Troy Bilt 27 Ton Splitter - Bad Weld Alert

[pybyr]

I'm going to have to do a search to find a seal kit for the piston. One seal completely ripped off from removing piston from cylinder as it came throught the blown area of the cylinder. Hope that honing will save this cylinder in the end.

Try baumhydraulics.com-- I've found them to be a great source for all sorts of oddball hydraulic parts. Their web site isn't that easy to find things on, but give them a call, and they're wonderfully helpful.

 

[fidiro]

I'm going to have to do a search to find a seal kit for the piston. One seal completely ripped off from removing piston from cylinder as it came throught the blown area of the cylinder. Hope that honing will save this cylinder in the end.

Try baumhydraulics.com-- I've found them to be a great source for all sorts of oddball hydraulic parts. Their web site isn't that easy to find things on, but give them a call, and they're wonderfully helpful.

thanks pybyr, I'll give them a search to see what I can come up with. I still have to try and find the specs for this cylinder so that I don't order the wrong seals.

 

[thinkxingu]

Pellet,
Wasn't there a link here for a replacement cylinder that would work for only a couple hundred bucks? I presume that what you're doing is less expensive, but is the aforementioned cylinder worth looking at as an option for people?

S

 

[fidiro]

Pellet,
Wasn't there a link here for a replacement cylinder that would work for only a couple hundred bucks? I presume that what you're doing is less expensive, but is the aforementioned cylinder worth looking at as an option for people?

S

There is a link for one that is about 300 shipped but I will have the same questionable cylinder. I didn't want to spend endless amount of time on welding this one but if it all comes together right I will have a better built trunion without worrying if it will blow on me again. Worst case scenario I will have to order that one and just have to be more alert of the same possible outcome.

Anyone know if all 4 1/2" bore cylinders use the same seal kits?

 

[thinkxingu]

I also saw one with a plate on top of the cylinder and 4 threaded rods to hold it in place--is there a way to make one of those work instead of the trunion mount?

S

 

[fidiro]

I'm hoping that after all this work I'm doing it will not leak at least. Here are more pics of my progress. I still have to sand down to smooth out the side that ripped out. Tomorrow I'm taking a ride to a local hydraulic place and hope they can match me the seals that broke during removal.

 

[DanCorcoran]

When you get it up and running, you'll need to send Troy-Bilt a note, explaining how to build a splitter...

 

[fidiro]

Here's the pic after I welded up the blown pin back on and then I grinded it to reweld it again before I added the two halves of pipe. Took me a long a$$ time constantly adjusting with a grinder to fit over the new weld but finally got it to fit and welded it up. I have very little welding experience, but I did stay at a holiday inn so my hobart ironman 250 taught me how to weld this up.

 

[fidiro]

When you get it up and running, you'll need to send Troy-Bilt a note, explaining how to build a splitter...

I wouldn't be surprised that they are on here taking notes on how to build their next trunion mount splitter. I have a patent on this one so no copying.

 

[fidiro]

This is the update to my cylinder and splitter. One pic shows the honing process after I first welded cylinder a few weeks ago and the rest of the pics here show the creation of thicker cly pins. After I first welded up cylinder I didn't like seeing the original pins being so thin so I decided to weld again. I couldn't find black paint and red was at hand.

 

[fidiro]

Here I have the cylinder mounted. I had to grind down the mounts to get the thicker cly pins to fit but I am more at ease knowing there is extra meat now. I have drained the 10w hydro that was still in great shape. I refilled with Dexron III to try it out and so far no leaks after a few back and forth runs. I will run this splitter for a few hours on the hardest wood I have right now, which is oak, and see if it will hold up. If it stays together my next project is to add the slip on 4 way, just need to find pics of a few that have been homemade by members. I wish I would have known of this weld problem earlier and it would have saved me hours of extra labor(and the unforgetable oil bath/spill), I would have only welded up the cylinder wall like I did. I spent about 3 hours trying to straighten out the cylinder mounts on the splitter that were twisted up.

 

[fire_man]

Nice looking work, Pelletnubi. Now you have a much stronger looking cylinder. This thread makes me want to sell mine and get an Iron & Oak splitter. I don't have your welding skills or patience.

 

[fidiro]

Thanks FireMan, if you were closer I would be more than happy to assist in making yours look like this. I have very little welding experience. I would say I have welded a total of about 3-4 hrs on my Ironman 250, mostly using the spoolmate welding aluminum. If a pro welder looks at my job will see it as a job done, BUT. It is what it is. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see if I have to reinforce the mounts on the splitter itself because they warped and I bent them back possible creating weak points. I'll wait and see. If you were able to do the same to just the cylinder I would consider this to be a big improvement to the splitter design.

 

[FireAnt]

Looks real good. Good luck with it. I am just keeping my fingers crossed with mine........

 

[bsticks]

Wow, awesome job I keep my fingers crossed too after my re-weld. I run the machine about an hour a week now just to keep an eye on it.

Bsticks

 

[Kenster]

This thread went cold six months ago. Any follow ups would be great. Pettetnubi, how'd your fix hold up?
You other guys with failures, what's the latest word from MTD?

 

[fidiro]

This thread went cold six months ago. Any follow ups would be great. Pettetnubi, how'd your fix hold up?
You other guys with failures, what's the latest word from MTD?

I haven't worked it long enough to say I'm in the safe zone as I only split about half cord since the repair. I've been a little lazy lately about spitting wood and should really get a move on it as I only have about 1 cord split and I need about 3-4 to get through next winter. The only thing I've got going for me in seasoning is the logs were cut about 6 months ago and have about 20 cords or better worth to split.

So far I have no leaks. I have run the piston full length back and forth most of the splitting of that 1/2 cord and it is doing it's job. The clys have worked themselves loose in the mounts now as well, they fit in really tight when I first welded up the thicker clys. I don't see a problem occuring now from the cylinder itself but need to watch the actual mounts that twisted up, to make sure they don't twist themselves again. I just need some time working the splitter to see if I can trust this pile of metal again one day

I just have to remember I still have Mercon III in the hydro tank right now that needs to be changed back to 10w Hydraulic along with a new hydro filter before I start.

 

[Kenster]

Thanks, Pelletnubi. Are you "Avalanche" on the Arborist site?

 

[fidiro]

No not avalanche. Do you or anyone you know have one of these splitters? They could be a very good splitter for the money if the weak points were taken care of, very easy to maneuver by hand and take up little space. I wonder if this design has changed any in the trunion area in the last 6 months.

 

[Kenster]

I found a virtually brand new 27 ton Cub Cadet. Not a scratch or scuff anywhere on the entire thing. Tires don't look like they've ever touched pavement.
Nearby Pawn Shop. They say it's three months into default on a pawn. They had not listed it for sale yet but expected to sometime soon. The manager thought the tag price was going to be $900. I hope to get it for around $700. But I started reading about the blowouts like you had. Kinda has me worried. I only burn about a cord and a half a year so won't be working it too much. Just Post oak and Water Oak. I don't really need 27 tons but for that price, why not?

Of course, if I can get a like new Splitter that retails for $1500 to $1600, for $700 I may just turn around and sell it for $1000 or so and buy a Huskee 22T.

 

[fidiro]

There will be times you will wish you had more then 27 tons of force on a splitter but there are people out there splitting with 22 ton machines that get the job done. A machine rated for 27 tons should never fail like this, I've said it before and say it again, O-rings or rubber hoses should be failing not the tough metal parts like the cylinder that take all the rated force.

If you plan on getting it and keeping it, just keep your eye on the ram making sure it's moving along into the wood. If any piece of wood doesn't split right away back off immediately as the trunion may not, and in my case did not, withstand the rated 27 tons. Till this day I can't believe the cylinder was a weak point of this splitter. At least I haven't had to replace any rubber hoses on mine, they may be superman rated, watch me have to replace one as soon as I start splitting again.

I forgot to mention that during that test trial were I split about 1/2 cord I had a very knotty piece of sycamore that was so tough to split that the engine almost shut down on me from all the pressure I let it build up to. I wanted to test it on a tough piece of wood and wound up not splitting it and just cut it with saw, that test was to make sure I had no leaks on the welds and so it didn't leak anywhere.

 

[Gooserider]

Note that if the components are properly matched and set up, and the engine is running at full throttle or close to it, the pressure relief valve should open before the engine quite stalls, though it will certainly load down... Running at less than full throttle the engine may well stall before the pressure relief opens, and your cycle times will be longer.

I really doubt that more than about 20 tons is all that needed, and probably 95% of most wood could be split with 10 tons... What I've found with my 30 ton HF splitter is that if I got more than about 1,000psi on my gage, the resulting splits were going to look like pretzels and / or toothpicks because the wood will tear around the knots rather than splitting...

Before I got hurt, I also spent a lot of time splitting stuff with a friend as part of his firewood business - out of the hundreds of cords that I split with an old 20 ton MTD, I'd say that I had less than a dozen rounds that I couldn't get through, though some took multiple hits (maybe one or two of those difficult rounds per cord)

I do agree that cylinders shouldn't fail the way these have, but that's a separate story...

Gooserider

 

[bsticks]

My weld repair is still holding the line. I have split 6 cord of wood through it since my repair. All working fine. MTD needs to recall the splitter and at the very least beef up the steel on the cylinder.

bsticks