> I replaced the pump yesterday and everything is all set.
interesting thread! your persistence and efforts sound as if they have paid off.
my splitter is about 35 years old. I split 'homeowner'... not comm'l. however, I do use a lot of wood as I have 7 fireplaces; all wood burners. I burn year round. 30F or 90F! well, at 90F not inside, but my outdoor gets plenty use. my splitter stays inside when not in use. and covered. it works today, just as good as it did when brand new, purchased in the early 80's.... here are a couple of things that might help you. they really have helped me and the cycling right out of the owner's manual.
a) once your engine or prime mover is warmed up, for me that means heat soaked. then before splitting, cycle the splitter 10 times to warm up the oil, the metal and the seals. on a cold day I do this at least 20 times. back n forth, back n forth!... I hand feel the rigid pipes... summer time they get real warm quickly at 10, colder days they get warmish by 20. splitting and they get much warmer faster. operating ur ram's internals and cyl, etc at operating dims is very important. I also cycle my bucket on my tractors, too... before asking it to work for me. up, down and tilts...
b) I have seen many splitters over the years, here n there. many (actually all!) of them have rusty slides, c-clips on sides of I-beams... wedge, etc. I oil and keep oiled all sliding metal components. handle to ram. i put a spot of anti-seize on my prime mover to splitter's coupling dogs. interface points. I also wipe my wedge edge, too. first with a fine file, then with some oil. and if I run into a 'stiff split'... giving my splitter a run for it's money... I will also put some lube on cut spot on wood and wedge edge couple inches back. that usually makes the dif, and the winner goes to the splitter. in case of a tie, which is rarely, if ever, I can always saw it in half or, etc. for me I use 80-wt gear oil... as the slide load constitutes, imo... a high load environment when under load. I also swipe in some anti-seize, too. all the obvious spots for both lubes. hard wood and I can tell the pump has gone into HI mode... I don't want a mess on my driveway, so I set up cardboard or extra newspapers under my ram's I-beam. other day I did all this but had not pre-lubed the metal yet. all was working perfectly, however, once I did my lubes.... the splitter wedge moved noticeably smoother and quicker... an ez 15-20%. I did not time it, though. I would guess it takes about 8-12ish sec max from closed to fully extended. less if I don't fully retract. it will self retract if in back detent, then kick out...
hope some of this info might be useful.
here is a pix or two of a 35 year old splitter... original lines, pump, cyl etc... still doing its thing just the other day!
> Happy Thanksgiving
ditto! to you and all the rest of the AS'rs....
