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I’ve been thinking about getting a skid steer log splitter attachment for a while and wanted to see what people here are actually running. Right now I split firewood with a regular standalone splitter, but the biggest problem is handling heavy rounds. Once the logs start getting big, half the work ends up being rolling them around or trying to lift them into position. Since I already run a skid steer on the property, it got me wondering if a skid steer mounted log splitter might actually make things easier. I’ve seen a few attachments where the splitter mounts directly to the quick attach plate and runs off the auxiliary hydraulics. Some of them claim around 25 to 30 tons of splitting force which seems pretty comparable to most traditional splitters. What I don’t really know is how practical they are in real use. Does the hydraulic flow from the skid steer make them slow or are they actually efficient once you get into a rhythm? I’ve also seen people mention cone style splitters and even small firewood processors, so now I’m curious what setups people here prefer.
This video shows one of the skid steer log splitter setups I was looking at:
Interested to hear what machines people are running them on.
I run a skid steer log splitter attachment every winter on a Bobcat T770 and it completely changed how we process firewood. Before that we used a normal gas splitter and spent a lot of time just moving logs around. With the skid steer setup the machine handles everything. I bring logs over with pallet forks, drop them next to the splitter and work through them without touching the rounds much.
The real advantage isn’t raw splitting power. It’s the workflow. When you’re dealing with big hardwood like oak or hickory, not having to lift those rounds by hand saves a lot of time and energy.
Hydraulic flow from the machine matters more than most people realize. I tried the same skid steer log splitter on three different machines over the years and the performance was completely different. On an older Bobcat S185 the ram speed was noticeably slower. It still split everything, but the cycle time wasn’t amazing. Later we ran that splitter on a Cat 289D and the difference was huge because the auxiliary hydraulics push a lot more oil. A friend of mine runs one on a Kubota SVL75 and his splitter feels almost like a commercial processor when it’s running steady. So when people say skid steer splitters are slow or fast, it often depends on the machine powering them.
I went the opposite direction and eventually sold mine.
The skid steer log splitter worked fine but it tied up the machine the entire time. When we’re doing firewood now, the skid steer moves logs and the standalone splitter runs separately.
It’s probably a better solution if you process a lot of wood, but for smaller volumes the traditional splitter setup still works well.
Has anyone here tried the cone style skid steer log splitter instead of the hydraulic ram version?
I’ve seen videos where a rotating cone basically screws into the log and splits it apart. They look insanely fast but also a little intimidating.
Cone splitters are incredibly fast when the wood grain is straight. Instead of pushing the log through a wedge like a normal skid steer log splitter, the rotating cone pulls itself into the wood and forces it apart. The downside is twisted grain. When the wood binds it can jerk the log around pretty aggressively. That’s why a lot of operators prefer the slower hydraulic ram design. It’s more predictable and easier to control.
If someone is thinking about building one, pay attention to cylinder size and hydraulic flow. A lot of diy skid steer log splitter builds use a 4 in. cylinder with around a 24 in. stroke. That usually produces enough force to reach roughly the same splitting power as a 25 ton standalone splitter. But if the cylinder is oversized for the machine’s hydraulic flow the ram speed becomes painfully slow. I’ve seen a few well built units where people used heavy I beam, frames and proper wedge designs and they worked just as well as commercial attachments. There are actually some decent skid steer log splitter plans online that show proper hydraulic layout.
Once you start processing a lot of firewood the next step up from a skid steer log splitter is usually a small firewood processor. A friend of mine runs one and it cuts, splits and stacks wood continuously. It’s impressive, but it’s also a much bigger investment and requires more maintenance.
For most property owners the skid steer splitter attachment is still the more practical option because it uses the machine they already have.
We run ours on a Cat 289D and the power is ridiculous. It will split twisted elm rounds that used to stall our old gas splitter. The attachment itself is pretty heavy though. Ours weighs close to 900 lbs so you definitely want a machine with decent lifting capacity.
