The old log splitter thing again

[smfcpacfp]

Yeah, I noted back when you 1st posted that the I beam is bowed. When I made mine I worried about torsion stresses on the beam and I split a length of 3" pipe and welded it back together down the center of the beams web. My beam is only 4x6" but has held its shape
over 25yrs.
larry

If you look carefully at the beam, you will see welds all down the exposed portion of the beam. I welded a beam to the beam on both sides because at first it did flex quite a bit. Now it doesn't.

acohen: That hurts a little. If you look at the non pulley side of the crankshaft, you will a silver pulley for a rope. The original service manual shows a hand crank.

If you talk to any small engine mechanic, I don't think anyone would dispute that Wisconsin was the best of the best small commercial engine. It was acquired by Kohler which many would say makes the best small commericial engine today.

I know a little of the history of this engine. It serviced stripper oil wells in Texas in the 1950's. It had a larger tank as it would run tirelessly for weeks at a time without attendance. It still has the original piston and rings as I was going to overhaul it when I first got it.

 

[skidsteer.ca]

Somethings are'nt pretty but they function well. Shiny and new is all good and well but things often don't stay that way long
Ken

 

[Egon]

you will a silver pulley for a rope. The original service manual shows a hand crank.

I got a real chuckle out of this one. Actually maybe it's just that my age is showing. Younger fellas here are probably not at all familiar with what was standard at one time. A simple rope pull. None of these fancy recoil pull starts.

The picture were enjoyable.

The mention of splitting at very cold temperatures also brought back fond memories. At -40 all you had to do was drop an Axe on some pieces and they split and even had a real nice ring to the Axe when it bottomed out.

 

[wolc123]

I have the H-V Northern splitter with the Honda and 2 speed pump, and it is a fine piece of equipment. I am 6 ft tall, and the working height in the horizontal mode is perfect for smaller logs, with no back strain. When splitting logs that start out at over 50 lbs or so, I use it in the vertical mode, and just roll them up on the table and work from a seated position, again no back strain. The 2-stage pump has driven the wedge right thru the nastiest, most notted chunks of white oak I have seen, and the high speed and automatic return really speeds up the process. Using this tool, I can split wood almost twice as fast as I could with an old 3 pt, single speed, horizontal splitter, and my back does not bother me when I am done like it used to. Not needing to lift those big pieces up, or bend over a rail that is too low, makes a world of difference on an old, worn back like mine.

 

[acohen100]

I spoke with a small engine mechanic today that told me something that I think seals the deal. He mentioned that the engine on the MTD models, the Honda GC, is a cheaper, Chinese-made and has lots of problems and difficult to fix. Guess that means the Northern model is my choice. Thanks for all of the input.

 

[huntsman22]

I'm a little late jumping in here. I wanted a 3 pt model to utilize my old ford tractor, but the hydraulics would be way too slow. I got the speeco 22 ton'er. There is a lot to like about it.........horizontal

vertical....

The built-in log cradle sure beats trying to balance a round on the beam.....

I didn't want the tractor to feel left out, so I used it to move the splitter, haul slash and a gascan......

 

[BrianW]

I got a real chuckle out of this one. Actually maybe it's just that my age is showing. Younger fellas here are probably not at all familiar with what was standard at one time. A simple rope pull. None of these fancy recoil pull starts.

The picture were enjoyable.

The mention of splitting at very cold temperatures also brought back fond memories. At -40 all you had to do was drop an Axe on some pieces and they split and even had a real nice ring to the Axe when it bottomed out.

I must be old because I recognized the rope pull!

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

when i used to work at a troy bilt, briggs, lawnboy, tecemseh, etc. dealership.......we went to a lot of seminars..........most were adamant that engines used on big box store equipment, etc, was spec'd differently......even thought they looked the same.....

notice honda makes two color engines.
notice that some places sell complete engines for what some only sell short blocks for.....

this came from dealer trainers, so i always assumed it to be true......

just like walmart and sears has things built to their specs, mtd, etc. probably did the same thing....

I spoke with a small engine mechanic today that told me something that I think seals the deal. He mentioned that the engine on the MTD models, the Honda GC, is a cheaper, Chinese-made and has lots of problems and difficult to fix. Guess that means the Northern model is my choice. Thanks for all of the input.

 

[SnowRidge]

I am also in the market and have been looking at most of the units discussed in this thread. In the process, I came across this
recall affecting some Speeco and Huskee models with the low end Honda engines.

Since a number of other makers are using these same or very similar engines, I have been wondering why only the Speeco made units have been recalled. Are there more shoes waiting to drop, or did Honda supply a unique model to Speeco?

 

[nh DRAGON]

I spoke with a small engine mechanic today that told me something that I think seals the deal. He mentioned that the engine on the MTD models, the Honda GC, is a cheaper, Chinese-made and has lots of problems and difficult to fix. Guess that means the Northern model is my choice. Thanks for all of the input.

If you are going to do your own wood year after year you might want to check out American splitters. Tall wheels for easy moving and hight for not working bent over. The model we have has a big table in the front. You can pull a pin to take the hitch off and just put the bucket of your fel under it and it will load it's self. It also has a lift on the side for the big logs that we had to use a back hoe to lift before and it has a choice of engines.

 

[acohen100]

I looked at those but they do not list their prices, they give no contact information or dealer location information, so I just gave up on them. They look pricey anyway.

 

[IXLR8]

I looked at those but they do not list their prices, they give no contact information or dealer location information, so I just gave up on them. They look pricey anyway.

I was considering them, had the same issues as you did. I sent them emails for a dealer... no response. Somebody here pointed out there was a dealer 9 miles from my house. I took a look, they are well made, built for commercial use, and priced like it. I didn't write the prices down... but my foggy memory says about $2700 for a 27 Ton unit. I don't remember if it did vertical as well as horizontal or not. I do about 2 cord a year... putting this one out of my price range. If I did 20 cord a year, I think I would have one.

 

[nh DRAGON]

$2700 sounds about right. We got ours at Keats in Keene, NH last year. It is INCREDIBLE. Actually my father in-law bought one and I used it. It was only the base model with not table or lift. My dad was so impressed with the fact that he did not have to work with his back bent or his ax handy do to lack of power that he started shopping like you are fore a replacement for our 1980 7 horse model. He could not find anything even close. Either you had small wheel that made the thing so low that you had to bend to work, or it was set up back wards and totally uncomfortable. He then went to Keats and got a deal on a model that was ordered for someone that did not pick it up. I think he paid $2,300 for it. It is some thing like 18 horse and a pump that multiplies the presser as it goes and that is so cool to watch with a 24x24 peace of oak pushed through the four way split! I would have liked the Honda engine better but the Brigg's starts the first time every time and so does the 1980 splitter we still have.

 

[IXLR8]

Does anybody know anything about this 3pt splitter from HF?

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

 

[Youare]

I have a SuperSplit wood splitter. I paid $2,400.00 for it 3 years ago.

Last Saturday I helped a friend split some of his firewood.
The set up was almost ideal as he had a large John Deere tractor with a loader that we placed the split wood in and a F-350 with a 3 yard dump body to transport the wood to his house. The wood pile was about 1/2 mile form his home.

After he got all the split wood piled in the woodshed the volume came out to 4 full cords. The total time it took to split the 4 cords, which was also 4 truck loads dumped in, was
3 1/2 hours. It took a little less than an hour to split a cord of wood. I split and he loaded the tractor bucket.

The splitter used 3/4 of a tank of fuel to split 4 cord of wood which I thought was pretty good.

The SuperSplit costs a bit more than some of the other brands out there. When you get to the Timber Wolf and other splitters in that class the prices are comparable. The other nice features of the SuperSplit are one person can split almost as fast as two. Most times with hydraulic splitters one person runs the lever and the other places the wood in position which increases the chance of getting a finger pinched. The other nice feature is there is no hydraulic pump whine, the noise level of the SuperSplit working is much less than any gas powered hydraulic splitter I have heard run.

Just wanted to through out another option and my experiences for what it's worth.

Randy

 

[studor]

Jim -- there is a recent thread in the rural living forum on the harbour freight 3pth splitter.

 

[greggh]

Anyways, thats some of my feelings on this Speedco unit.....

Scott, I don't know about the splitter, but that is a nice looking Farmall. Reminds me of my grandad when I was a kid. He had a '42 model A.

 

[IXLR8]

Jim -- there is a recent thread in the rural living forum on the harbour freight 3pth splitter.

Thanks for the info.

 

[JDeerekid]

I see some of you guys added pictures of your setup so I decided I wold post mine.

It is an old agway model that use to have small wheel barrow tires and a 2 gallon hydraulic tank that wasn't big enough.
About 8 years ago we but a new axle under it and put the larger tires on it so that it would be more road worthy and stood up higher so you didnt have to be constantly bent over to use it.
I built the fenders out of a sheet of dimond plate and I think they turned out nice. We strap the saws and gas cans on them when out in the woods and also use them to hold chuncks of wood while you are splitting them.
Also welded another ax head on top of the original to help with larger blocks of wood. Eventually I would like to put a 4-way splitting head on it.
Last year we finally broke down and bought a new motor for it as the old one just was to worn out. While we where at it we added alot larger oil tank and filter setup on it. This keeps the oil cooler and plus we have more so we can use the ram to the full extent.

Added the wings on each side to hold the wood when working by yourself. Works but they need to be redesigned.

This winter I plan on extending the pole out father so I can turn easier when towing and redesign the wings. Might even put the hydraulic lift on it if have the money to help lift the larger blocks.

In the pics I used some car ramps to raise it off the ground even more because the little big of bending over was killing my back.

 

[Oldmax]

You don't need all that fancy junk . Here is my set up . I build a ramp down hill from where I cut up logs and roll to ramp, back truck up to spliter and load on truck when split . saves picking up off ground both to put on spliter & truck . I just split 32 loads the last two weeks that way. With little or no help . Last picture is part of wood I split.