Tracor-Powered Wood Splitter

Tracor-Powered Wood Splitter WOODLOT EQUIPMENT Wood Splitters 25-2-37 I call it my æJohnny Chopper' because it's made out of an old Deere pull-type mower and chops wood," says Carl Kappedal, Fosston, Minn., about the wood splitter he built out of a stripped-down No. 5 Deere trailing mounted mower. "I looked at factory-built splitters but I didn't like them for three reasons. First, they're too low to the ground so you are bent over all the time. Second, you pay for an engine and pump that sits idle most of the time. Third, they're too expensive." He left the mower's original subframe intact. It attaches solidly to the back of the tractor with a trailing caster wheel on back. The unit came with a sicklebar that could be hooked up to it with two pins. The splitter consists of a 7-ft. long section of railroad track fitted with a sliding wedge and a 4 by 24-in. hydraulic cylinder. He made a pair of telescoping "drop-down" dolly legs and mounted one on each side of the splitter. Each leg is equipped with a small caster wheel. "I spent less than $300 to build it," says Kappedal. "I built it because I had been splitting wood for years by hand and finally decided that I was getting too old to have back aches all the time when splitting wood. Most commercial pull-type models are so low to the ground that you have to bend over every time you split the wood, whereas I can split wood standing straight up. Another advantage is that the caster wheel is underneath the unit and out of the way where I can't stumble into it. "When we're done using the splitter I can back it into a shed and drop the dolly wheels down, then pull the two hitch pins, unhook the hydraulic hoses, and push the unit anywhere I want to inside the shed," notes Kappedal. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Carl M. Kappedal, Rt. 3, Box 97 B, Fosston, Minn. 56542 (ph 218 435-1355).

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