the log to the splitter. Any thoughts about this approach?

Ken

Winch, high pivet point & log tongs are what I use. I'm lucky to have 110v within reach, but a 12v or even an invertor might work.
Works awesome. Took a video today. Busy editing it.
The value of dragging the rounds to the splitter is way under estimated.
No bending, no lifting. Works for this old man.

When we had a large oak to buck and split I went on youtube and got some good ideas. I forwarded them to a fella that does fabrications and we came up with this. Can't tell you how much it helps...

http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/78338/

any questions just let me know, good luck.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to seeing the video.

Another advantage I see with a setup like this vs. the hydraulic lift on the side of the splitter is that the hydraulic lift would limit you to operating on one side of the splitter.

Ken

The machine pictured is vertical but it might give you some ideas. Is there anyway you could add a A -frame over the splitting table and use a small bumper winch?
The down side to using the winch is that you have to stay hooked to the truck or the splitter will upend. Upside is no sore back and a lot more fun :exclaim:

Thanks everyone for the ideas!!

This is my setup. Not fancy...not by a long shot. But it works great, was cheap and my back is very thankful.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/cZr5RH_kYBQ[/youtube]

that is AWESOME!

I had what you are talking about with an hyd.winch only trouble with this is it becomes a two man operation as tongs fall off a lot. What I ended up doing is make a table that lays flat to the ground and load it up with several rounds then lift with the winch hooked to the end with a chain (quick attach) when table is level it makes a table to work from. In doing it this way I can still cast and pull large rounds to splitter but best with two people. Winch can be made if you are handy and have welder and cutting equipment don't need to be all that fancy just workable.

I took a grinder to the tong tips...put a needlepoint on them. Solves the slipping issue.

These are log dogs that can be driven into the side of the block just as well as the ends. To get them out, just line up the split with the dog or a couple of hits from either side with a 5 lb soft hammer and they are out. When driven all the way in, they hold enough to drag the splitter and Toyota pickup backwards.

They are used by the West Coast log salvaging industry. (logs in the water) If you wanted one or two, I would be happy to get them and mail them back to you.

Isn't that Troy-Bilt 33 ton a Horz/Vert machine? Adding a log lift to any H/V machine requires some kind of support under the splitting bed to prevent the machine from flipping upright once the lift is actuated. You could leave it hooked to the truck/tractor but how much do you trust that latch on the hitch?

Gee never saw anything like this before and been around wood all of my life (68) now. I thank you for the offer but at this time I just roll the big ones to my lifting table. After seeing these dogs I think I can make some that might work I've got tons of stuff around and enjoy making things that work and are different
if it don't work out well I may take you up on buying some from you just to show people what are
Thanks for info.Whitepine2

Brogan,very nice. If you dontmind me asking,where did you find a 110v winch? Hopefully for a good price.

Just a few pictures of the dogs at work. I will try and find out where they are made and see if there is a Eastern supplier.