Splitter question

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Iaff113

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Just went to replace a cylinder on my splitter. It’s a 30 ton unit. Opened the box and see they sent me a 35 ton replacement cylinder. Will this adversely affect anything on the machine If I put the 35 ton cylinder on a 30 ton splitter?


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Yes could cause many problems or maybe not notice the difference. Review the difference in size and see how much difference in volume. It is possible that the chassis may have problems with 10,000 lb additional load. KTM could have it right, but go a little cautious for a bit. Thanks
 
Measure the bores (Inside diameter) estimating, and compare.
‘Tons’ is marketing BS. Like the car hp wars of the 50’s and 60’s.
Force is area of cylinder x psi. basic physics. No way around it.
One cylinder won’t produce 30 or 35 tons, magically. It will be xx pounds at yyy psi. If the pressure is high enough a one inch bore cylinder could produce 35 tons.....

what they do is ‘rate’ the cylinder or splitter at higher psi than it actually operates at. Like some will rate the splitter at xx tons, but calculated at 3500 psi, when the whole system is maxed 2500-3000, and the relief valve limiting max pressure to 2300-2500.
So the rated 30 is really an actual 22 or 24 or 25 etc.

it is possible one is 5 inch, one is 5-1/2 inch or something similar. But I am betting it is marketing. I mean, given the choice, who uninformed would not buy the ‘higher tons’ rated splitter, even though both are actually producing the same force at lower pressures the machine is operating at.
A 4 inch cylinder is realistically 17-20 tons, not 22 or 25 or 27, etc.

Now, if one is say 5 inch and one is 5-1/2 inch, at the same pressure your structure may not be strong enough for the extra forces. You can set the RV lower pressure to limit the force and protect the structure, but it will cycle slower with larger cylinder. Although it may stay in high volume, low pressure mode more so the overall work cycle may not be slower. Lot of factors.

When I pointed out one time that 4 inches was not 30 tons, I had one salesman tell me their ‘cylinder was so much more efficient than the competitors’ it produced more tons at lower pressures’..... the bs was really deep, he was just repeating what he was told.
 
Ok thanks for the info. It looks like the bore size is going from 5 to 5.5 when I measured.


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That will definitely make it slower. If you went with a cheap replacement you would have probably been better off rebuilding the old one with upgraded double lip seals etc....
 
Yeah im going to rebuild the other one. They sent it for free so I can’t complain about it.


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If you are splitting wood that would have stalled your old cylinder, then you could bend the beam or sheer off mounts. If the beam and welds were overbuilt in the first place you shouldn't have a problem. Realistically you could be adding 10,000 lbs more force but only if the wood required that much more force to split. The safe bet would be to lower your pump or valve bypass by 500 psi to keep the force close to what you had.
 
My thoughts are that if the company sent out a replacement for free, wouldn't they have cross checked the model number for the splitter and sent one that the machine could handle? Surely they make several different models of varying tonnage , but usually the base unit is manufactured the same.
 
When at looked at the spec sheet of each the only Difference I see is the 30 has a 15.5gpm pump and the 35 has a 17.5gpm pump. And a 2 gallon working hydro fluid difference.


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@kevin j is spot on with his info here, I have worked on and designed several hydraulic systems, do the math he is saying at the actual stalled operating pressure and you get max force, the additional volume will slow things down a smidge for sure
 
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