My Harbor Freight 30 ton splitter experience...

[Gooserider]

I did initial measurements on the engine mounting, and there was a good 3 inches of interference if flipped around...I can't remember exactly which direction, but the mounts would have to come away from the tank and towards to hitch ench by about 2 inches each I believe. It might be easier to fab up a large metal shield to block the wind/dust, as well as angled to cover the pump/gauge to protect from falling splits.

Wild fantasy?....have some sort of channel mounting for the toeplate to slide into to make it removeable, so a wedge could be slid in, quickly changing from sliding wedge to fixed wedge....also a bigger/quieter muffler....maybe a remote/auto throttle that would kick down when return stroke completed.

My idea on the throttle would be something to rev the engine when putting the valve into split mode, then go back to fast idle for neutral and return - if the engine is doing a fast idle already, speeding it up doesn't really do much for the cycle time, but it would be nice to rev up for splits where the pump might actually kick into high pressure mode and load the engine. Depending on how fast the engine will actually respond to a throttle change, it might not actually be that hard to do something along that line...

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

Well, after 50 hours of use, my HF 30t splitter' cylinder started to leak profusely. As the old Eskimo said, the last thing that you ever want to do is blow a seal, but there it is. I'm going to replace it ASAP, never done anything like this, but it looks easy. I'll take pix. Otherwise, the unit has been ok, no problems...

 

[Gooserider]

Well, after 50 hours of use, my HF 30t splitter' cylinder started to leak profusely. As the old Eskimo said, the last thing that you ever want to do is blow a seal, but there it is. I'm going to replace it ASAP, never done anything like this, but it looks easy. I'll take pix. Otherwise, the unit has been ok, no problems...

Depending on how old it is, give HF a call and see if they will replace it for you - A couple of parts on mine that had problems they just sent me new parts, no questions asked, and didn't even want the old ones back....

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

Well, I bought it in 2007 or so. Maybe 2006, can't remember the month. And HF had no record of the sale. Either way, it's out of warranty and I can't fool them about it.
What went bad on yours?

 

[cityevader]

I replaced my pump, valve, filter, and cylinder, still overheated. Best thing I did to mine was sell it.... however, I moved out of the forest and into the city and sold everything relatd to the outdoors....(not neccessarily a good thing) Got a grand for the splitter, broken welds, multiple leaks, overheating and all. If I were to do it all over again.... Supersplit.

 

[Woodsroad]

I feel so fortunate all of a sudden.....

 

[Gooserider]

Well, I bought it in 2007 or so. Maybe 2006, can't remember the month. And HF had no record of the sale. Either way, it's out of warranty and I can't fool them about it.
What went bad on yours?

I had small leaks in the valve and the cylinder - both were on the order of a slow drip, not enough to make the machine unuseable, but annoying. I'll admit they were at the level where I probably wouldn't have paid to fix them, but I called to see what HF would do, and they sent me new parts... The replacement valve still drips a tiny bit, but not enough to mess with. My cylinder seems to have cured itself - the leak stopped before I had a chance to change it out for the new one, but I now have a spare if I ever need one...

I also had an intermittent leak on the filter head, which seemed to resolve by over-tightening the filter several times - however one day the filter gasket blew out, which was quite impressive - hot hydraulic oil fountain, made it a bit of a challenge to reach the kill switch w/o getting burned, and made a really big mess... I opted at that point to replace the filter head - the local hydraulic shop didn't have a replacement filter to fit the existing head, and the one they had carried a much larger filter. That puts this fix on the border between "upgrade" and "repair"

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

I wonder where these machines are assembled. The pump on mine is a Haldex (USA) and my engine says "Made in Japan", so it seems that the chassis, cylinder and valve are made in China and shipped here for further assembly. If HF runs their assembly operation like they run their stores (minimum wage/maximum management stupidity), then this shoddy work is just par for the course and part of their business plan.

I've gotten good use out of my machine, and for $990, it was the best deal out there. I'm not sure though, given the choice, I would buy another HF splitter.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have identical unit.
I haven't used mine for a while, but the cylinder also leaks.
The leak goes away after awhile with use.
Woodsroad, I'd be interested in your seal change experience.
Where will you be getting the seals?
HF included some seals with the splitter, but maybe using them isn't the best approach.

 

[cityevader]

I still have a bag of seals that came with my splitter for 5" cylinder if anyone interested...PM me.

 

[Gooserider]

I wonder where these machines are assembled. The pump on mine is a Haldex (USA) and my engine says "Made in Japan", so it seems that the chassis, cylinder and valve are made in China and shipped here for further assembly. If HF runs their assembly operation like they run their stores (minimum wage/maximum management stupidity), then this shoddy work is just par for the course and part of their business plan.

I've gotten good use out of my machine, and for $990, it was the best deal out there. I'm not sure though, given the choice, I would buy another HF splitter.

I don't know, but I would strongly suspect that they are assembled in China - The crate that my machine arrived in had a lot of Chinese labeling on it that wouldn't have been needed if it had been assembled and packed in the US. In addition, there are marketing advantages to being able to say "Made in USA" - and my unit doesn't say so. (Note that it doesn't take much to get a "Made in USA" label - as long as a certain minimum amount of final assembly is done here, it qualifies... I used to deal with this back when I was working for an Israeli company - there are a bunch of countries that won't buy from Israel, so for those custmers, they would ship machines to us, we would do a minimal amount of final assembly, load software on the drives, and run a test program, then slap our Made in USA labels on over the "Made in Israel" labels and ship...)

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

I have identical unit.
I haven't used mine for a while, but the cylinder also leaks.
The leak goes away after awhile with use.
Woodsroad, I'd be interested in your seal change experience.
Where will you be getting the seals?
HF included some seals with the splitter, but maybe using them isn't the best approach.

My leak is catastrophic! A gusher.

I've removed the faceplate of the cylinder, and I'm pretty much stumped on how to proceed. There is another face plate that holds the seal, and I can't see how to remove it. I can't move the shaft more than 1/4" in or out...

I was going to use the HF seal kit, but, perhaps, you are correct in being just a little suspect as to it's quality....

 

[velvetfoot]

I wonder how much a pro would charge?

 

[Woodsroad]

OK, I got it apart!
The cylinder was not empty yet. I removed the valve and drained the cylinder. I was able to remove the piston by overextending it and wiggling it back and forth while pulling on it.
There is no apparent seal damage. However, the nut that holds the rear end of the piston on was very loose, almost falling off. I imagine that this would introduce enough play in the shaft to allow a leak at the front seal. I'm replacing the seals, anyway.

 

[Woodsroad]

Detail of piston ends and the loose end nut...

 

[Gooserider]

Ouch! Good thing you caught that when you did... I could be wrong, but that looks like the kind of failure that could have been catastrophic if the nut had come all the way off... If it had, I would have expected the rod to have been extended rapidly, with no control as soon as you put the valve into extend or retract mode...

It would seem like a safety problem that the nut could come off easily, I'm surprised there wasn't a cotter pin or at least a self locking nut to prevent it from coming loose... (If you have the tools to drill the rod, it might be worth doing before putting the cylinder back together...

Gooserider

 

[velvetfoot]

Great stuff!

 

[Gooserider]

For whatever it's worth department (not much...) I just called HF customer support, and then got referred to their tech support department, and they tell me there is no way for them to tell if there have been any changes to the inside of that cylinder to prevent this kind of problem...

Interestingly, I recalled seeing THIS THREAD that I made a while back passing on the information about a recall on Brave and Iron Oak splitters, that had a "rod retention failure"

From the report (emphasis added) -

Hazard: The log splitter’s hydraulic cylinders can have defective rod retention, causing the seals to leak and the rods to detach. This can result in serious injury to the operator, as the rod can rapidly and unexpectedly extend the splitting wedge.

Incidents/Injuries: Brave Products originally received 59 reports of leaking cylinders and/or rod retention failure. One consumer reported a hand amputation that could have been caused by this cylinder defect. There have been 26 additional reports of failure, including units previously thought to be unaffected by the earlier recalls. No new injuries have been reported.

I called both CPSC and Brave, and couldn't get any additional information as to the exact nature of their failure that prompted the recall, but it sounds like the symptoms are similar, and would be consistent with that kind of nut coming loose...

Since I'm not the person experiencing the failure, I'm not sure I can file a full report, but it might be worth going to the CPSC website and filing a report... They told me to go to the CPSC webpage www.cpsc.gov and scroll down to the "consumer complaint form" option. I may try it to see how far I can get...

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

I just a returned an email to HF tech support...I'm going to call them now....

EDIT:
I spoke with a Harbor Freight tech CSR who stonewalled and offered to sell me replacement parts. I explained to this person that their splitter could have killed me, and she replied "Yes, I know sir, but it is out of warranty".

OK.

I asked to speak to her supervisor, and a very attentive woman took my call, expressed great concern, seemed to understand the situation, and said that she would get back to me. She gave me her email, and I sent her the CPSC recall notice and a recap of our conversation.

I wait.

 

[Gooserider]

Well I tried looking at the CPSC website, and their form didn't really seem to apply, and it asked for a lot of information that I didn't have, so I decided it was more appropriate to send them an e-mail, which the website also suggests as an alternative to filling out the form. So I have sent the following to the CPSC....

Hello,

I am a moderator on a forum for people that heat with wood. As part of heating with wood, we also discuss products that deal with turning trees into firewood, including log splitters.

One of our users reported a problem with a Harbor Freight Tools brand 30-ton log splitter. As I personally own the same or a similar model, I am naturally concerned about the risks of having a similar problem occurring to my machine. My machine is a model 91840, however Harbor Freight has sold similar looking machines under many different model numbers, so I don't know what the model number of the other person's machine is.

The user reported that his machine purchased in 1996 or 1997 developed a serious fluid leak in the hydraulic cylinder, so he disassembled the cylinder to determine the cause and attempt repairs. He found that there was a nut which attached the piston to the piston rod which was extremely loose. It appears to me that if the nut had come off completely, the piston rod would have been forcefully and rapidly ejected from the cylinder in an unpredictable manner, with severe possibility of injury.

This failure appears very similar to the one described in your Release #09-174 issued on April 1, 2009 involving certain Brave and Iron Oak splitters. As that recall mentioned at least one hand amputation, it seems to me that this is a subject of possibly severe concern.

Preventing this kind of failure at the time of manufacturing would be very easy to do in my opinion, as all that would be needed is to install a cotter pin or other method to keep the nut from coming off. It would be harder for a consumer to do because of the tools needed. In addition, because the parts involved are inside the hydraulic cylinder, which is normally only dismantled by professional techs when overhauling it, there is no way for a consumer to check whether the nut is tight or not.

I have called Harbor Freight's customer service and technical support departments and they were not able to tell me if there had been any changes to the way the cylinder was built that would prevent failures between the time the other user's machine had been built, and when I purchased mine in the summer of 1998.

If you would like more details, you can see them in the forum thread, at the website address https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/23743/
The problem discussion starts on page 6 of the thread. ( I am known as "Gooserider" on that forum)

I looked at filling out the form on the CPSC website, and it seemed like there were a lot of the details I couldn't provide, so I am hoping this report will serve as a starter to alert you to the potential problem - if you need further information you will probably need to contact the user involved directly.

Gooserider

 

[Woodsroad]

Purchased Feb 2006

Otherwise, spot on. Thanks. (Yes, it IS the 91840)

The cylinder and overall construction of the recalled splitters are very similar to the Harbor Freight units. The HF manager did seem a bit alarmed about the retaining nut problem. I'm pretty shaken up myself. It was a very close call.

The HF rep just called me back to let me know that she has sent the problem on to their QA department, and that she would get back to me tomorrow with more info.

Now, sit and wait

(Damn, I really have to get splitting, though, cold weather is on the way....)

 

[velvetfoot]

Wow, scary. Maybe threadlocker would do the trick. What was the fix on the other brand recall? New cylinder?

 

[velvetfoot]

I have the electronic version of the owners manual, if you need it.

 

[Gooserider]

Wow, scary. Maybe threadlocker would do the trick. What was the fix on the other brand recall? New cylinder?

It appears the fix on the Brave recall was to replace the cylinder. IMHO this is the only really practical solution at the consumer point, as I don't think that most consumers would have the tools / skills needed to open the cylinder (Which BTW, the HF manual on my splitter says should only be serviced by a professional hydraulic tech) Without looking at the economics, this is somewhat speculative, but what I would probably do if I were in charge of a recall like this is do some sort of cross-ship of refurbished cylinders - require the customer to supply a credit card number, (or return the old cylinder first,) then send out a new / refurbished cylinder, and a UPS call tag to return the old one, maybe also a check for some amount to pay for an OPE / Hydraulic shop to change out the cylinder or compensate the customer for the trouble of doing it himself. As the old cylinders come back, get them refurbished and fixed for sending to the next batch of customers... This does the dual purpose of getting the old, potentially liability causing, cylinders out of circulation, and avoiding the need to buy huge numbers of replacement cylinders....

Once into the cylinder, as a repair technique, thread locker might work, but I don't know that I'd want to trust it given the environment and that there is no practical way to check on the nut at a later time. Thread locker can work, but it is somewhat critical that the surfaces be properly prepared and so forth, I don't see it as completely reliable... I would be more inclined to cross drill the piston rod and put in a cotter pin, as that is about as fail safe as one can get... Failing that a self locking nut of the correct sort might also work, or even the old trick of buggering the protruding threads...

Gooserider

 

[velvetfoot]

There are other instances on www.arboristsite.com

Here's one:
http://arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=41540

The knowledgeable person suggested 400-500 ft-lbs for the one inch nut and red loctite.
He said it would take a torch to remove it the next time.