Ariens splitter wedge broke (only 5 months)

[Charlie2]

It breaking like that must a figment of your imagination. I've been told just recently not to question engineers and their designs, they have spent countless hours developing their product. And you can see that design is definitely superior to a rubber band return.

 

[ironspider]

chit happens

 

[fabsroman]

chit happens

But that is some serious chit.

 

[BucksCounty]

Called HD this morning. They said bring it back to their tool rental portion of the store and they will fix it. So, I brought it back, still with the wood wedged in the splitter and the guy took one look at it and said this is "abuse" and we are not fixing this. I asked why it was abuse. He said I put a piece of wood into the splitter that was too large (it was 20"). I told him to get the manager. As I was waiting, I asked the guy how big was too big to place into the splitter. He said this 27 ton splitter could only handle logs up to 14". As my Irish blood began to boil, I told him to show where it says that in the manual. He was useless. The manager was a little more receptive. He said they would need to send it out to be repaired and have new parts installed. After more discussion with him and asking questions he couldn't answer about the process of getting it fixed, he finally said he would replace it with a new splitter. I was obviously happy with outcome but really pissed off when he told me that if I continue to try and split 20"+ pieces of wood, it will break again. I asked him why the vertical feature of the splitter, marketed specifically for larger rounds that can't be lifted to the horizontal splitter? No answer. In the end, they made it right and replaced the splitter, but I had to be pretty forceful.

 

[ironspider]

Why are you taking it to HD, they are not a service center. Take it to a real service center provided on the ariens website.

We all know the people at HD make 15 an hour and don't know squat!

 

[BrotherBart]

We all know the people at HD make 15 an hour and don't know squat!

They know how to load the new one in the truck. No waiting weeks for parts and the repair.

 

[ironspider]

They know how to load the new one in the truck. No waiting weeks for parts and the repair.

It's 5 months, HD is only a retailer and can't do anything at that point.

 

[BrotherBart]

They just did. They gave him a new splitter.

 

[ironspider]

Damn, missed that. That is a score! Not in my wildest dreams would I expect HD to do that.

 

[BrotherBart]

A little footnote. Last October I bought a new fridge from HD. A month ago I noticed that where the door handle was screwed to the door it was cracked. Called GE and they told me to go pound sand, handles are cosmetic and not covered by warranty. Called HD and they had a new handle delivered to my house from a vendor in California in three days.

 

[TMonter]

A little footnote. Last October I bought a new fridge from HD. A month ago I noticed that where the door handle was screwed to the door it was cracked. Called GE and they told me to go pound sand, handles are cosmetic and not covered by warranty. Called HD and they had a new handle delivered to my house from a vendor in California in three days.

I'm not a big fan of appliance manufacturers myself BB. Something has happened to most of the US appliance manufactures the past 20 years and the service/quality they supply has gone way downhill.

That being said I'm betting if you had sent those pictures to Ariens they would do something for you. That pin should have never bent like that, it should be made out of case hardened metal that can hold up to heavy service. Generally Ariens equipment is very good which makes me curious as to what happened.

 

[Jags]

That pin and those ears are not designed for heavy pressure. They are there to simple pull the shuttle back into place after the stroke (there is no "push" pressure there). Something stopped the shuttle (bind or whatever) and the ram kept pulling. Disfiguring the pin and ears.

The OP got the best deal to be had. A replacement.

Personally - I would have asked them why the heck I need 27 tons of pressure if I am only going through a 14" round.

 

[TMonter]

That pin and those ears are not designed for heavy pressure. They are there to simple pull the shuttle back into place after the stroke (there is no "push" pressure there). Something stopped the shuttle (bind or whatever) and the ram kept pulling. Disfiguring the pin and ears.

The OP got the best deal to be had. A replacement.

Personally - I would have asked them why the heck I need 27 tons of pressure if I am only going through a 14" round.

Well the store employee certainly didn't know what the hell he was talking about on maximum log size. I've put 30" rounds on my 20 ton with no issue. A larger round doesn't necessarily mean more force required for splitting.

 

[Charlie2]

Is it not designed to remove a stuck log? If it took 27 tons to get the wedge stuck, it's going take at some tonnage to get it unstuck.

 

[BCC_Burner]

We all know the people at HD make 15 an hour and don't know squat!

I make less than that to orchestrate the shipping logistics, billing and collections on ~$6 million of sales annually.

 

[Jags]

Is it not designed to remove a stuck log? If it took 27 tons to get the wedge stuck, it's going take at some tonnage to get it unstuck.

Correct - but no where near 27 tons. If you swing a maul at a stump it generates thousands of pound of force. When a swing gets stuck it doesn't take thousands of pounds of force to remove it.

 

[Charlie2]

Apparently it takes enough force to shred that rinky dink setup. Here you have theory meeting reality, I've seen your builds, you don't build crap like that. So is this an advertiser?

 

[Charlie2]

Also, there's a difference between using a lever over a short fulcrum , ie- an axe handle worked back and forth and a straight pull out.

 

[Jags]

Apparently it takes enough force to shred that rinky dink setup.

My point was - there was a catastrophic failure outside of normal that caused this. It could have been one of a couple of issues. There could have been a bind on the shuttle (which I am sure there was on this unit), BUT there is also a fail safe that should have occurred. The relief pressure for the detente return should have kicked out prior to this thing tearing itself apart. It kinda looks like the perfect storm came to town.

But in the end - the OP got the best deal. Replacement.

 

[HeatsTwice]

Had a similar problem with a very old splitter I bought used.

Fixed it this way for $300-$400. It ain't never going to bust again.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/speeco-wedges-gone-kaput.128777/page-2#post-1740811