The Skid Steer Is the Engine. Ram Splitter's SSUD30-32-6 Is the Rest.

Verdict $3,569.00 against the same brand's $6,349.00 engined 34-ton machine: $118.97 per ton of force against $186.74, a factor of 1.57. Neither seller publishes the 3,056 PSI the cylinder needs to make its rating.

Prices are US list prices at the time of publication. Shipping, duties and local taxes vary by country — check with the manufacturer before ordering.

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Wood Splitter Direct sells a 34-ton firewood splitter with a 16 HP engine bolted to it for $6,349.00. The same brand, on the same storefront, sells a 30-ton splitter with no engine at all for $3,569.00.

The gap is $2,780.00. What it buys is a motor, a two-stage pump and a 15-gallon tank. If a skid steer is already parked in the yard, all three are already bought.

The Machine

The SSUD30-32-6 hangs upside down off the loader arms on a universal skid steer plate. You drive to the round instead of lifting it, lower the beam and push the wedge down through the wood where it lies.

The beam is 6” × 3” tubular steel, 3/8” wall. The 5” × 30” cylinder is what opens the 30-inch throat. The 6-way wedge is 4140 hardened steel and, per the seller’s FAQ, permanent — “Wedge is not removable.” Hoses, flat-face couplers and the universal plate are in the crate. It weighs 575 lb against 1,000 lb for the engined machine, a factor of 1.74.

No engine, no pump, no fuel tank, no reservoir. The listing says so and then says what follows: “Cycle speed will depend on the hydraulic flow supplied by the host machine.” Same trade the TX25 generator makes with a tractor, moved from kilowatts to cordwood.

Per ton of rated force the attachment is $118.97 and the engined machine $186.74 — a factor of 1.57. Read the other way, the engine costs 77.89% more and arrives with 13.33% more force.

The Numbers

Neither seller prints the pressure. It can be derived from two specs they do print: 60,000 pounds of force through a 5-inch bore needs 3,056 PSI. A loader whose auxiliary circuit tops out at 3,000 delivers 29.45 tons, not 30.

What Breaks

The published cycle time does not survive the published cylinder. SkidSteers.com states a minimum of 13 GPM and a “typical cycle time at 13 GPM is 12 seconds (Ram extended all the way and returning all the way).” The cylinder holds 2.55 gallons. At 13 GPM the ram needs 11.77 seconds to go out — 98.08% of the claimed out-and-back, before it starts coming home. The 25-inch version needs 9.81 for the same half.

The mount is full-size, and that is a buying decision. This plate is universal skid steer. The stand-on mini loader priced here three weeks ago takes the Toro Dingo pattern, which is the SSUD16 at $1,625.00 and 16 tons, not this. That report also found the loader published neither flow nor pressure, while its own auger asked 6–15 GPM at 2,000–3,000 PSI. Pair the two silences and nobody can confirm 30 tons on paper.

Two sellers, two weights, two prices. The same RAM-6WAY is $4,149.90 at the second seller — $580.90, or 16.28%, above the price anchored here — and that seller calls the unit 627 lb where Wood Splitter Direct says 575, a 52-pound disagreement about one product.

One year of warranty against three, and neither covers the host machine’s hydraulics. The wedge is welded to the decision too: knotty or crotched rounds that want a single wedge get repositioned instead. Freight, the Case 1840 mount exception and what a loader burns per hour are DATA NOT AVAILABLE FROM SOURCE.

Who Should Buy This

The owner whose skid steer stands still in winter. Same reader the pellet mill addressed eleven days ago — the tractor owner whose winter is quiet — with the carrier swapped and the fuel already on the ground. The machine that makes this cheap is the one you are not buying.

The owner who can state his auxiliary circuit in writing. Flow sets the speed, pressure sets the tonnage, and the seller asks you to check both before ordering without saying what either must be. Below 3,056 PSI the rating on the sticker is not the rating in the wood.

Not for anyone counting cords as a payback. Green hardwood, cut, split and delivered is $300.00 a cord from a Maine land trust and $375.00 from a Maine firewood yard, putting the attachment at 12 and 10 cords and the engine premium alone at 10. But those prices buy felling, bucking, splitting and a truck. This machine does one of the four, and what that share is worth is DATA NOT AVAILABLE FROM SOURCE. Both lists are from one state, which is the honest limit here.

Not for anyone pricing this as a break-even at all. At nearly the same money the pellet mill was square at 9 tons and the maple evaporator at 1.11 seasons, because both replaced a purchase. This replaces an engine, so it prices per ton of force and not in uses. And not for anyone without a loader: the H34-1 is the honest answer there.

The Stack

No affiliate links in this issue. When a link earns us a commission, we always say so. Verdicts are never for sale.

A loader on the property and rounds too big to lift: the SSUD30-32-6 at $3,569.00, 30 tons, 30-inch throat, wedge and plate included. Straight wood and fewer pieces per stroke: the four-way SSUD30-32-4 at $3,529.00, $40.00 less with the same throat.

A Dingo-pattern mini loader instead: the SSUD16 at $1,625.00, 16 tons on a 3.5” × 18” cylinder. No carrier at all: the H34-1 at $6,349.00 brings its own 16 HP, its own pump and three years of warranty.

Thirty tons is a specification of the cylinder, not of the attachment. Which of the two numbers you get home with is written on your loader, and neither seller asked.

Produced under the editorial standards of editor Nicolás Galindez. Spotted an error? [email protected] — the editor reads every reply.