Another Log Splitter Question . . .

[wjb-49]

My brother and I are shopping for a log splitter - the one our dad bought over 20 years ago from Northern Equipment was stolen this summer.

We are looking at the 22 ton Huskee from TSC and the 27 ton Troy-Bilt from Lowes. The Huskee splitter is highly recommended by other TBN members and is often placed on sale and is assembled. The Troy-Bilt splitter has a Honda motor and larger 16" wheels and is not assembled. The Troy Bilt's cycle time is 19 seconds vs the Huskee's 13 second, only a slight demerit. For only $200 more and assembly time the Troy-Bilt appears to have arguably better specs.

I have only found one comment on the Troy-Bilt on TBN and many of the Huskee. Has anyone else had experience with Troy-Bilt splitters and would you recommend it over the Huskee?

Thanks!

=Barry

 

[Deere Dude]

I wouldn't like the longer cycle time. It all depends on what kind of chunks you are splitting and how tough they are. If you need the extra power over the 22 ton, then go for the bigger one.

I have a 22 ton and split up to 38" diameter oak, although it really grunts with that, but I don't do that very often. Most of my stuff is 8" to 24" diameter and the 22 ton works great, but if I had to wait for another 6 seconds cycle time, I would be irritated over time.

 

[crazyal]

I have the Troy built from Lowes. Mine is 6 or 7 years old now. They've made a few changes over the years. The end plate on mine is solid steel while the ones they sell today are cast and have a pattern on the backside. Secondly mine has the steel spring around the hoses to protect them. Mine also came with plastic fenders. So far it has worked great. I've split about 6 to 8 cord a year with it and it's never failed to start on the second pull. I have bent up the side wings some from dropping large rounds on them. I didn't like how the Husky was built. The wedge slide inside of a u-channel where as the Troy built slides on top of an i-bean and wraps around the beam to hold it in place and it has adjustments to take up any slack. Any wood or bark that falls off of the round just goes to the ground. The side wings really help when splitting larger rounds, don't think I would want to be without them. The cycle time doesn't mean much to me because most of the time I'm splitting the same length log and rarely do I need to split the full length of the round. Some just need about an inch in and they split. I got a 20% off Home Depot coupon off ebay and Lowes took it no questions asked. The local Lowes has them assembled with hydraulic oil.

 

[wjb-49]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I am not very concerned about the ton rating, my primary concern about the Troy-Bilt is how well it is built. Crazyal has answered that question with no problems after 6 or 7 years of use. Crazyal, would you care to share the ton rating of your splitter and does it have the Honda motor? You stated that yours has fenders and steel springs around the hoses, the model with those features costs over $1000 more than the one I have referenced. I do not have need for a splitter with that much power, I hope the smaller model is as well built.

 

[bleoh]

I have the 27 ton MTD branded version of the Troy-Built. I've had it since 2003 and split at least 6 cords or more a year between my bother and me. It has the fenders and the steel spring around the hose. Overall it has been very good, the Briggs has been 100% dependable and it has split everything I have thrown at it, including rounds so big we had to use a crow bar to lift them up off the ground and slid the horizontal splitter under it. The one weak point on this style is that the area that the trunnion rides in starts to spread out and puts extral leverage on the cylinder mounts causing them to break. Mine just did this last year and I had it welded back up. Seems to be working fine. Brian.

 

[wjb-49]

Follow up:

This is getting too complicated. . . after looking at log splitters on the Lowes and Troy-Bilt web sites I am a little confused. Lowes describes the LS 27 they sell as having a 160cc Honda OHV engine and Troy Bilt has on their web site both that model and another LS 27 log splitter with a 208cc Vertical OHV/OHC Troy-Bilt engine that they sell direct with free shipping. (Who makes the "troy-Bilt" engine?) Lowes now sells the 160cc Honda model for a "New Lower Price" of $1299." It was $1399. I understand that Lowes did sell the 208cc Troy-Bilt engine model - could the 160cc Honda model be a Lowes exclusive? Thanks.

 

[crazyal]

Mine is the 27 ton with the 160 Honda engine. I have split some nasty wood with it, twisted grain crotch type stuff. The engine may shift down to the slower stage sooner than a larger engine but it's not very often. I wouldn't get a larger engine unless it came with a larger pump (mine is a 11gpm). But to get the larger pump (16gpm) you move up to the $2000 price range. It takes about 3/4 of an hour to burn through a tank. Lowes says it's a .3 gallon tank. If I'm working at a fast pace and wanting slightly larger pieces of wood I can almost do a full cord on one tank of gas.

My guess is that the "Troy Built" engine is a Chinese engine similar to what HF sells. Not that it's a bad thing but I would doubt that Honda or Briggs would sell Troy Built (MTD) an engine for any cheaper without the Briggs or Honda name on it. When I bought my splitter Home Depot sold the exact same splitter but with a different name (can't remember the brand though). Same colors except for it had black plastic fenders. HD also sold a slightly smaller splitter, 24 ton with a Briggs engine for $100 less. I haven't seen the Briggs model in a few years though and now they sell the 160cc Honda under the Cub Cadet name. Oddly they list it as only 25 ton, maybe they dial down the pressure?

 

[PhysAssist]

I wouldn't like the longer cycle time. It all depends on what kind of chunks you are splitting and how tough they are. If you need the extra power over the 22 ton, then go for the bigger one.

I have a 22 ton and split up to 38" diameter oak, although it really grunts with that, but I don't do that very often. Most of my stuff is 8" to 24" diameter and the 22 ton works great, but if I had to wait for another 6 seconds cycle time, I would be irritated over time.

I have the Troy-Bilt, and the cycle time isn't an issue- as has been said before, with the power and solid wedge, it rarely requires a full cycle, and not only splits the toughest woods we have put on it, it shears through the knots easily. It uses very little gas for the amount of wood we split with it as the motor stays close to idle all the time.

The only glitch we had was when my F-I-L filled the tank withdeisel trying to be helpful, but after draining it and refilling it, it's fine.

The assembly really only amounts to a few bolts, we did ours in the dark using a flashlight.

It comes prefilled with the hydraulic fluid, and didn't even require a top up.

We bought it late October last year on the Lowes 12 months interest free deal, and paid it off last month.

The only mods I have done on it were to replace the front leg with a wheeled swing-up crank-up trailer jack from HF, and I'm now adding some plywood to the log tables to add some surface area.

Thomas
No matter where you go; there you are...

 

[PhysAssist]

Mine is the 27 ton with the 160 Honda engine. I have split some nasty wood with it, twisted grain crotch type stuff. The engine may shift down to the slower stage sooner than a larger engine but it's not very often. I wouldn't get a larger engine unless it came with a larger pump (mine is a 11gpm). But to get the larger pump (16gpm) you move up to the $2000 price range. It takes about 3/4 of an hour to burn through a tank. Lowes says it's a .3 gallon tank. If I'm working at a fast pace and wanting slightly larger pieces of wood I can almost do a full cord on one tank of gas.

My guess is that the "Troy Built" engine is a Chinese engine similar to what HF sells. Not that it's a bad thing but I would doubt that Honda or Briggs would sell Troy Built (MTD) an engine for any cheaper without the Briggs or Honda name on it. When I bought my splitter Home Depot sold the exact same splitter but with a different name (can't remember the brand though). Same colors except for it had black plastic fenders. HD also sold a slightly smaller splitter, 24 ton with a Briggs engine for $100 less. I haven't seen the Briggs model in a few years though and now they sell the 160cc Honda under the Cub Cadet name. Oddly they list it as only 25 ton, maybe they dial down the pressure?

Our Troy-Bilt from Lowes has given us the same kind of service as Crazy Al's, with the Honda OHV engine and steel coil protected hoses and we just bought it last year, in fact just last month, we paid off the Lowes same as cash/interest-free account.

We've split some seriously gnarly wood without difficulty. It runs a long time on a little gas and splits a ton of wood quickly.

The only mods I made were to replace the swing-down leg in front with a swing-up crank-down wheeled trailer jack from HF, and added plywood log tables to the log supports, to increase the surface area I have to work on.

We used the same model of splitters before we were ready to buy them, having rented them from a local rental shop, and they were always easy starting and reliable.
We asked them why they had these particular models, and they said that they had found that they were the most reliable model/style/brand available.

Thomas
No matter where you go; there you are...

 

[99johndeere99]

I was driving by a pawn shop and saw this 35 ton out front it look brand new was not used much paint not wore off.
I paid 900$ for it. The Briggs engine starts on first pull. This my first splitter it has done every job with ease
Splitting mostly oak and mesquite.

 

[PhysAssist]

I was driving by a pawn shop and saw this 35 ton out front it look brand new was not used much paint not wore off.
I paid 900$ for it. The Briggs engine starts on first pull. This my first splitter it has done every job with ease
Splitting mostly oak and mesquite.

I see you've got a trailer jack on your's too.

Did you add it, or was it on it when you "found" it?

Either way, what a great deal!

Congrats!

Thomas
No matter where you go; there you are...

 

[Deere Dude]

I was driving by a pawn shop and saw this 35 ton out front it look brand new was not used much paint not wore off.
I paid 900$ for it. The Briggs engine starts on first pull. This my first splitter it has done every job with ease
Splitting mostly oak and mesquite.

That is a good deal for that. It sure seems heavy duty enough. I just have to put a jack like that on mine.

A question I have is, does bark and chips get jammed in the platform. Looking at that, it sure seems it would. I have a Duer splitter which has a clear I beam and the only place chips get jammed in, is back by the cylinder and that is irritating enough for me. Just wondering about yours because I see a lot of your design around.

 

[wjb-49]

Re: Another Log Splitter Question . . . I Made a Choice!

I was driving by a pawn shop and saw this 35 ton out front it look brand new was not used much paint not wore off.
I paid 900$ for it. The Briggs engine starts on first pull. This my first splitter it has done every job with ease
Splitting mostly oak and mesquite.

99johndeere99, Wow, that is some deal! It appears to be this model from TSC and you saved $1,100.00. Nothing like "being in the right place at the right time."

I decided to order this 27 ton splitter from Sears. It has the trailer jack and coiled wrapped hoses that I wanted and will probably be all the log splitter my brother and I will need. Some may not feel confident of the Sears motor quality, but I have a Sears lawn leaf pull-type vacuum that has not given me any engine problems for over 15 years.

​

 

[Herkypilot]

Re: Another Log Splitter Question . . . I Made a Choice!

I just purchased a North Star 30 ton with the Honda 160 GX motor. I also had to purchase the 8 1/2 gal of hydraulic fluid. I had to assemble all the major components which was a bit of a pain. Some of the bolts were missing along with bolts that were the wrong size. I called customer support for replacements- we'll see how they do. Haven't tried it yet, but others have said it's a good splitter.

 

[99johndeere99]

Their are holes cut out for bark to fall out. The one thing I don't like when used vertical the bark will fall on muffler start to smoke.
Going to build a shield over it

 

[joshuabardwell]

I was driving by a pawn shop and saw this 35 ton out front it look brand new was not used much paint not wore off.
I paid 900$ for it. The Briggs engine starts on first pull. This my first splitter it has done every job with ease
Splitting mostly oak and mesquite.

What a deal. I'm jealous. The 35-ton units usually go for $2k plus.

I wouldn't settle for the smaller tonnage units. I usually split by hand, but I borrow my neighbor's 34-ton unit when I have some really tough stuff to split, and I regularly make it grunt, and occasionally have stopped it dead. Part of the reason is that I heat my home with wood, so I am always on the lookout for free firewood. As a result, I sometimes end up bringing home trunks that are so large that nobody else really wants them. The current record is about 5' diameter that a local tree service guy dropped off for me. They were too big for my saw, no matter ho I came at it, so I ended up hiring a local arborist to cut them into rounds "on the side". Then I broke them down a piece at a time with a maul and three wedges--first, splitting off the outer "doughnut" of wood and then splitting the more reasonable-sized core down the middle.

I know that not everybody splits tough wood like that, but if I was shopping for a splitter, I would look for as much power as I could get, even if it meant saving up. In the mean time, I'm glad my neighbor doesn't mind lending me his.

 

[crazyal]

Re: Another Log Splitter Question . . . I Made a Choice!

99johndeere99, Wow, that is some deal! It appears to be this model from TSC and you saved $1,100.00. Nothing like "being in the right place at the right time."

I decided to order this 27 ton splitter from Sears. It has the trailer jack and coiled wrapped hoses that I wanted and will probably be all the log splitter my brother and I will need. Some may not feel confident of the Sears motor quality, but I have a Sears lawn leaf pull-type vacuum that has not given me any engine problems for over 15 years.

View attachment 283604​

That's the basic MTD log splitter. My guess is MTD will build it's design with what ever options you want. The brand and type of engine, if and what color fenders, the basic or nicer folding leg, the outer springs on the hoses, etc. That splitter will split almost anything you put on it. Plus Sears will always have parts for it.

 

[Baby Grand]

This past weekend I Picked up the 27 ton Wheel Horse/Honda engine at Loews. Split about a half cord of gnarly pin oak limb wood and some straight grained big rounds of cottonwood. The cottonwood is split real slender for kindling as that's about all I'll use it for. The machine was very easy to use - very easy starting, quiet and didn't use much fuel for the time it was running. It tore thru some knots and crotches with ease.

This is my first splitter, if you don't count the axe, the sledge & wedges, or the maul. So I am a newb to splitters and really was overwhelmed by all the choices. Your collective comments guided me to get this model, so thanks for all the help!

 

[Botabill]

I can't comment on Huskee vs. Troy Built but I can say I bought a 22 ton splitter from TSC made in China by Champion and when it broke down in less than a year TSC would not do anything for me and I had to deal with Champion. That was less than a satisfying experience.