Homemade Splitter Help

I recently bought a home-built splitter and need some trouble shooting help. It has an older 5hp B&S;, a ram that is waaaay tooo long, and regular car/truck tires. I pulled it home at 60 - 65 mph and it pulled fine.

The problem is that the load on the ram kills the engine. Do I need more engine, a tune-up, or is it the single stage (I think) pump.

I can split with it. I tried it out on some big gnarly elm I cut this winter and it will split it,,,, I just need to "goose" the valve in-out-in-out until it starts to split.

What would be the cheapest route to make this a more usable splitter?

Sounds like you don't have enough engine for the size of hydraulic cylinder and the size log you want to split. What size cylinder is it?
Is the speed of the ram about what you want?

Try adjusting the carb and/or give it a cleaning. Check air filter and plug also.

Is there a pressure relief valve on your control that you could adjust to keep the engine from dying? It's not going to help with the gnarly stuff but it will save on the restarting.

need more info. what diameter is the cylinder. what is the pump capacity and what pressure is it being operated at.