Just added a little more orange to my life.
- Thread starter Kevin1
- Start date
It looks really well thought out. How fast is it?
I have a SuperSplit that I wouldn't trade for the world. It is one of the originals (about 25 years old) and it is fast, I mean dangerous fast. A friend borrowed it once and lost half of one of his fingers (was the last time I ever lent it out). Now, 20 years later we still pick on him about it at the poker table.
About a 10.9 sec cycle time. Spent the weekend splitting and was well worth it. I went with the 30 ton because it comes with the commercial grade briggs and stratton.
Congrats! Looks like a nice one!
I really couldn’t justify a $1K splitter but wanted one anyway. Then one day I wandered into a Horrible Fright down in Katy area (West Houston) and saw one sitting right inside the front door with a “Manager’s Special” sign on it... $495 ...completely assembled and ready to run... brand new!
Feeling flush that day, I paid for it, hooked it up to the trailer hitch and hauled it 200 miles home on the Interstate (not actually being legal on public highways according to the manual...I did tie a red/yellow flag to it because it had no DOT decals.)
While it does a good job, and it’s fast (because of it’s double-action cylinder) it also has an issue: When fully extended, the cylinder-ram is exposed to falling wood splinters that can become lodged inside the cylinder-shroud. I can imagine this can damage the seals, and those are apparently not standard sizes just any hydraulic shop will have and HF has several week delivery times for replacement cylinders and no seal-kits according to reviews. Hoses are also non-standard fittings.
Otherwise, it runs great, splits fast, and is powerful despite it’s 20-ton rating. (Outperforms neighbors 30 ton unit.)
Still... can’t recommend it due to replacement-parts questions, but so far, so good. I don’t really have much use for it as I don’t split wood often. A local could buy it from me pretty easily.
I really couldn’t justify a $1K splitter but wanted one anyway. Then one day I wandered into a Horrible Fright down in Katy area (West Houston) and saw one sitting right inside the front door with a “Manager’s Special” sign on it... $495 ...completely assembled and ready to run... brand new!
Feeling flush that day, I paid for it, hooked it up to the trailer hitch and hauled it 200 miles home on the Interstate (not actually being legal on public highways according to the manual...I did tie a red/yellow flag to it because it had no DOT decals.)
While it does a good job, and it’s fast (because of it’s double-action cylinder) it also has an issue: When fully extended, the cylinder-ram is exposed to falling wood splinters that can become lodged inside the cylinder-shroud. I can imagine this can damage the seals, and those are apparently not standard sizes just any hydraulic shop will have and HF has several week delivery times for replacement cylinders and no seal-kits according to reviews. Hoses are also non-standard fittings.
Otherwise, it runs great, splits fast, and is powerful despite it’s 20-ton rating. (Outperforms neighbors 30 ton unit.)
Still... can’t recommend it due to replacement-parts questions, but so far, so good. I don’t really have much use for it as I don’t split wood often. A local could buy it from me pretty easily.
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If I walked by that for the same price I would have picked it up too. Probably just adjust your splitting technique to minimize risk of damage. Another technique is to minimize bottoming out the actuator to help extend the service life.
Geo. you're fortunate, I'd say, if you pulled that splitter that far on an Interstate. Those critters can jump all over with the slightest hole/bump. They have no springs so it can all happen fast.
I have a friend who ruined his splitter doing about 40 on a gravel road. It twisted the tongue and ended up nearly upside down.
I have a friend who ruined his splitter doing about 40 on a gravel road. It twisted the tongue and ended up nearly upside down.