# New to me Timberwolf TW-p1



## Fiziksgeek (Oct 10, 2017)

Hey guys, long time no post!

I finally picked up a hydraulic splitter. It's a Timberwolf TW-P1, which is a great machine for my needs. I'll try to post some pics later. Its ~6-7 years old. I plan to service it before any significant use. The manual says the hydraulic filter is a ultra-fine steel mesh good for 1000 hours under normal operating conditions. The manual also says to change it yearly. What do you recommend? I may just change it because of unknown use from the previous owner, after that, would you really change the filter yearly? Or just the hydraulic oil? I burn 2-3 cords per year.


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## Woodsplitter67 (Oct 10, 2017)

Lets juat say it takes 5 hours to split a cord. So at 3 cords the splitter ran 15 hours.. give or take.. me, i do mine like every 3years.. there is just not that many hours to split 3 to 4 cords in a year to swap the filter... i say you change it now.. so you have a reference point and go from there


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 10, 2017)

Here are a couple of pics.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 10, 2017)

Woodsplitter67 said:


> Lets juat say it takes 5 hours to split a cord. So at 3 cords the splitter ran 15 hours.. give or take.. me, i do mine like every 3years.. there is just not that many hours to split 3 to 4 cords in a year to swap the filter... i say you change it now.. so you have a reference point and go from there



Thanks for the reply. The hydraulic system is pretty clean, little opportunity for contamination. I suppose the biggest worry is condensation with the heating and cooling cycles. I sort of assume if the pressure gauge is in the green, no need to change it, even if I change the fluid. Though you're right, probably best to change everything now and set a baseline.


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## WoodyIsGoody (Oct 10, 2017)

Fiziksgeek said:


> Hey guys, long time no post!
> 
> I finally picked up a hydraulic splitter. It's a Timberwolf TW-P1, which is a great machine for my needs. I'll try to post some pics later. Its ~6-7 years old. I plan to service it before any significant use. The manual says the hydraulic filter is a ultra-fine steel mesh good for 1000 hours under normal operating conditions. The manual also says to change it yearly. What do you recommend? I may just change it because of unknown use from the previous owner, after that, would you really change the filter yearly? Or just the hydraulic oil? I burn 2-3 cords per year.



Nice! Looks almost new. I noticed it has a dual stage splitting wedge where it starts splitting wider at the bark edge (or whatever edge is on the table). Seems like a good idea for difficult rounds.


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## VirginiaIron (Oct 10, 2017)

Fiziksgeek said:


> ..... I suppose the biggest worry is condensation with the heating and cooling cycles. ...."
> View attachment 201131



I think I f you get that splitter up to operating temperature you really do not have to worry about any moisture because it should evaporate with use.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 10, 2017)

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Nice! Looks almost new. I noticed it has a dual stage splitting wedge where it starts splitting wider at the bark edge (or whatever edge is on the table). Seems like a good idea for difficult rounds.


 

Years ago, the firs time I rented a splitter, I happen to get this very model, and it was great. Only rated for 20 tons, but seems to over perform. The wedge shape works well. That lower 2-3" tall section grabs the wood and starts the split, and the overall wedge is nice and tall. The only downside is....Timberwolf is expensive....I might buy he 4 way wedge, but I believe its ~$275...


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 10, 2017)

VirginiaIron said:


> I think I f you get that splitter up to operating temperature you really do not have to worry about any moisture because it should evaporate with use.



That sounds like a good argument to change the hydraulic fluid less often....what do you recommend?


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## redktmrider (Oct 10, 2017)

The manual says to change the hydraulic oil every 200 hrs or once a season, also says to change the filter every 1000 hrs or if the the filter gauge approaches the red zone.
I've had mine about five years and have never changed the hydraulic fluid, but I've  only burnt about 2 cords a season up to this point.
It would be nice if Timberwolf put a hour meter on it from the factory.


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## VirginiaIron (Oct 11, 2017)

If your unit is currently covered under any warranty I recommend following the manufacturers guidelines. I think if you have a clean system, good filtration, and have a filtered breather you can go much longer than what the manufacturer recommends. Especially if you are using ATF, if applicable.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 11, 2017)

The manual says the fluid, every 200 hours or once a year. I'm probably going to use a synthetic ISO 46 fluid....just because I run synthetic in most everything I own....and since I'll put no where near 200 hours on in a single year, seems like a waste to change the fluid yearly.  

I guess the manual also intends for the filter to be changes yearly, or every 1000 hours, or if the flow gauge is moving toward the red...Again...i'll never get anywhere near 1000 hours in a single season....So unless I get some sort of contamination in there, its a total waste to change the filter yearly...

3 years doesn't sound like a bad interval between hydraulic fluid/filter changes. Engine oil I'll do yearly.


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## goosegunner (Oct 12, 2017)

I have the same splitter and it has been great. It would be nice if it was a little taller for me.

Bought mine used with the 4 way wedge, extended table grate and manual log lift.

gg


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## VirginiaIron (Oct 12, 2017)

goosegunner said:


> I have the same splitter and it has been great. It would be nice if it was a little taller for me.
> 
> Bought mine used with the 4 way wedge, extended table grate and manual log lift.="


Raising the height of your system should not be that difficult


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## Jags (Oct 13, 2017)

I don't know why or where they come up with a fluid change every 200 hours.  Think of all the big machines using hydraulics that may run 24/7 (think gravel pit, garbage dump, etc). They won't and don't change hydro juice every 8 days.  Nobody does.  Unless contaminated, hydro juice is good for a very long time.  Filter change is the key - that is what reduces the contamination in the oil.  Hopefully @kevin j will pipe in as one of the resident hydro pro's.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 13, 2017)

Jags said:


> I don't know why or where they come up with a fluid change every 200 hours.  Think of all the big machines using hydraulics that may run 24/7 (think gravel pit, garbage dump, etc). They won't and don't change hydro juice every 8 days.  Nobody does.  Unless contaminated, hydro juice is good for a very long time.  Filter change is the key - that is what reduces the contamination in the oil.  Hopefully @kevin j will pipe in as one of the resident hydro pro's.



I agree. This isn't like engine oil which is exposed to contaminants from combustion. Since the filter has a flow/pressure meter on it, I assume the filter is doing its job, until it moves out of the green. So until then, there is probably no need to change the filter either. 

On the


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 13, 2017)

goosegunner said:


> I have the same splitter and it has been great. It would be nice if it was a little taller for me.
> 
> Bought mine used with the 4 way wedge, extended table grate and manual log lift.
> 
> gg




How do you like the 4 way wedge? can you give me an idea of the weight between the beam and the horizontal wings of the wedge? I know its reversible, one way gets your smaller splits, flip it for larger splits. I had borrowed a 37 ton northstar a couple times, with a bolt of 4 way wedge, and didn't like it. Thought it was too low, and of course not easily removable. The slide on 4 way from timberwolf seems to be a far superior design, but not cheap!


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## redktmrider (Oct 15, 2017)

Fiziksgeek said:


> How do you like the 4 way wedge? can you give me an idea of the weight between the beam and the horizontal wings of the wedge? I know its reversible, one way gets your smaller splits, flip it for larger splits. I had borrowed a 37 ton northstar a couple times, with a bolt of 4 way wedge, and didn't like it. Thought it was too low, and of course not easily removable. The slide on 4 way from timberwolf seems to be a far superior design, but not cheap!



In the low position it is 4 5/8 inches, 6 1/8 in the high. That is with the 4 way wedge pushed back tight against the main wedge.
I like the 4 way wedge for anything up to about 18-20 inches in diameter, after that, depending on species, it can be hard to get it through the round. I split mainly hickory and oak with it though.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 17, 2017)

redktmrider said:


> In the low position it is 4 5/8 inches, 6 1/8 in the high. That is with the 4 way wedge pushed back tight against the main wedge.
> I like the 4 way wedge for anything up to about 18-20 inches in diameter, after that, depending on species, it can be hard to get it through the round. I split mainly hickory and oak with it though.



Thanks for the info. I really like that its a slip on wedge, and that it has two different size configurations. Last time I was splitting wood, it was all white oak, up to ~48" in diameter, and the bolt of wedge was definitely annoying. Right now though, I have 25 ash trees from my own yard, up to ~25" waiting to be split, the 4 way would probably help speed up the processing...


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## redktmrider (Oct 17, 2017)

Fiziksgeek said:


> Thanks for the info. I really like that its a slip on wedge, and that it has two different size configurations. Last time I was splitting wood, it was all white oak, up to ~48" in diameter, and the bolt of wedge was definitely annoying. Right now though, I have 25 ash trees from my own yard, up to ~25" waiting to be split, the 4 way would probably help speed up the processing...



I split some ash about two tears ago about the same size, the 4 way was definitely a help.


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## kevin j (Oct 20, 2017)

jags, I've been reading, but couldn't post for a while.

I would probably change the fluid when I first bought it just because of unknown prior history, but would visually inspect it and maybe just run it. Oil doesn't get contaminated like engine oil, it breaks down with heat and oxidation. As long as it looks clear and bright, it will be fine for a splitter. Moisture buildup is more of a concern, but AW hydraulic oil is made to drop moisture out to the bottom of the tank instead of keeping it emulsified like engine oil does. It should slowly drive out moisture with operation IF the breather is protected and not having rain or splash inhaling water vapor with every cylinder cycle, and if the splitter is/was stored covered.

Good oil will be fine for years. Change the filter every year or two as cheap insurance. Wait, this is intank filter with differential pressure gauge. That is good. Just watch the gauge when hot and retracting the cylinder. That is the max flow out of the closed end of cylinder and if the gauge doesn't go yellow or red you are fine. A ss wire mesh element is probably 50-75 micron at best. I would change (or crossover) to a pleated paper or preferably synthetic (glass fiber) element that would be 10-20 micron. Post the filter brand and model number if it is on the housing.
      For a splitter, it doesn't matter much, and many people run with no filter at all. For an industrial machine, a life of 500 hours is unacceptable. For a splitter, that might be 25 years for most people. But I prefer good filters, and a GOOD tank breather, not the hole in a plug or cheap brillo pad breathers. Extend the breather up a few inches with a pipe nipple to keep it from blowing out oil when operating at an angle or towing on a bumpy road.  


Now, the TW: That is ironic. About two days before you posted I ran one a few hours at a charity firewood cut in WI. There were one processor and four splitters, so some details are fuzzy, but I remember that one. TW is a great brand and I was curious to see how their entry level machine ran. 

This one had a vertical shaft Subaru engine, guessing 5-6 hp. Probably 11/2.7 gpm two stage pump. Fixed wedge. 4 inch? cylinder. Rectangular tube tank/axle about 4x8 or 10 high.

     We used it about 2 or 3 hours. I don't want to sound arrogant, or telling someone they have an ugly baby, but my first impressions were that, for a major brand with good reputation, this entry level model does about everything wrong.

     That said, ANY hydraulic splitter is way better than a maul, and most of the things I didn't like can be modified or fixed. Here are my impressions:

-Way too low working height for my back. We put it up on logs, so problem solved, but it did slip off once and could be wobbly. I don't recall, but think it would be fairly easy to cut the stub axles off, add another 12 inches of large tubing and mount the axles much lower. Extending the front stand would be easy.

-Log cradles were too far towards cylinder, in the operators way, and not very useful for short stuff.

-No outfeed tables. Needed two operators, one on valve, and one with two hands on splits or they fall on the ground. For one operator, or larger rounds even with two operators, definitely needs tables on sides of the wedge. Make something out of plywood or rounds or whatever.

-Odd stepped wedge. Lower part is first to engage, so force is concentrated closed to beam, for minimal bending on wedge, which is good, but a few rounds tended to skate upwards. Given that a wedge to beam connection is long and strong, I would rather have the top of wedge bite first, and force the round down.

-Wedge maybe 8 inches high. OK, was doing fairly small diameter rounds, but I would prefer 12 high. We didn't do anything larger than about 14 inch diameter.

-Moving push plate very low, maybe 6 inches high. Definite problem on second pass (quartering pass) as the push plate often went under the half round on top and only the bottom one got quartered. That added an additional stroke and needed three cycles instead of two.

-Push plate stopped 2 or 3 inches short of wedge. This was an aggravation but ok doing oak. We had to tear the last fibers quite often but usually oak splits through ok. It would be totally unacceptable on stringy elm or cottonwood as every round would be incomplete split. Either fight to pull the wood apart, with risk of hands hitting metal, or retract, put the next round in behind it, and push the first one through. Then, asap, let go of the new round on the beam, and catch the  pieces of the previous round off the wedge as they split the last couple inches, before they drop to the ground. Cylinder has plenty of stroke. I would definitely make a drop-over, or weld on, extension with vertical bars on the push plate so the sides of the push plate went past the point of wedge by an inch or so.

-Not very fast but this is common on most consumer splitters.

-Valve did not have detent on return. Since it required two people to run (one needs both hands on the splits) this did not matter. For one person operation, it would matter.

-Return filter is in tank mounted to top. Nice. (I don't recall brand.) Had differential pressure gauge to indicate dirty filter. Nice. Needs guard over the gauge/filter. An errant round could break it off and machine would be down.  Per Hearth post, it is a stainless steel mesh filter and never seems to fill up. SS mesh would probably be 50-75 micron at best, so I would cross reference to a 10 to 25 micron synthetic (glass) pleated element.  

-Pump on vertical shaft engine was down fairly low.

-I don't recall what the breather was, or whether it was covered from dirt and junk. Ran several machines that day.

     We figured out work arounds and got a lot done though, regardless of my negative comments. Again, it is FAR better than a maul or wedge. I am old and would rather be slow than sore.


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 25, 2017)

Got a little time in this past weekend. Everything worked as expected. 




I didn't really need to with this particular pile, but when I have rounds that I don't really want to lift by hand, I have a toy for that...


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 25, 2017)

kevin j said:


> Now, the TW: That is ironic. About two days before you posted I ran one a few hours at a charity firewood cut in WI. There were one processor and four splitters, so some details are fuzzy, but I remember that one. TW is a great brand and I was curious to see how their entry level machine ran.
> 
> This one had a vertical shaft Subaru engine, guessing 5-6 hp. Probably 11/2.7 gpm two stage pump. Fixed wedge. 4 inch? cylinder. Rectangular tube tank/axle about 4x8 or 10 high.
> 
> ...




Awesome post......"nice purchase, let me tell you how it sucks..."

I'll point out some clear differences between the machine you used....and the machine I bought. Perhaps you were using a very old model...? Horizontal shaft Honda GX engine, single detent valve. Wedge is 12" tall, again, maybe it was shorter on older models? The step wedge design is great in my experience....unless you cut your rounds very poorly....meaning you have angled cuts...? That step usually starts the split and the rest of the wedge just clears the strings. I'll agree it could use an outfeed table, which they do offer as an option....The log cradle only sticks out a few inches, the beam height seems fine to me...I'm 6' with a 37" sleeve. Are you a T-rex? Tall with short arms...so you think its low, but still hard to reach? Again, maybe older models were different....Push block seems to get just as close to the wedge as the northstar unit I used to borrow from a friend, I'll agree, it could be a little taller though...maybe I'll have a friend weld on new one...would increase the height and close the distance to the wedge I guess..... Cycle time is also similar to any 'homeowner" model I've ever seen, a little faster to the Northstar unit I mentioned. 

Overall, seems like most of your post wasn't relevant....


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## redktmrider (Oct 25, 2017)

Fiziksgeek said:


> I didn't really need to with this particular pile, but when I have rounds that I don't really want to lift by hand, I have a toy for that...



I like your log lift a lot better than the one that comes from Timberwolf!


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## Fiziksgeek (Oct 26, 2017)

redktmrider said:


> I like your log lift a lot better than the one that comes from Timberwolf!


 
It was a little more expensive though!


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## kevin j (Oct 28, 2017)

sorry, I didn't mean  to sound insulting. As I said any hydraulic splitter is way better than a maul.

 I can't see your pictures on my phone, but it sounds like you have totally different version and don't have any of the issues that I referred to, thus no need for any of the workarounds.  I have no idea of the age of the one I ran it just caught my attension. because it was Timberwolf labelled.

  there will more be events in late November and Dec. I don't know if the same person/splitter will be there but I will check it out further. I think Denny said there's 8 to 10 full semi loads of logs yet to be done

 what matters is that it works for you, and that you are happy with it.


Edit 10/28.  I opened your pictures on the laptop. Then I went to the Timberwolf site. The machine I ran is not even close to either of those two. so now I want to see it again in December I'm curious if it's some Chinese variation of "Timber Wolf" or "timberwolves" or something. It was tw p1 or 1p though.
anyway, all the suggested work arounds might help someone else.


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## VirginiaIron (Oct 28, 2017)

I think the TW slip on 4 way is a match for my wing wedge. I'm thinking I might look around for one.


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## computeruser (Nov 18, 2017)

WoodyIsGoody said:


> Nice! Looks almost new. I noticed it has a dual stage splitting wedge where it starts splitting wider at the bark edge (or whatever edge is on the table). Seems like a good idea for difficult rounds.



The lower projection on the wedge is there to index the 4-way wedge to the right height, rather than it being a two-stage wedge on purpose.  The 4-way is offset and asymmetrical such that you can install it one way on the wedge and have the cross at one height, or flip it over and have it at a different height.  It is a good design.

To OP, the 4-way is a must.  The increase in productivity is totally worth it.  I have one of these and only use the single wedge to shave bad elm or knots apart.

Some of the comments about the flaws of this machine are correct.   I think the beam height is the biggest issue, but honestly this isn't just a TW-P1 issue - the tw5 beam isn't much better, and it leaves my back tired and hurting, too.  Having put some time on the kinetic splitters, the combination of their speed and height has me sold!  The price tag that accompanies them, however, not so much so ($3500 or so).

Ultimately, as OP will find out, this is a solid model and will do him well for a long, long time.  Give it an oil change as needed and a fluid change every few years, and you will be good to go!


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