New splitter

[FuzzyOne]

I love my MTD 25 ton 6hp B/S splitter. This piece was probably 34"+. Freshly cut maple.

 

[046]

thanks for all the info everyone...

ended up with the highest tonage unit that's still reasonably priced.
a true 35 ton 16gpm w/12.5 hp.

looked carefully at 22, 27, 28 and 35 ton chassis. 27 ton MTD 5.5 hp had the lightest chassis. next size larger was 22 ton speeco 6.5, then 28 ton speeco 10.5hp. with 35 ton 12.5hp speeco (huskee) the beefiest by a large margin.

 

[asb151]

thanks for all the info everyone...

ended up with the highest tonage unit that's still reasonably priced.
a true 35 ton 16gpm w/12.5 hp.

looked carefully at 22, 27, 28 and 35 ton chassis. 27 ton MTD 5.5 hp had the lightest chassis. next size larger was 22 ton speeco 6.5, then 28 ton speeco 10.5hp. with 35 ton 12.5hp speeco (huskee) the beefiest by a large margin.

Congratulations. Have you run it yet? I am curious to see what you are measuring for cycle times.

 

[Jackman]

How does this splitter...the Huskee you guys are talking about stack up against the Northern Tools' 37 ton unit with 9hp Honda? I have been ebating between these two for the last couple of weeks....

 

[046]

I'm getting 11 sec cycle times. spec's state 15 sec. was timed with 3 minute runtime on new motor.

yup.. split a few knurly 32 in pecan logs. most split right through with engine just above idle. had to increase rpm for knurly logs. punched right through after stopping to compress for a second.

really happy I went with larger unit! note how extra beefy main beam is built!

have no clue how huskee (speeco) 35 ton compares to northern tool's 9hp unit. but I bet with a 9hp, northern tool's splitter will punch through anything you'll throw at it.

I went with speeco/huskee due to all the excellent feedback on most of the back posts on splitters. have not seen much feedback on northern tool.

stayed away from harbor freight splitters due to bad feedback.

Congratulations. Have you run it yet? I am curious to see what you are measuring for cycle times.

 

[Jackman]

I Guess what confuses me the most is that both splitters seem identical except for the honda motor on the northern tool unit. Its less hp than your unit and more expensive....yet 2 tons more. I like them both but don't know which one to pick up. I'm always a supporter of the theory more HP is ALWAYS better...(the motorhead part of me speaking).

 

[046]

37 ton for $1799 for north tool is not bad. but shipping to me is $242 = $2041

TSC 35 ton was $1,699 before mgr sale price. then I got TSC to match atwood's no tax day this sat. so my net price was $1,486.

sure was tempting to jump on the 22 ton speeco at atwoods for $925 no tax.
feedback was excellent for 22 ton speeco. folks stated it would go through anything thrown at it.

both units look outstanding!
northern unit has four way option and better tires.

I Guess what confuses me the most is that both splitters seem identical except for the honda motor on the northern tool unit. Its less hp than your unit and more expensive....yet 2 tons more. I like them both but don't know which one to pick up. I'm always a supporter of the theory more HP is ALWAYS better...(the motorhead part of me speaking).

 

[chadincolo]

Numbers game

I Guess what confuses me the most is that both splitters seem identical except for the honda motor on the northern tool unit. Its less hp than your unit and more expensive....yet 2 tons more. I like them both but don't know which one to pick up. I'm always a supporter of the theory more HP is ALWAYS better...(the motorhead part of me speaking).

Both are identical, use the same pumps, same valves set at the same pressure, same size cylinder. It's a numbers game, all components have a tolerance, do you assume the pressure is at spec, or at top of tolerance? The Northern looks scary to me (I saw one in person) the wedge goes back into a "tunnel" for a stripper plate, what happens if your hand is near, or what happens when a piece of wood falls in there and you don't see it?

In general, you need 1/2 hp per GPM of the pump, so even a 9hp is a bit oversized for a 16 gpm pump. Speeco is made in Golden Colorado, a 9 hp Honda won't make 9 hp there, so a 12.5 will ensure you won't run out of power (just guessing on the reason, and add that a 13 hp Honda is a big price)

046, how does the cast foot look? Thought that was an interesting add on, looks much bigger than the old cut steel piece. Did you get the optional log catcher too?

 

[ciscoguy01]

Hmmmm

Changing the pump won't change the tonnage rating unless you also change the pressure the system runs at. Don't know what the hydraulic set up is on your shear, but the get 40 tons out of a 4 inch cylinder (that's what the 22 ton models use) you would need 6300 PSI...that's not something that is feasible.

So it's not the same from a shear to a splitter? I really don't know about hydraulics all that much. Our mechanic on site was the one that was trying to explain it all to me. I was just trying to pass along some of the info. He only replace like 2 or 3 things to do it. I'm sure if you have some hydraulics knowledge you can figger' it out. Not me dude, lol... Not my area of expertise bro...

 

[Jackman]

Chadincolo,

The HP difference must not be an issue...I looked at the Speeco website and they show the specs for all their splitters. The 34 ton model uses a 10.5hp engine and the same spec'd model but with a Honda engine only requires an 8HP Honda to do the job. So the 35ton model, which uses a 12.5HP B/S motor should require about a 9-10HP Honda to do the job following their setup/design.

I'm a B/S fan I just want to know why Honda engines are put in applications that require larger HP B/S engines to do the same job. Do the Hondas have more torque and thus a lower HP model can be used? I think the Huskee talked about in this post is a really great setup and has a really good price right now....I may go get one myself like the author of this post did. Just trying to understand the design behind it all.

 

[chadincolo]

Chadincolo,

The HP difference must not be an issue...I looked at the Speeco website and they show the specs for all their splitters. The 34 ton model uses a 10.5hp engine and the same spec'd model but with a Honda engine only requires an 8HP Honda to do the job. So the 35ton model, which uses a 12.5HP B/S motor should require about a 9-10HP Honda to do the job following their setup/design.

I'm a B/S fan I just want to know why Honda engines are put in applications that require larger HP B/S engines to do the same job. Do the Hondas have more torque and thus a lower HP model can be used? I think the Huskee talked about in this post is a really great setup and has a really good price right now....I may go get one myself like the author of this post did. Just trying to understand the design behind it all.

It's also possible that somebody in marketing said something like we need a bigger splitter, engineer said we can't get any more tonnage, marketing said ok, put a bigger motor on it... Wait, I didn't say that marketing forced a design decision did I???:taped:

 

[VelvetFoot]

I recently got the 30 ton Harbor Freight SKU 91840. It'll be a while before I use it much but it seems pretty good to me and the price was right.

 

[046]

auto return feature with northern tools design would be flat dangerous.
with TSC single bit you would really have to be stupid to get caught on a return trip of ram.

here's a picture of cast iron foot. yep it's beefy! that's why I'm fair comfortable with claims of 35 ton being true. there's so much BS on numbers, all you can do is go by GPM, size of ram and size of engine.

since I took the trouble to look at four different size units. one could really see difference in size of boom thickness/construction.

note 12.5 B/S has overhead valves VS 6.5 b/s doesn't. all Honda has overhead valves.
25 degrees this morning, 12.5 briggs started right up. instructions says to run it full tilt, but I've been running it slightly pass idle and opening it up for larger pieces.

largest complaint I have for 35 ton unit is the cheap ass tires not being able to be towed at highway speeds.

Both are identical, use the same pumps, same valves set at the same pressure, same size cylinder. It's a numbers game, all components have a tolerance, do you assume the pressure is at spec, or at top of tolerance? The Northern looks scary to me (I saw one in person) the wedge goes back into a "tunnel" for a stripper plate, what happens if your hand is near, or what happens when a piece of wood falls in there and you don't see it?

In general, you need 1/2 hp per GPM of the pump, so even a 9hp is a bit oversized for a 16 gpm pump. Speeco is made in Golden Colorado, a 9 hp Honda won't make 9 hp there, so a 12.5 will ensure you won't run out of power (just guessing on the reason, and add that a 13 hp Honda is a big price)

046, how does the cast foot look? Thought that was an interesting add on, looks much bigger than the old cut steel piece. Did you get the optional log catcher too?

 

[046]

just got back from splitting a few logs

did a few timed runs after 35 ton had a chance to go thru a few real cycles.

with engine going full tilt.

9 seconds on down stroke
8 seconds on up stroke

thought it was a mistake..... so I re-timed it 5 more cycles.
gave 9 seconds down, 8 seconds up every time.

spec's state 15 seconds for 35 ton. speeco sure is conservative!

been running at 1/4 throttle most of time. drawback to larger motor is more fuel consumed. there's no intelligent throttle control for B/S.

 

[Jackman]

I'm no small engine pro....I'm more into the bigguns like my twin 454's in my boat and my multiple truck engines I seem to have to always be taking apart...but I would expect that running at a lower rpm for a full load wouldn't be a good thing for that engine. You may want to run full throttle as the manual states because it needs the extra throttle to develop the horsepower needed to crank the pump....That may be why your cycle times are off as well. You need to reach the rated rpm to get the ram to push through the wood. If at a lower rpm it will take much longer to generate the 30-some tons you are looking for...

 

[046]

my cycle time of 9 sections down and 8 seconds up way exceeds spec's of 15 seconds. so I would not call that off.

as for running at 1/4 throttle, ram punches right though 18 in diameter logs without knurls with no hesitation. that tells me plenty of hydraulic pressure is getting delivered.

could be totally wrong, but see no reason to run engine at full blast to split smaller logs.

edit: just checked with Speeco tech's. they verified that's how they would operate 35 ton unit themselves. run it at 1/4 throttle or so, then raise rpm's for bigger wood.

also checked, 9 seconds down and 8 seconds is normal for 35 ton unit.

 

[asb151]

my cycle time of 9 sections down and 8 seconds up way exceeds spec's of 15 seconds. so I would not call that off.

as for running at 1/4 throttle, ram punches right though 18 in diameter logs without knurls with no hesitation. that tells me plenty of hydraulic pressure is getting delivered.

could be totally wrong, but see no reason to run engine at full blast to split smaller logs.

edit: just checked with Speeco tech's. they verified that's how they would operate 35 ton unit themselves. run it at 1/4 throttle or so, then raise rpm's for bigger wood.

also checked, 9 seconds down and 8 seconds is normal for 35 ton unit.

Just to be clear, the definition of cycle time is downstroke time PLUS upstroke time. One full cycle. Based on what you measured your cycle time is 17 seconds.

 

[046]

then by that definition, a full cycle is 2 seconds slow.

what kind of cycle times is everyone else getting?

 

[IBleedOrange]

I'ld be interested to see what cycle times other people are getting. I just got the OK from the "boss" (so I need to act quickly) to purchase a splitter since I have a few side jobs lined up that will pay for most of it. I'm torn between the 27 and the 35 ton. I was pretty much set on the 27 and had even contemplated thoughts of saving money and getting the 22 since the reviews were good but 046 had to ruin it by upping the ante with the 35. What to do........:monkey:

 

[okietreedude1]

I timed my cycle today and it was 14 sec down/up. I think it was supposed to do 12 but 2 off isnt bad.