A good quality Log Splitter

[arto98607]

..........................................., but the most important thing for a log splitter wasn't listed. That's a Honda engine..............................................View attachment 622118

Sure Honda deserves lot of credit and has forced their competitors to improve designs!

As a result there are several really good engine options nowadays, as long as the buyer does their homework.

 

[goeduck]

Sure Honda deserves lot of credit and has forced their competitors to improve designs!

As a result there are several really good engine options nowadays, as long as the buyer does their homework.

Unfortunately Subaru was one of them. Even after making a very good engine, it did not help them stay in the small air cooled engine business.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

At least the bigger Subaru's are still available as Yamaha's and Kubota's.

Small ones will be available too, as Subaru's, but made in china...

SR

 

[shooterdon]

I found something better than a good splitter for my needs. I buy my wood in logger cords so I have no need to split huge or gnarly wood.

I have found a guy 25 miles away that rents a processor that will handle 16" dia. logs. Cost is $450 for 16 hours and it will split 20 logger cords in that time. That will produce about 17 full cords of split wood for a cost of $26.50/cord. The cost of the 32 logger cords I have on hand is $1900. I should get about 27 cords of splits for a cost of $70.40/cord. Cost of fuel/maintenance for the tractor should be about $4/cord. Total cost works out to $101/cord.

I can buy wood for $150/cord. Using the processor, a production rate of 1.25 cords per hour saves me over $60/hr for my time. If I saw and split with my equipment, my cost is about $80/cord and I can process about 1 cord every 5 hours for a saving of $14/hr for my time.

Processing the 27 cords will take 22 hours with the processor and 135 hours without. The value of my time comes out to $450/(135-22)?4/hr by manually processing. Even if I buy a splitter that is twice as fast, I will still need at least 3 hours to process a cord. That yields $450/(81-22)?or $9.20/hr saving and 81 hours of my time but with an investment of $3000.

A good splitter will cost me about $3000+. I can rent the processor 6 times for that and process 102 cords of wood. I am 69....about a lifetime supply for me. And the best part of all, I will never need to cut a log into rounds or handle rounds, buy a chain, sharpen it, or wrestle a round onto the splitter or maintain equipment. I can run a tractor and a processor as I get older with about the same production rate. No way I can run a saw and splitter as easily or maybe at all as I get older!

In my case, a good splitter does not make sense.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How big is a "logger cord"? That's a new one on me...

SR

 

[shooterdon]

SB

These are logs that are 100" long. It is slightly larger than a cord which is 48x48x96. The mills here take 100" logs. Not sure why that is, unless to maximize the width that fits on the logging trucks, or if it has to do with the mills. Plus, in my little slice of heaven everyone uses cord to refer to what I call a face cord....16x48x96. Reading about it on this site on other threads, it seems there are locally used measures of firewood that we need to keep in mind.

BTW, when I mentioned to my buddy I was buying that maple for $50 a cord, he kind of shrugged his shoulders...he thought it was a face cord. He wind up getting 6 cords after he realized it was a logger cord.

 

[deezler]

BTW, when I mentioned to my buddy I was buying that maple for $50 a cord, he kind of shrugged his shoulders...he thought it was a face cord. He wind up getting 6 cords after he realized it was a logger cord.

WAT! Going rate is $90-100 for a FACE-cord down here near Ann Arbor. OF dried/split wood, of course. But for $16 in log form... I think I could split my way to a profit. Hmmmmm

 

[shooterdon]

WAT! Going rate is $90-100 for a FACE-cord down here near Ann Arbor. OF dried/split wood, of course. But for $16 in log form... I think I could split my way to a profit. Hmmmmm

I used to live in Wixom. Heating with wood is not cost effective if you have NG , even with "cheap" wood. When I lived downstate, I scrounged free wood and mostly used it for ambience. Using propane at $1.40/gal wood at $210 a cord is breakeven. I do not have NG in my spreadsheet as it is not available where I am.

 

[deminin]

I've got a 22 ton Brave log splitter that I bought new in 2003...when we retired to 40 acres of forestland. It has performed very well with just normal maintenance....fluid, filters, etc. We have a total electric home, which even with our low rural rates, can result in fairly high electric bills in the Winter. After the first Winter, I bought a Bryan outdoor wood furnace, and began to harvest some of the dead trees on our property. I figure I cut/split/burn about 9 or 10 cords per year, which cuts our electric bills in half. Over the past 17 years, I figure I have saved well over $15,000 on our electric bills...which has far more than paid for the furnace, splitter, and a couple of nice Stihl chainsaws. Plus, I get the advantage of gobs of good physical work which helps me maintain my overall health. With all this hardwood forest, and at the rate I am cutting down trees, I figure I'll run out of firewood in about 135 years.

 

[goeduck]

I've got a 22 ton Brave log splitter that I bought new in 2003...when we retired to 40 acres of forestland. It has performed very well with just normal maintenance....fluid, filters, etc. We have a total electric home, which even with our low rural rates, can result in fairly high electric bills in the Winter. After the first Winter, I bought a Bryan outdoor wood furnace, and began to harvest some of the dead trees on our property. I figure I cut/split/burn about 9 or 10 cords per year, which cuts our electric bills in half. Over the past 17 years, I figure I have saved well over $15,000 on our electric bills...which has far more than paid for the furnace, splitter, and a couple of nice Stihl chainsaws. Plus, I get the advantage of gobs of good physical work which helps me maintain my overall health. With all this hardwood forest, and at the rate I am cutting down trees, I figure I'll run out of firewood in about 135 years.

Nice. I also have a Brave 22, a solid basic splitter. I burn about 6 cords but process an additional 3 or 4 for others, about the same as you.

 

[nygrappler]

Generac Acquires Country Home Products[/QUOTE]



I purchased a one year old DR Pro-XL (K-34) in 2013.

At that time, DR customer service was top notch. You would get a warm body when you called immediately. I had called regarding a couple things...updating the registration and I had an issue with the muffler as it wasn稚 supported properly and broke. They redesigned it to fix the problem.

There is a piece in the engagement linkage that I replaced once for around $35 a few years back. The piece just bent again this spring. DR has since redesigned this piece to (hopefully) solve the issue.

Unfortunately, the customer service is now terrible following their sale to Generac. You end up on hold for 30-40 minutes every time you call and the folks who answer, while courteous, do not have the knowledge that the folks in Vermont had. Also, I discovered that I needed to purchase additional hardware to install the updated arm?

I have put 300-350 face cord through it so it has some miles on it. Key is, when the linkage is not adjusted properly, do not try to run or you will strip the rack/pinion. I have not had issues with either.

 

[John_Mc]

Generac Acquires Country Home Products

I purchased a one year old DR Pro-XL (K-34) in 2013.

At that time, DR customer service was top notch. You would get a warm body when you called immediately. I had called regarding a couple things...updating the registration and I had an issue with the muffler as it wasn稚 supported properly and broke. They redesigned it to fix the problem.

There is a piece in the engagement linkage that I replaced once for around $35 a few years back. The piece just bent again this spring. DR has since redesigned this piece to (hopefully) solve the issue.

Unfortunately, the customer service is now terrible following their sale to Generac. You end up on hold for 30-40 minutes every time you call and the folks who answer, while courteous, do not have the knowledge that the folks in Vermont had. Also, I discovered that I needed to purchase additional hardware to install the updated arm?

I have put 300-350 face cord through it so it has some miles on it. Key is, when the linkage is not adjusted properly, do not try to run or you will strip the rack/pinion. I have not had issues with either.

I live not far from where their factory store used to be (it was shut down shortly after Generac bought them). Sadly, a lot of their items suffered from issues with poor design (enough so that most locals would not buy their products even when customer returns were refurbished and deeply discounted). Their one saving grace was that they always stood behind their products and provided great customer service. You might have a problem, but the would make it right to the best of their ability.

 

[Garandman]

We have a DR Power K55 Kinetic purchased in 2014. Wanted to buy a SuperSplit but they never answered my phone calls despite being local. DR was closing their factory store in NH and I arrived on their last open weekend. It was pouring rain and they had a floor model at a crazy great price so into the van it went.

Engine is a Chonda and to my astonishment started first pull after sitting in the shed for 9 months. We use no-Ethanol fuel.

Recently the bearing that holds the rack gear down on the pinion broke. Purchased a replacement from McMaster for $36. Also discovered I was supposed to be greasing the engagement arm bearing and pinion every 10 hours of use. Oops.

 

[John_Mc]

Garandman - It sounds as though you have had good luck with your DR Kinetic splitter.

They did have some serious reliability problems when they first came out with them. Their first model so closely copied SuperSplit in appearance that I actually called to inquire if it was a rebadged SuperSplit (It wasn't. SuperSplit's patent or copy right protection had just expired.) They had probems with the rack & pinion gears with that, and with the early years of their subsequent models. People suspected poor quality steel and/or poor heat treating, but they seemed to have worked that out after a bit. I don't hear near the complaints about them that I used to.

 

[Garandman]

Garandman - It sounds as though you have had good luck with your DR Kinetic splitter.

They did have some serious reliability problems when they first came out with them.

When was that? Bought ours in 2014. We have a very old DR brush mower we've kept due to the excellent Kawasaki engine.

 

[John_Mc]

When was that? Bought ours in 2014. We have a very old DR brush mower we've kept due to the excellent Kawasaki engine.

I don't really recall the years. The first ones that looked exactly like the SuperSplit models of that time had real problems, which extended into the first couple of years of production of their newer looking models. I don't really recall when that was.

The Speeco kinetic splitters sold by Tractor Supply around the same time had similar problems. Some would last Ok, others would start breaking teeth on their rack or pinion gears after just a few cords run through them. I believe Speeco stopped making them.

 

[Garandman]

Looking at the parts diagram, the SuperSplit has two bearings with a support in the center. The DR has one full-width bearing.

There are quite a few other differences: two return springs, safety interlock handles, etc.

All industry-standard stuff, any industrial supply or bearing supply shop should have them.

 

[oldpilot]

I got my log splitter from Sears about 50 years ago. It is now mounted on its third tractor. Three-point hitch. Runs off the tractor hydraulics. Slow, but I'll be 91 in a couple weeks and I'm in no hurry.