Wide is OK, but like Steve said, I don’t want to literally cut off my options. Many possibilities for a slow turning power source.
Wayne, kill switch is very smart. I can set up something easily.
The diesel walk behind tractor I used for many years had a “dead man’s switch” - if you let go of the tractor it shut off fuel and died. Only problem was working away from the handlebars! I used a PVC pipe to override it when necessary.
Steve I have a unicorn cone splitter that had the side arm shaft to keep the log from rotating. I was never happy or comfortable with that setup. I since changed it to the table top type and that makes a world of difference. I feel much safer with it this way because the center of the cone is only about 5 inches above the table and the logs are fed vertically into the screw. Large logs can be fed with the point entering at the 10 o clock position and small chunks split off until the whole log is split. I put a rope safety to the pto lever so I can kill the power with a quick jerk on the rope.
Is there a reason for the housing being upside down?
Upside down is the only way to reverse the output without changing the input direction. I was planning to over fill and hope for the best, but as Peter has pointed out to me that will overheat the gears.
Solution then is to change the input direction. Either a rub wheel or (better) actual gearing. Still need the 2:1 or better reduction step.
There is such a thing as a “divorced transfer case” (not part of tranny), and on at least some Fords this reversed the output. One of these would do me quite well. Still researching my options.
Hey ChrisKY
Aslo do some reading on marine V-drives.
Marine is usually expensive “hole in the water” stuff . . . but never know what you stumble into, set-aside free to cheap. Then you’d know, seeing.
S.U.
Chris, I know an obvious way to reverse direction would be reverse through the transmission. I know the pinion isn’t designed to take reverse loads though.
I don’t think at the speed and duty cycle you’ll be running, it will over heat.
You could run that thing till the cows come home and it will only be getting warmed up, by the time the oil gets warmed up you will be wore out!
A rub wheel would reverse the direction…
I’m with Herb and Carl
Chris, On the old mill I work on we drive a 6 inch belt length of about 16 feet. If the Machine needs to go in Reverse we would Cross the belt forming a x in the Middle this would reverse the direction of the end pully, never ran a Cane Mill in reverse but I’ve seen it done on other farm applications. I really don’t know if it would work for what your doing just a thought.
I’m calling it curtains on the V8 chunker. Yes, a little painful to admit. But in the presence of other options, you have to constantly re-evaluate why you’re going a certain way. I didn’t have enough good reasons to keep on, the goal is to chunk wood, not re-engineer automotive parts into farm machinery. Here’s the main issues, which I didn’t realize at the start:
First off, the engineering problem of using an automotive engine to replace a tractor is rather difficult. This is the root of my issues with reversing, slowing down, and beefing up the chunking action. Making the axle turn the wrong way and continue to oil itself properly is almost impossible. I was thinking about adding PTO outputs, but stationary PTO applications are pretty limited, and all are better suited for a real tractor.
Secondly, the reduction from axle and transmission is not enough. I needed about a 20:1 and the gearing only gave me 10:1. Adding pulleys/chains to the driven parts becomes a weak link or very pricey at high power levels. A transfer case could do the job. More expense and complexity.
Last but not least, this has become a white elephant which I’m not sure has any real value. V8s are cool, but not justified for this purpose. If I stop now, it’s still got resale value as engine / transmission / axle setup.
The successor will be a square baler chunker similar to Dustin, Tom, and Doug’s. Link: http://driveonwood.com/forum/1599 As I’ve said elsewhere, this is very nearly a chunker-to-go. It’s made for this type of job - once per cycle high shock load (punching haybales together), designed to run about 60 cycles a minute, a giant flywheel begging to be belt driven. Correct drive ratios out of the box. They’re very easy to get in farm country, at scrap prices. Couldn’t ask for better! A months-long process superseded in about a week.
The chunker is dead! Long live the chunker!
Chris,
Never feel your ego is hurt when you see a better route through the forest. I admire a man who can change course on the fly and not skip a beat.
The creative nature of this “hobby/passion” of ours demands it… Always looking to make it better.
I say, Huzzah! Long live the chunker!
Onward and upward, my friend,
Al
I’ve been lusting after these for 2 years
Carl; Watch Craigslist. A lot of small farmers that use to milk cows had these for back ups. Now they are selling out to big farmers and they have no use for them. They are older, but in many cases have hardly been used.TomC
we only knew how to rig up a PTO on the Dakota’s…
Hmmm
Hi Al…that made me think about my Olds Cutless sierra I used to have. There are 4 Abandoned oil wells on the 50 acreas I bought that borders my existing place. I dropped a weighted fishing line down them to see how deep they were. All are in the wayside formation at about 215 feet. I would light the gas off every now and then when going by. I bought me 4 slim hole 4 cup pumps and 860 feet of pump pipe. Still had one pump jack my dad built when I was a kid. Got 2 Jensen pump jacks at the junk yard and built me another. I took the Oldsmobile (front wheel drive) and welded a Dixon lawn mower rear wheel on the left front wheel Got a bunch of 3/8 cable at the scrap yard, made a 30 foot long 6 inch pipe that fastened in my loader bucket for the pole. Put a block up on top, ran cable up and over, used the valve stem hole to run cable thru and cable clamped it on the inside of wheel. I would pick that corner of the car up and put a block under it. My Uncle was helping me and would tail the pipe up. I would put it in gear and raise the pipe, he would buck it onto the piece we had already put in the hole. I would pick it up a little and he would pull the home made elevator out and all I had to do was let off the brake and it would start down controlling speed with the brake. Always kinda felt bad him out in the heat and I had the radio and A.C. going. Ran the pipe in all 4 wells with out a problem.
Gary
So Gary, are you pumping a little crude out of those wells or using it for gas?
Don…I got my Kansas operators license and pumped the wells for a while. Got 100 barrels total from them, and they just petered out down to not worth messing with. After the fact I talked to the guy I bought the land from and he said that they never was much good. They had set for 20 years is probably why I got what I did. I think most of what I got came from one well. Wish now I would have kept pumping just the one and forgot about the others. Pulled all the wells with the Olds, sold my oil and tank, still have the jacks. That was about 6 years ago. One of the wells would make about 45 lbs of gas pressure, but no volumn. It would blow big time for a few seconds and then it would of been hard to make a warm cup of coffee on a hot day with the amount it produced.
Gary
…about your air conditioned winch and crane. You are one creative problem solver. Very cool that the mineral rights were transferred to you in the sale of the property.
I always wanted a '69 or '70 Cutlass. They just do it for me… I start to drool whenever I see one.
This PTO idea got me thinkin’ this morning… Back somewhere in the early 70’s I had a 1962 IH Scout. It had a PTO cover plate on the rear of the transfer case that one could add an optional PTO into the case. I remember the Scout was very under-powered with the 152 cu in 4 cylinder in it. At the time JC Whitney offered a full range overdrive unit that bolted into the where the PTO did. I installed the overdrive and it gave the Scout 12 speeds forward and 4 in reverse figuring the lower range too… It was fun to drive. I drove it everywhere, and I mean everywhere - except the time I got it high centered on top of a big pile of gravel… Now that was funny to see.
Anyhow, the 152 4 cylinder was the left bank of an IH 304 v8, so my guess is it would not take much imagination to upgrade one to a 304 for woodgassing.
I’m seeing a Don Mannes mini-monster WK gasifier in the tiny box in the back. Imagine a very light high speed 4x4 tractor with a V8 - and a PTO shaft below the rear bumper! Youza. Talk about a Swiss Army Knife. Very easily doable if I still had the Scout…And Don as a neighbor 
Al