Real Huskee 22 Ton reviews

[Axe Man]

Last March I bought a dual splitter from DR Power Equipment. After about 2 chord of wood being split, the seals blew and the rod bent....Since DR has no repair depot in the area and the return trip to New Hampshire is about 6 hours I decided to return it for a refund. ( Nothing but good things to say about DRs' customer service and the way they treated my account. If I was closer to a repair depot I would have kept or replaced their dual splitter )
So after making a few other purchases in the last couple of months ( riding mower and trailer ) money is getting tight and a super split or splitfire is no longer in my budget. I'm down to 2 machines to choose from......Huskee 22 ton......Ariens 27 ton.
A lot of good reviews on Tractor Supplys web sight ( not so much on independent sites. complaints about the B&S engine not starting.....hoses blowing......lousy service from TSC...etc.
Ariens 27 ton has a Subaru engine and the reviews seem pretty good.
Now my question: honest reviews for the 22 ton Huskee would be appreciated. 22 tons is plenty for the wood on my property. Have the owners of the Huskee been satisfied with its performance. Would rather have owners responses from people who have purchased within the last 2 years.

 

[ashepoo]

i own 2 huskee 22ton machines and i havent had any problems yet. one is a year old and the other is a month old. both run like a champ and will split some big wood. the one thats a year old had split around 150 to 200 loads and the new one has split about 50 so far. ive split logs anywhere from 10 inchs to a lil over 3ft around. i split oak, hickory, pecan, and pine and it splits it all good.

 

[time warp]

I like my huskee,about two yrs. old and I don't baby it.ZERO issues after alot of wood split...

 

[OakBuster]

I bought my splitter used. It was 3 years old when i bought it, now it's 4. Mine has a boom with a winch/tongs welded to it. It works great to pick up big rounds. Only problem i had with mine was the lovejoy. I had to purchase a stronger one and installation was easy. I've split around 40 cords so far no issues. I keep it outside under a tarp too. The other day i started it and after 10 mins it started smoking and caught on fire. I managed to put out the fire and after further inspection, a mice had built a nest under the hood by the muffler =). After it cooled down it started on the first pull like every time.

 

[dingeryote]

I ran a buddys 22Ton unit for a season before getting our 27Ton unit.

He had been using it for two seasons before I worked the crap out of it, and since then he's split a small mountain of hardwood on it.
No issues at all. None. Biggest complaint is the B&S is a bit cranky in the cold, but ain't we all.

If you look at the posts here, the majority of issues with Huskee/Speeco splitters stem from thier assembly by TSC employees. Loose hoses, wheel bearings in backwards, no oil in the motor, and that sort of thing. The other common issue is warranty frustration over TSC not bieng able to repair anything and relying on contracted service centers that may be 100 miles away..when there's a good shop around the block or you could swap parts yourself. If you do have an issue, get ahold of Speeco FIRST. TSC mucks things up and could cross thread a lightbulb.
The gang at Speeco is easy to deal with and very proactive in customer support, and a hell of a lot faster to deal with than TSC.

If ya get one from TSC, tighten everything and check the fluids before you even start it, and make sure to repack the wheel bearings and set the pre-load yourself.

If our 27 Ton unit gets stolen, another Speeco will replace it. Best bang for the buck out there IMO.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[danrclem]

I've had my 22 Huskee for a long time now and have no complaints. The engine has started using some oil but I have used it on an incline quite a bit so I don't know if that may have hurt it or not.

 

[aaronmach1]

got mine a couple months ago. It s been very good to me. Ive split about 10 cord with it so far. No major problems. Engine always starts on the first pull. Had a small leak on the valve which seems to have gone away for now. Now i see the engine seems to have a small oil leak coming from maybe the top side of the engine maybe under the pull cord area.
First day i used it i could stall it out but a member on here showed me how to adjust it, and i cant stall it at all now and it splits like a beast. All in all a great machine!
Also, my neighbor, my girlfriends dad, and a friend have the same splitter and all of us like it alot.

 

[Streblerm]

I have had one for two years. I have absolutely zero complaints. A petcock would be nice, but hey, I ain't complaining. For the price there isnt anything even close to the quality of this splitter IMO. I have had no problems starting mine. It starts very easy if you prime and pull until it is at tdc and then give it hell. I haven't run into a piece that it wouldnt split yet. I have split 20+ cords with it and would definitely buy another one.

I got one still on the skid and assembled it myself.

 

[elmerfudd]

Had mine about 1 year
Retightened a couple fittings
fouled a plug
starts a little hard when its cold out
12+ cords split
Very happy with it.
I also have a 25 ton speeco very happy with that as well

 

[John R]

My Huskee is 6 years old now, it still runs as good now as it did new.
Only thing I've done to it is replace the filter, and a few engine oil changes.

Great splitter for the money.

 

[genesis5521]

I'm down to 2 machines to choose from......Huskee 22 ton......Ariens 27 ton.

Hi AxeMan. I have neither of the machines you're interested in. But I did make a 15 minute video of me using my splitter. Depending on the kind of wood you normally split, maybe you need all that tonnage, and maybe you don't. It depends on your particular situation and circumstances. My video may give you some food for thought, so I thought I'd share it with you.

[video]http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/191891.htm[/video]

Don

 

[sb47]

I’ve had the husky 22 ton for quite a few years and have split over 100+ cords with it.
The only problem I had with it is the carburetor. After letting it sit for a year with no use it wouldn’t run. It would start with fuel put in the plug hole but wouldn’t stay running.

I took it to a repair shop and spent $70.00 to get the carb rebuilt. It ran fine for the next year. Then I ran it dry before I stored it, thinking with no fuel in the carb it would be fine.
Well the next year it did the same thing. So I called and got a price on a new carb and they had one in stock. $34.00 for the new carb.
I replaced the carb with a new one and it’s ran just fine ever since and I have had no trouble since.

It’s a very good splitter, though if I was going to get a new I would opt for the 32 ton husky instead of the 22 ton. The reason for the upgrade is because I split a lot of pecan and it sometimes makes the 22 ton strain to get through some of the twisted grain wood.

Dennis

 

[Axe Man]

Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated.

 

[J.W Younger]

Mine has split hundreds of cords but there are some things i would change if bulding one. The return line is in a location perfect for damage from falling splits(this has been moved on later units). A fuel shut off is badly needed and should be standard equipment..so why haven't i did it after all these years? A govenor or solenoid that idled down the briggs when unloaded(ram not moving either direction) wood be a nice touch and doable.
All in all its a good unit for the money.

 

[danrclem]

A carb problem was mentioned by sb47 and that jogged my memory to a small problem that I did have with mine. My carb was overflowing (I think two different times) but all I had to do was to rap it with a screwdriver handle a couple times to unstick the float.

 

[sb47]

I agree about the return line being in the wrong place. Maybe someday I’ll get some fittings and move it over a bit. As for the carburetor issue, it’s been fine since I replaced it. I wish I would have checked the price on a new one before I had the carb rebuilt the first time.
She starts with 1 or 2 pulls every time now.


I didn’t mention that the valve handle sometimes sticks on the return stroke when it gets to the full return passion. When it sticks it will load down the pump and make the motor bog down and stop if I don’t catch it in time.
It usually only does it when I’ve had it in the vertical for awhile and change it to horizontal.

One more thing.lol the cap that is on the opposite side from the valve handle started leaking. I removed it and there is no gasket, just steel to steel with a very flat milled surface with a rod and spring. I tried making a gasket but it would blow out rite away. So I took out the gasket and put it back like it was. It leaked for awhile but for some reason it doesn’t anymore.


Dennis

 

[Preston]

I do use the non-eythanol gasoline but I followed the direction to move the start lever all the way forward, push the primer bulb 3 times and pull the cord. My Briggs engine starts first pull every time. My only thing is at times I wish it were just a tad larger. But it still has splits everything I put to it. No starting problems here.

 

[Halligan]

I purchased my 22 ton Husky about 4 months ago and it's been a great machine for the price. I purchased it on sale for $999 and so far it's split 5 cord of oak and maple. The Briggs engine runs like a champ and starts on the first or second pull every time. The only special treatment it has received is an oil change at about 5 hours per the owners manual and I just changed the oil again today with maybe an additional 10 hours of use. On both oil changes I used Mobil1 5w30 because the Briggs & Stratton owners manual states synthetic 5w30 is optimal for the ambient tempature range I use the splitter in. I'm a firm believer in a couple of short interval oil changes on new engines to get rid of the break in metals, especially with splash lubricated engines with no oil filter.

As for gasoline I use 89 octane gas with a coctail of stabil and seafoam for all my small 4 cycle engines. My fleet of small 4 cylce engines include a 21" mower with a B&S engine, 48" Scag walk behind mower with a 17hp Kawisaki engine, 4000psi pressure washer with a 13hp Honda engine, Honda Eu2000 generator, and the Husky splitter. I've never had a fuel related failure and my mowers were used commercially with many of hours of use. I'm a firm believer in regualr maintenance and fresh gas. Also, for the record we've had ethanol gas for around 6 years where I live.

 

[J.W Younger]

Guys, i don't know if its just mine, but the tank seemed to allways be empty after it sit a while(week or more) a fuel shut off seems to have stopped this. Its a half assed fuel shut off, basically just a pair of plastic line pinch off pliers. I'd say this is something needed even if the tank didn't allways seem to be empty.

 

[sb47]

Guys, i don't know if its just mine, but the tank seemed to allways be empty after it sit a while(week or more) a fuel shut off seems to have stopped this. Its a half assed fuel shut off, basically just a pair of plastic line pinch off pliers. I'd say this is something needed even if the tank didn't allways seem to be empty.

Sounds like a float valve seal problem. it won’t affect the way it runs but it can siphon off any fuel in the system.

I suspect it was a bad carburetor that caused my problem. I have many small engines and I’ve never had a carb problem do to fuel.
Not even on my racing machines that use high octane fuels that have a warning about leaving fuel in a carburetor for a long period of time.



Dennis