Picking up Huskee 22-ton next week...saw an old friend today.
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Now, if I don't get blown into Georgia by these storms coming through tonight I'll be splitting wood tomorrow....might be some scrounges in the morning....it's blowing big time outside right now. Talked with a friend in Jackson, MS earlier today after the tornado went through over there...he said they were about 400 yards from where it hit...I could tell he was pretty rattled...said that's the first one he's ever seen and that he didn't ever want to see or hear another one. I went up to Montgomery this evening and when I road into the city limits I could hear the civil defense sirens going off and drove through some heavy rain and wind. Got what I needed and bee-bopped it back home under dry conditions. Looks like we're going to get the lower/southern tail of the storm system in a few minutes...the systems come across at an angle from sw to ne. We can use the rain but don't need the storm.Backwoods Savage said:
Anyhow... I may cut some more of the cemetery wood in the morning and then spend a few hours splitting. Production had kind of hit a snag these last few weeks...gotta get it going
I'm going to get the clearcut wood split up first and see what I managed to pull out from up there. I figure I got a little over a cord from up there....probably a half.<duh>Ed
It's good to feel ok about the splitter *and* the people. I'll dust my britches off now and carry.
How silver does your oil look. In the first splitter it didn't take but 2-3 tank fulls to silver up the oil pretty good. I'm thinking about over-doing it a bit and change the oil out at maybe 2.5 and 5 hours...get that metal dust and filings out of there.lukem said:
When your splitter runs out of gas is there any gas in the bottom of the tank. Splitter #1 seemed to run out of gas fairly quick and there looked to be a fair amount left in the tank...it made me think that the splitter wasn't utilizing all the gas available. ???
Glad to hear your splitter is doing good...hope mine does as well!
Ed
That is interesting about the pricing. I wonder if it's got to do with there being a lot more wood burners up your way compared to down here. I have yet to see anything other than the 22-ton units at a TSC but I know there are folks down here with some of the bigger units...special orders, I guess.TreePointer said:
At $899 the splitter is/was a very good deal. I'm happy. I'll even be happier when I've got the break-in oil out of it and there's not a round over 3-4 inches on the place!
Oh, I didn't mention it earlier, but the two guys and lady helped me load the wood that I split at the store...they didn't give me back the round that was stuck on the first splitter, though.<grin>
Ed
Here in Central PA the everyday price of the 22 ton splitter is $999. Maybe the higher priced one is the "carb compliant" model?
What I've seen is the regular model. I'm in TSC almost every week (sometimes many times/week when there's no snow) and have been watching the price since early 2008. In addition to a "sale," I've also seen it go down to $999 for more than a week--maybe what they'd term a seasonal markdown. It eventually goes back to $1099.
What price are you seeing on the TSC website right now, TreePointer? I'm seeing $999 with no mention of a sale (and have been seeing this price for at least several months now). It would be interesting if they're keying off of IP addresses for some type of pricing strategy. It may very well be a regional thing. Does your local TSC keep the larger splitters in stock?....I've never seen anything but the 22-ton in my area (though I'm sure they will order a larger one in if requested).TreePointer said:
Ed
Intheswamp said:How silver does your oil look. In the first splitter it didn't take but 2-3 tank fulls to silver up the oil pretty good. I'm thinking about over-doing it a bit and change the oil out at maybe 2.5 and 5 hours...get that metal dust and filings out of there.lukem said:
When your splitter runs out of gas is there any gas in the bottom of the tank. Splitter #1 seemed to run out of gas fairly quick and there looked to be a fair amount left in the tank...it made me think that the splitter wasn't utilizing all the gas available. ???
Glad to hear your splitter is doing good...hope mine does as well!
Ed
It's fairly silver, but not too bad. I always make the first oil change pretty early. When it runs out of gas it is dry.
Intheswamp said:
Online right now it's $999 for the regular and $1149 for CARB compliant, but I don't recall seeing a CARB compliant model here.
The TSC's around me keep at least one display 22-, 28-, and 35-ton model in stock year round, and there's usually more than one of the 22- and 35-ton models. They also keep a 3-point hitch model in stock. This year is the first I've seen the 5-ton electric both online and in the showrooms.
Hmm, I don't recall entering my zip code at TSC (for a cookie), so maybe they are doing it through IP addresses.
The 22-ton Huskee has worked great No problems as of now. I've probably split a face cord of the cemetery red oak with it.
When I was checking the splitter out at TSC I noted that the hydraulic fluid was overfilled. What surprised me was that when I split the two pieces of wood that I had carried with me that fluid did not squirt out of the overflow hole as the manual says it will do if overfilled. I had some bigger (for me) rounds to split so I figured I'd BS them so I flipped the splitter up vertical. When I cranked it the first thing that I noted was that it was spitting fluid out the overflow hole in the breather cap. Just thought I'd mention that for whatever use that information may be to someone.
The 2-stage pump apparently is working good. The splitter will hit a knarly piece of that cemetery red oak (and some of it is *very* knarly and twisted!) and the ram will almost come to a complete halt. The motor will load up a tad and the ram will slowly push it's way through...if it gets a bite into the grain it will simply shear it off. Which brings up a question...it seems that this ancient standing dead but still very wet red oak is rather stringy when I split it. The outer portions of the larger rounds seem to split off nice and clean, but most splits that are from very far into the round seem to not split as cleaning and will "fuzz" or have a stringy look....is this common for standing dead or aged oak? It seems the water oak that I bought back at the first of the year was "cleaner" in regards to fuzz and being stringy but it was split from freshly felled living trees. ???
I've checked the lovejoys a few times and they are fine. The only issue I've had is that when dropped the beam back to horizontal that the guide/lock pin doesn't align correctly with the beam...about 1/2 to 3/4 inch to one side...I have to push from the side to get it to line up...???? Other than that I'm happy with it and have no issues so far.
Ed
No problems as of now. I've probably split a face cord of the cemetery red oak with it.When I was checking the splitter out at TSC I noted that the hydraulic fluid was overfilled. What surprised me was that when I split the two pieces of wood that I had carried with me that fluid did not squirt out of the overflow hole as the manual says it will do if overfilled. I had some bigger (for me) rounds to split so I figured I'd BS them so I flipped the splitter up vertical. When I cranked it the first thing that I noted was that it was spitting fluid out the overflow hole in the breather cap. Just thought I'd mention that for whatever use that information may be to someone.
The 2-stage pump apparently is working good. The splitter will hit a knarly piece of that cemetery red oak (and some of it is *very* knarly and twisted!) and the ram will almost come to a complete halt. The motor will load up a tad and the ram will slowly push it's way through...if it gets a bite into the grain it will simply shear it off. Which brings up a question...it seems that this ancient standing dead but still very wet red oak is rather stringy when I split it. The outer portions of the larger rounds seem to split off nice and clean, but most splits that are from very far into the round seem to not split as cleaning and will "fuzz" or have a stringy look....is this common for standing dead or aged oak? It seems the water oak that I bought back at the first of the year was "cleaner" in regards to fuzz and being stringy but it was split from freshly felled living trees. ???
I've checked the lovejoys a few times and they are fine. The only issue I've had is that when dropped the beam back to horizontal that the guide/lock pin doesn't align correctly with the beam...about 1/2 to 3/4 inch to one side...I have to push from the side to get it to line up...???? Other than that I'm happy with it and have no issues so far.
Ed
I'm not sure how much the cylinder holds but it would be a fair amount. Being as it is a closed system, though, it seems it would have leaked when I split horizontally, too.
Whatever the case, it is cranking on the first pull and splitting very well...the splitter is doing it's part, now I've just gotta figure out what *I* am doing. I'm sure I have some wasted motion, but it's not like I have 10 cords to split so I'm getting there.
Ed
Whatever the case, it is cranking on the first pull and splitting very well...the splitter is doing it's part, now I've just gotta figure out what *I* am doing. I'm sure I have some wasted motion, but it's not like I have 10 cords to split so I'm getting there.
Ed
Ed, my splitter finally arrived today. I'm not feeling well so I've only checked the assembly/fluids and split 1 log. Engine and hydraulic fluids were low but not severely. Topped them off and hope to put in an hour or two tomorrow and will check everything again...went right thru the oak round I tried no problemo. One thing I will do fairly soon is either have a cradle made for it or perhaps buy the one at TSC...although it does look a bit flimsy. While I'm sure there will be times for vertical splitting I actually prefer to stand and w/o a cradle that's gonna be a lot of picking up pieces!
cradle: (broken link removed to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=270736434681&si=f%2B0U9AWt%2FMRgEhM4uE5315WQAW8%3D&viewitem;=)
muncybob said:
Congrats on the splitter
The splitter can wait, though,...take care of yourself. Hope you feel a lot better tomorrow so that you can play with your new toy...er,...uh,....work with your new tool!!...yeah, that's it! 
I'm liking mine, just haven't had as much time as I want to get my wood split. I'm still switch hitting between vertical and horizontal...I think I'm going to end up somewhere between the Jake camp and the Dennis camp on splitting.
vf linked to a cradle on eBay. I have this cradle and was going to install it late Saturday after I got most of my cemetery red oak bucked but I saw that you have to drill the I-beam to install it...I didn't have much daylight left and I wanted to split some wood so I put it back in the box for another day. It is indeed heavy-duty and I think it will make horizontal splitting *much* better.
I've been experimenting with the splitter. I'll hold the round off-center a bit to the wedge and knock a slab off, spin the round a bit on the beam, knock another slab off, repeat...this will get me down to where I can get some squared-up splits out of the round. I've also split in half and then proceed to work a half of a piece at the time that results in more pie-shaped pieces. Like I said, I'm trying to figure out what works best for me. The usual way I've been splitting horizontally is to place the slab on the I-beam and hold it it whatever position using my stomach at times.
When I split horizontally the split wood falls away from me on the opposite side of the beam. This has got me wondering about using the cradle. The cradle will be kind of in the way for the wood to fall away, but it may work better in that you can shove it off the end of the cradle further away from the splitter...of course this will take a little more effort. I hope to get it installed this weekend but I'm like everybody else...too many irons in the fire.
Get to feeling better! Let us know how it does!
Ed
Up until now I've been renting an old MTD splitter...this guy had 2 cradles welded on. On the opposite side was a larger cradle and more of a U shape to it then the Ebay picture. It seemed to have a bit of a tilt too so large pieces would roll away from the I-beam a bit. On the operator side was a much smaller width cradle which helped with the larger rounds. I think I'll check with a local fab shop for pricing but the Ebay one looks like it will do the job.
On day 3 off work and looks like rain later so probably won't get to play with the new "tool" until after Easter, but in the short 10 minutes I had it running yesterday I think I'll be a happy camper..
On day 3 off work and looks like rain later so probably won't get to play with the new "tool" until after Easter, but in the short 10 minutes I had it running yesterday I think I'll be a happy camper..
Although I too haven't installed my ebay cradle, it has a bracket (I got two) that attaches to the I beam so that the cradle can be easily detached for vertical use.
I went to TSC this evening to pick up some dogfood. When I pulled in there wasn't a vehicle in the parking lot...sign of the economy I guess...and the day before payday, too.
Anyhow, when I parked I looked over at the fenced in area where they keep the gates and water troughs and stuff. Beside the fence was a 22-ton Huskee. I noticed it had an interesting looking tag on it so I walked over to check it out. Well sakes alive! It was my old buddy #1 splitter...even still had some of that elm splitter trash wedged into the corners of the foot. Out of curiosity I picked up the tag on it....it said REDUCED PRICE!...with $1199 scratched through and $1149 penciled in Nice deal...and they've also got the $6 bar oil back on sale for $7.99.
Anyhow, just thought I'd mention I saw an old friend today....
Ed
Anyhow, when I parked I looked over at the fenced in area where they keep the gates and water troughs and stuff. Beside the fence was a 22-ton Huskee. I noticed it had an interesting looking tag on it so I walked over to check it out. Well sakes alive
! It was my old buddy #1 splitter...even still had some of that elm splitter trash wedged into the corners of the foot. Out of curiosity I picked up the tag on it....it said REDUCED PRICE!...with $1199 scratched through and $1149 penciled in Nice deal...and they've also got the $6 bar oil back on sale for $7.99. Anyhow, just thought I'd mention I saw an old friend today....
Ed
Ed, that is very generous to mark that thing down $50. :lol: I'd have thought they would mark it down more than that. Nice sale on the oil too.
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