Harbor freigth wood splitter arrives

Well after a very, very long wait, my HF splitter arrived (ok a couple weeks ago now) They delayed it twice and sent me postcards saying I could back out of the deal if I wanted to. I see the price has already gone up, and the shipping too. Arrived on a big pallet and I had to put it together. Everything was pretty straight forward. Some of the nuts had come off somewhere in shipment, and finding 14mm, course thread, nylock nuts proved to be impossible in my small town. I had to buy new bolts and nuts. Also the hydraulic oil filter was crushed. Some of the labels on the hoses were missing, but it was not toohard to figure out. The wedge has a four way adapter to it that I found worked great, but there was a pin holding it down. I took out the pin and let it "float" and it did a much better job. The wood would pinch between the horizontals and the bed and jam up pretty good. The log lift does an outstanding job. After seeing the thread on the split fire I was concerned. I loaded one of the biggest pieces I could find and licked it right up, I even gave the wheel a lift and I could not make the machine flip over. The lift in the horizontal position makes a great table to work off of, but I plan on adding another table after the wedge. 30 ton, 9 HP Robbins motor, 8 gallons of hydraulic, 24" throw, 2 or 4 way wedge. Log lift. hitch, chains, everything you need to split. On the third day of using it a really nasty piece was getting split and "popped" and slammed into my hand. I think the bone where my thumb joins my habd is broken, so getting anything done now is a real problem. I'll update later after I get some more use out of it, but I am extremely please with this thing so far. On with the pics!

Tbc

more pics

last few

heres the last for now.

Congrats on the splitter.

Ouch on the thumb!!

in action

I knew I missed a money shot!

Oh yeah, we nicknamed it "Tommy Lee". You can take that for whats it worth!

looks great!

it looks better than i imagined it would.

John,
Looks like a nice unit; and that 4-way is sweet.

Nice

Very nice splitter, i have one question for anyone that cares to respond. Why do most log splitters have the wood after being split drop between the hitch and the axle. This to me seems like a very poor design and would be a major pain.
Just a side note: i got into some wood yesterday that i think they call p!22 elm and man that stuff was twisted, and we couldnt split it for nothing. It ended up in the brush, stump pile, we are clearing a woods right now to make it easier to farm.

Was that a picture of the directions in the trash. :greenchainsaw:

Nice unit! Those Subaru Robin's are a great motor too. Congrates

Good luck with the new splitter. Looks like a good solid unit.

As previously stated the Subaru Robins engines are top notch. Usually have to pay a premium for them but they're well worth it.

Who made the pump and valves?

Take Care

Its marked as made by central hydraulics. I have no idea what all they make, other than a lot of parts for hydraulic equipment.

Yeah, the directions in the trash was a lil humor.

I have a friend building a splitter, and we have drawn up several ideas. Reinventing the wheel is not always easy. The wood pushes toward the hitch, which is better than having it push towards the engine and possibley damaging a vital part as it falls. Switch the motor to the front and push towards the rear, now you need the oil tank near the motor. Put the oil tank towards the front, now you are unable to move the splitter around by hand because of the weight and balance. You also want a working table after the wedge, you cant have that and be able to get to a hitch unless your beam is extremely long.

I would like to be able to have it on a hitch, maybe my quad, and as you split wood you move forward and leave a long pile behind you a couple feet high.

Its wood splitting, how complicated does it need to be?



Then again, I have a antique chainsaw with a stuffer and pipe. Why? Because its fun and goes like hell! :greenchainsaw:

HOW $$$ DID YOU PUT OUT TOM TREES

ms310 said:

Just a side note: i got into some wood yesterday that i think they call p!22 elm and man that stuff was twisted, and we couldnt split it for nothing. It ended up in the brush, stump pile, we are clearing a woods right now to make it easier to farm.

Click to expand...

I cut about 1,500 lb of that elm yesterday and hauled it to my log splitter. My homemade power logsplitter with about 25 tons of ram force ate it for breakfast, and it's only a single-stage pump. Could I split it by hand? No entire way. Elm has sold lots of power log splitters.

Nice splitter. One thing I'm curious about. The filter looks to be in a compromising location. Has it got damaged yet when big pieces fall off during the split?

Nice looking splitter.

Yep those robin engines are top shelf, use one myself and like it better than the honda GX engines.

Congratulations on your splitter I had ordered one about 4 months ago. I finally gave up and bought a splitter form Lowe's. Looks really beefy and well made hope you enjoy it and get lots of use out of it David

I like the location of your controls, on top. That is one beef that I have with mine, controls on one side only which sometimes can be a real bummer.
Congrats on your new purhchase. What did that thing run you?

Cost was $1449, plus $61 delivery. Cost is now $1599, and delivery is a quote after calling. Hydraulic fluid was $49. oil $6.

The oil filter was crushed during delivery and I put a new one on. The hoses got hit with a block of wood once, and loosened and hyd fluid started leaking. I plan on making up a shield out of sheet metal to protect that whole area.

The delivery took forever, I almost cancled but then I figured I had plenty of time left before winter. If it did not arrive in time I was going to just go buy a different one from Tractor Supply, and when this did arrive I would assemble and compare the two. I figured if I did not like it I could park it at the curb with a $1800 price on it and sell it in a matter of hours. If they were still at the same price, I would order another and do just that, with a $2000 price.

You got a pretty good deal then. I paid almost that for mine, and its a 27 ton with no log lift.
I have been wary of buying anything from Harbor Freight, it seems that so much of their tools are junk, but it looks like that thing you got there is a real exception.
good luck and congrats on your new purchase! Happy splitting!