Troy-Bilt 27-Ton 160cc Log Splitter from Lowes

[TreePointer]

Another consideration: Brave 22-ton for the same price (includes shipping in "Zone 1").

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Another consideration: Brave 22-ton for the same price (includes shipping in "Zone 1").

A Brave for the same price as an MTD? That is a no-brainer!

 

[Conkers]

I have the troybilt 27ton, I got it last year and it now has close to 100 hours on it now. (i put an hour meter on when it was new)
The log guards are flimsy and broke off the small bolts but i drilled them out and put some 3/8 bolts in. The adjuster bolts bent so i put some set screws in there.
Other than that it has been great. A little slow and the fuel tank lasts only an hour but not that big of a deal.
The Honda engine is awesome, starts first time every time.

I got it a lowes with a 20% off coupon. I haven't seen any 20% but you can get a 10% off in the moving packet at a post office.

 

[Cambium]

Can someone give me a review on this Log splitter from Lowes? Thanks so much. Bob


http://www.lowes.com/pd_116418-270-24BF572B711_0_?productId=1005417&Ntt=log+splitter&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=log%20splitter$y=0$x=0#

After long research and reviews online and at retailers, I purchased a 27Ton Troy Bilt from Lowes... After 3 hours it stopped working, called Lowes, they came next day with brand new one and took back broken one...No Hydraulic Fluid was in there...Stupid me didn't bother to check before starting it..

Been 1 year now.. I love it!
~First pull is amazing.
~Motor pretty quiet compared to other splitters.
~Height is great where I can hold a large log on my thigh instead of making it fall.
~It is a little slow in cycle time but average compared to whats out there for that price.

It split the toughest Elm just fine. I took the cradle off so the splits can just fall easily.

 

[Cambium]

P.S - I had a 4 way wedge custom made for this splitter since the manufactuer and nobody else sold it...4way wedge works excellent... I take it off for large logs or logs with more than 2 large knots.

 

[Kydan]

Now that would be interesting to see.

 

[Cambium]

Now that would be interesting to see.

I had to replace the bolt and washer to accomadate the width..(longer bolt)..and I have broken 3 bolts so far becuase of the power of the machine to push and also you cannot let it go back all the way.

Max size piece that will fit with 4way is 24" but I only recommend splitting less than 21" with 4 way.

 

[fidiro]

Hope I'm not late helping with your decision. I'm registered on ********** as 'pelletnubi' and this link will show you what is happening to these. On this thread I have posted pictures of the bad design failure. Hope you can make a decision based on the pics.

http://www.**********/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/57455/

I see the pic with the 4 way and that is really asking for trouble from this design although 27 tons should definately be able to push that 4 way the cylinder wall will not. I'm trying to spread the word as this problem needs to be recalled as it is a safety issue. Wish I had found a Huskee instead.

 

[mustangwagz]

i bought a cub cadet from home depot, identicle pretty much. Its got the steel diamond plate fenders, and an actual jack/wheel for the tongue stand. My neighbor and i have split close to 30 cord of wood with it. only problems i had was a hose clamp was loose on return line, sheered off the cheap self tapping 5/16'ths bolts that held the log cradle on.

Changed the oil like suggested, along with hydro oil. Only major thing i noticed was ya gotta keep the unit level as hell!! like to spew a little hydro oil outta the fill plug/vent if ya dont keep it level.

We've split some rather big rounds with this splitter, Deff used every little bit of stoke the cylinder has. (28 inches?) Gas tank only lasts about an hour as i read in a diff post, but thats fine with me. i usually need something to drink or need a smoke by then anyhow. lol let er cool, have a "Pop", and then fill up the hog and start all over.

It was deff worth the 1200 i paid for it in my opinion. it has paid for itself more than once already and ive owned it for like, 3 years?..or damn close anyhow.

ONLY thing i'm not big on, is the idea that their building these splitters with the spindles welded onto the damn oil tank..Piss poor idea in my opinion.. ROUGH pa roads, and that little splitter hoppin round like it does, will eventually lead to a major problem. Hence why i trailer it or load it into the truck. Piss on Draggin it, i want this thing to last a while! lol

 

[Alan Smith]

troybilt

http://www.troybilt.com/wcsstore/Ma.../media/ConsumerInspectionProcedures_Final.pdf

 

[fidiro]

i bought a cub cadet from home depot, identicle pretty much. Its got the steel diamond plate fenders, and an actual jack/wheel for the tongue stand. My neighbor and i have split close to 30 cord of wood with it. only problems i had was a hose clamp was loose on return line, sheered off the cheap self tapping 5/16'ths bolts that held the log cradle on.

Changed the oil like suggested, along with hydro oil. Only major thing i noticed was ya gotta keep the unit level as hell!! like to spew a little hydro oil outta the fill plug/vent if ya dont keep it level.

We've split some rather big rounds with this splitter, Deff used every little bit of stoke the cylinder has. (28 inches?) Gas tank only lasts about an hour as i read in a diff post, but thats fine with me. i usually need something to drink or need a smoke by then anyhow. lol let er cool, have a "Pop", and then fill up the hog and start all over.

It was deff worth the 1200 i paid for it in my opinion. it has paid for itself more than once already and ive owned it for like, 3 years?..or damn close anyhow.

ONLY thing i'm not big on, is the idea that their building these splitters with the spindles welded onto the damn oil tank..Piss poor idea in my opinion.. ROUGH pa roads, and that little splitter hoppin round like it does, will eventually lead to a major problem. Hence why i trailer it or load it into the truck. Piss on Draggin it, i want this thing to last a while! lol

Your sig states you have a 30 ton splitter, is it something similar to the 27 ton being described here or is it the next step up that has a full I beam with the cylinder mounted on the end instead of trunion mount?

The trunion mount is the problem with these 27 ton and similar models, because the cylinder wall is too thin and it will blow apart in time, just keep that in mind as you split to try and avoid injury. At first I thought it was bad welds but it is the cylinder wall that needs to be thicker to support the pressures of 27 tons. This 27 ton, as is, needs the pump to be reduced to 15tons to make this setup safer or beef up the trunion of the cylinder and cylinder wall to keep the rating up to 27.

Most of this is being talked about in the link I posted above if anyone needs to add to it. I joined there right after I installed my pellet stove. I joined here right when I bought my first stihl 041 and I have since sold that one and bought a ms390 and just recently a 034av.

There is no recall yet for this problem but as more of these fail and people file with the safety commission it will come and hopefully before someone gets seriously hurt.

 

[fidiro]

I just have to comment on that homemade 4 way. It really looks like you took your time getting it right. Very nice. I would definately love to get one like that made if the cylinder was mounted on the end instead.

Just in case, if your cylinder blows I wouldn't mention this because they will blame the 4 way and not their bad design.

 

[NCPABill]

Go Huskee / Speeco

I have the 22 ton Huskee, and am absolutely thrilled with the purchase. It was definitely the best value (plus 10% off purchase coupon). I made two shelf brackets from angle iron and bolted through the two holes in the main beam. Screwed two 2x pieces on these "shelf brackets" and have my own 1/2 hour cradle, which also protects the oil filter assembly. I can't believe a homeowner use (light commercial maybe) could be much better.

 

[mustangwagz]

I just have to comment on that homemade 4 way. It really looks like you took your time getting it right. Very nice. I would definately love to get one like that made if the cylinder was mounted on the end instead.

Just in case, if your cylinder blows I wouldn't mention this because they will blame the 4 way and not their bad design.

Wow ya your right about my sig. (wander wtf i put 30 for??..)
its the 27 ton splitter. and yes after looking at its design after reading your post, and the other site you posted on..i agree, a little fab work oguhta be done. Another reason one should maybe consider supporting at rear, would be due to the idea that the damn thing bounces around a little.. its not excactly, "SOLID" it does float around a bit.

Glad i read your posts, ill be diggin out the welder in the future i can see!

 

[Patrick H]

FWIW, I bought a 27T Troy Built from Lowes about 5 weeks ago, and the welds around the trunions are a whole lot more substantial than the ones in this pic. About 1/4" to 5/16" more bead around them.
I've split 6 cord with it with no issues.
http://www.**********/econtent/index.php?ACT=24&fid=3&aid=39087_0mNshwzrvZMzNhqeNZ3J&board_id=1

 

[Phil_Marino]

[QUOTE...

The trunion mount is the problem with these 27 ton and similar models, because the cylinder wall is too thin and it will blow apart in time, just keep that in mind as you split to try and avoid injury. At first I thought it was bad welds but it is the cylinder wall that needs to be thicker to support the pressures of 27 tons. This 27 ton, as is, needs the pump to be reduced to 15tons to make this setup safer or beef up the trunion of the cylinder and cylinder wall to keep the rating up to 27.

[/QUOTE]

Fidiro :

How does the trunion mount cause the problem ?( if the cylinder wall is too thin) Or, is it just certain cylinders with that kind of mount that are faulty?

Also - the maximum pressure is generally limited by a pressure relief valve ( PRF) in the splitter control valve, not by the pump. Usually you can adjust this maximum pressure limit ( it depends on the particular valve).

Pumps are specified by flow rate ( gpm), not pressure, and the only limit to the pressure the pump can produce ( unless it fails from overpressure) is the torque that the engine can provide.

Phil

 

[Phil_Marino]

[QUOTE...

The trunion mount is the problem with these 27 ton and similar models, because the cylinder wall is too thin and it will blow apart in time, just keep that in mind as you split to try and avoid injury. At first I thought it was bad welds but it is the cylinder wall that needs to be thicker to support the pressures of 27 tons. This 27 ton, as is, needs the pump to be reduced to 15tons to make this setup safer or beef up the trunion of the cylinder and cylinder wall to keep the rating up to 27.

Fidiro :

How does the trunion mount cause the problem ?( if the cylinder wall is too thin) Or, is it just certain cylinders with that kind of mount that are faulty?

Also - the maximum pressure is generally limited by a pressure relief valve ( PRF) in the splitter control valve, not by the pump. Usually you can adjust this maximum pressure limit ( it depends on the particular valve).

Pumps are specified by flow rate ( gpm), not pressure, and the only limit to the pressure the pump can produce ( unless it fails from overpressure) is the torque that the engine can provide.

Phil[/QUOTE]

Oops. Ignore my first question - I just looked at your post again and I see what you're saying - the mount is the problem. At first I thought it was just an overpressure failure in the cylinder.

 

[fidiro]

Fidiro :

How does the trunnion mount cause the problem ?( if the cylinder wall is too thin) Or, is it just certain cylinders with that kind of mount that are faulty?

Also - the maximum pressure is generally limited by a pressure relief valve ( PRF) in the splitter control valve, not by the pump. Usually you can adjust this maximum pressure limit ( it depends on the particular valve).

Pumps are specified by flow rate ( gpm), not pressure, and the only limit to the pressure the pump can produce ( unless it fails from overpressure) is the torque that the engine can provide.

Phil

Oops. Ignore my first question - I just looked at your post again and I see what you're saying - the mount is the problem. At first I thought it was just an overpressure failure in the cylinder.[/QUOTE]

yep, the problem is the cylinder wall is too thin to get those pins welded directly onto it around the trunion. If there was a sleeve to go over the cylinder in that area of the trunion and those pins got welded to the sleeve instead of directly to the cylinder it would work much better without these failures. The sleeve would then get welded all the way around cylinder instead of just a small section of cylinder. I have a pic of a caterpillar backhoe trunion mount cylinder on the thread in my sig that should be copied by them to fit this splitter if they want to continue building these this way. Either that or reduce the pump pressure and try to sell these at 15 ton rated, no one will want a 15 ton. Right now I would go with huskee/speeco until they redesign this problem.

The reason you see more weld now around the pins in the newer ones is because they know they have a problem on their hands and are trying to fix it by throwing a wider area of weld. I still think it's going to be a problem design with just the extra weld. To try and eliminate this problem they need to beef up the cylinder wall to 1/2" at least 6" in from end of trunion and then weld the pins to that.

I hope you have better luck with yours but there will be many that will face what I have faced eventually. I'm still waiting for something to happen to get TB/MTD to fix this.

 

[fidiro]

Wow ya your right about my sig. (wander wtf i put 30 for??..)
its the 27 ton splitter. and yes after looking at its design after reading your post, and the other site you posted on..i agree, a little fab work oguhta be done. Another reason one should maybe consider supporting at rear, would be due to the idea that the damn thing bounces around a little.. its not excactly, "SOLID" it does float around a bit.

Glad i read your posts, ill be diggin out the welder in the future i can see!

If your handy with a welder and could come up with a plate to mount on back of cylinder and 4 rods running the length of the cylinder mounted somehow to the trunnion plates. Something like this splitter on amazon http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Max-27-Ton-Powered-Splitter/dp/B00274XQ80
This splitter on amazon has a full length I-beam and still used the 4 rods running the length of the cylinder. Someone there was a little more cautious building something to take the pressure.

 

[triptester]

The Blue Max splitter you see on Amazon is basically a tie-rod cylinder with longer rods that allow it to be attached to a front plate. This can be done with almost any cylinder. The Troybuilts or the other similar MTD splitters can be retrofitted in this way quite simply.
I have converted 5 cylinders to front mount and not had a problem.

Attached is are pics of a Cat rear tang cylinder that has been shortened and changed to front mount.