Shagbark hickory

[Woody5506]

It is the 27 ton. I’ve had it since around 2012 and have probably 100 cord through it. Motors been problem free I keep the oil nice and fresh. I am running it partial choke or it will lope. I need to drop the carb and blow out the jets one of these days..

Jeez I guess i oughta give mine a cleaning, yours looks brand new. I got mine I think in 2017 maybe 2018 probably have run 20-30 cords through it so far possibly more. Really seems like that little engine has gotten better with use but the only quirky thing I quickly learned was if you don't pull up that gas shut off lever after use, the engine floods pretty easily if you're pushing the splitter around the yard or even more so if you were to tow it. I had to tow it home from the dealer, the lever was "on" and I couldn't get the thing started when I got home...had gas puking outta the muffler. Eventually it started but what a pain in the arse. Bad seal on the carb float needle is my guess but I'm no small engine whiz.

 

[Dieselhead]

It is stored indoors when not in actual use. I also shut off the fuel when in any kind of transportation mode. That’s SOP for any motor with the fuel tank mounted above the carb. SO ANYWAYS! I went ahead and jinxed myself singing my splitters reliability yesterday.. should of bit my tounge. Shagbark hickory-1 ariens splitter-0. On my FIRST split of the day it was a bit of a snotty one. Had some internal limb that had grown over itself and needed a good push from the splitter. It really started to bog down so I went to reverse. Well it seems one of the good old pieces of shagbark slid in between the I beam and splitter head so when I went to retract the carriage stayed in place and the piston pulled free of the wimpy 1/8” flanges that attach the piston to the wedge. Resulting pics below. I was able to make a repair today, safe to say the fix is stronger than the factory sissy flange system. Now I suppose I will find the next weak point when a similar scenario arises....

And the fix...

 

[NickW]

Nice! I had to do some welding to my splitter wedge head yesterday... filled the divot in with a chunk of plate steel to get closer to the original shape when I couldn't get it to bend back out... The weld on the back side where its pushed in was broke from the top half way down.

 

[Dieselhead]

Where your piston attaches to the splitter head is a pretty good design compared to the way they set up mine.