Speeco 22 ton problem

[laportian]

I purchased a new Speeco 22 ton splitter with the briggs motor on it in August. I hauled it home and let it sit until about three weeks ago. It came assembled and ready to go?! But I try to start it and no go. I hauled it back to the store and their mechanics could not get it to fire either. Since i had not used the splitter at all they gave me a different splitter. This new new one started up in the shop. Then i take it home and I was barely able to get it running. It did fire up and I split a cord of wood. Fast forward to today. I needed to split more wood and I'll be damned if I had a hard time starting this thing. I mean like forty five minutes of pull pull pull. Prime pull. She'd fire and run for like a few seconds and then die. I resorted to pulling the plug off and drying it off about ten times before she finally fired and I burned a tank thru it. I was about wore out before I started splitting wood. It was in the low forties so it wasn't too cold. Ive had this same model of splitter before, a 2005 model, and I never had any problems with it. The only differance in my older speeco and this one is the primer is different, the newer ones have a tiny hole in the center where the older one had a normal primer? Im pretty sure the old one said to push the primer 6 times, these new ones say three times. I pretty much adhered to this and dont think I over primed it, but who knows. Any ideas? I will give it a go again tomorrow and if it acts up it will probably go back to the store.

 

[woodsryder]

gas

The new Briggs engines require 93 octane gas.....read somewhere they won't run off regular......

 

[Mac88]

My ancient 10 horse Tecumseh always start by the 3rd pull, regardless of what kind of gas I put in it. Just sayin'.

 

[stumpy75]

I mean like forty five minutes of pull pull pull. Prime pull. She'd fire and run for like a few seconds and then die.

When it fires, keep pressing the primer until it keeps running. Works for me...

I use 89 octane in mine, with no problems.

 

[kd460]

Couple simple things first. Are you using old gas? Gas that is more than about a month or two old can be suspect. I pretty much put stabil or seafoam in all of my stored fuel now. Fuel nowadays really sucks. Very little shelf life.

How about swapping out for a new spark plug (different brand)? Check plug gap? Check the air filter? The reason I say this is you never know what was done or not done at the final assembly.

I know you should not have to deal with these issues on a new machine, but down time is down time. Does it act like it is flooding or not enough fuel?

Sorry for your luck, and I hope it is something simple. I have a huskee 22 ton (3rd season now) and it starts fine with just three pumps of the primer and one or two pulls. Been that way since new. Keep us posted on what you discover. KD

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

When it fires, keep pressing the primer until it keeps running. Works for me...

I use 89 octane in mine, with no problems.

You know, I've had to do that with my Briggs lawn mower a couple of times - and it's an older model (10+ years old).

 

[rmotoman]

I was working on a coworker's speeco 22 ton splitter yesterday. His complaint was it wouldn't split wood because the motor would die under load. I thought the pump wasn't going into low but that wasn't the problem. The motor would only run at full throttle and just for a second or two being very cold blooded. After he got it to run he started to split a small piece of wood and the motor died. I could tell the motor was running lean and not running at full power. My first thought the carb had some junk in it. Found that the whole carb assembly was loose on the motor. He wanted to fix it himself so I left. I'll see if that fixed it on Monday.

I have a speeco 22 ton I bought 3 year ago. Used it last weekend to split some wood. It started on the second or third pull with some old gas. I hadn't used it for about 6 months. I have always used 87 regular.

Something is wrong with your engine to be that hard starting unless it's really cold out.

 

[Streblerm]

Mine will almost always start from the first pull if I follow the starting ritual. I have the newer primer with the hole in the center like yours.

The throttle needs to be fully open. As far as I am concerned the throttle only has two positions, on and off.

I pump the primer slowly. Don't stab and let go. Push it slowly and release it.

Getting the piston to the top of it's stroke before you try to start makes a huge difference. From the directions "grasp the starter rope and pull slowly until resistance is felt then pull rapidly with a full arm stroke". I do just that, pull until you can feel compression and then let the rope retract. Then give it a good pull.

I believe it came with straight 30wt oil. This made for hard starting below 40 degrees. I switched to a 5w40? Synthetic.

I hope my starting ritual helps. I struggled starting mine until I perfected it. Like I said, now it almost always starts on the first pull.

 

[sbhooper]

Mine always starts good. I never leave gas sitting in it for very long. I use regular unleaded gas-NO ETHYNOL. Maybe they got a bad run of motors. It can happen. I really like mine.

 

[John_DeereGreen]

Good luck...I've got an older Briggs that was rarely used off a tiller that I put on my conveyor and it refuses to start half the time without working yourself to death.

 

[laportian]

Mine will almost always start from the first pull if I follow the starting ritual. I have the newer primer with the hole in the center like yours.

The throttle needs to be fully open. As far as I am concerned the throttle only has two positions, on and off.

I pump the primer slowly. Don't stab and let go. Push it slowly and release it.

Getting the piston to the top of it's stroke before you try to start makes a huge difference. From the directions "grasp the starter rope and pull slowly until resistance is felt then pull rapidly with a full arm stroke". I do just that, pull until you can feel compression and then let the rope retract. Then give it a good pull.

I believe it came with straight 30wt oil. This made for hard starting below 40 degrees. I switched to a 5w40? Synthetic.

I hope my starting ritual helps. I struggled starting mine until I perfected it. Like I said, now it almost always starts on the first pull.

This worked! I went out on saturday and filled the tank, primed it three times and made sure I followed this. As soon as a felt the pressure i released the rope then gave her a good pull. It started once and died and I pushed the primer three more times, felt the pressure tighten up and let the starter go and pulled it and it started and stayed running. I split for about twenty minutes and shut it off to move some wood and I was able to fire it right back up without priming but making sure i felt compression. Thanks for this advice and hopefully this is just how you have to start these things. I am sort of sorry i didnt get the one with the honda. Like I said i had the same splitter before and never had any problems with it. It would start at twenty below after three or four pulls. I ran synthetic oil in that one and change the hydralic out for atf and it always ran fine in cold weather. More often than not, after it was a year or two old I'd run saw mix in it. But again thanks for the tips its greatly appreciated.

 

[kodiak]

Mine will almost always start from the first pull if I follow the starting ritual. I have the newer primer with the hole in the center like yours.

The throttle needs to be fully open. As far as I am concerned the throttle only has two positions, on and off.

I pump the primer slowly. Don't stab and let go. Push it slowly and release it.

Getting the piston to the top of it's stroke before you try to start makes a huge difference. From the directions "grasp the starter rope and pull slowly until resistance is felt then pull rapidly with a full arm stroke". I do just that, pull until you can feel compression and then let the rope retract. Then give it a good pull.

I believe it came with straight 30wt oil. This made for hard starting below 40 degrees. I switched to a 5w40? Synthetic.

I hope my starting ritual helps. I struggled starting mine until I perfected it. Like I said, now it almost always starts on the first pull.

I bought a 22-ton Huskee (Speeco) last fall and had all kinds of trouble getting it started once the temps got down to 40° or so. I found that what's written above worked best for me. Plus, I'd go a full 10 presses of the primer bulb with a cold engine.

 

[aaron]

I use 87 octane in mine, no problems. I do use SeaFoam in all my gas cans though. Starts first pull every time. I also run synthetic oil.

 

[laportian]

Followed Streblerms starting ritual and had no problems on Sat. I even had to shut it down to stack wood and it fired right back up. Guess these briggs carbs are just that touchy. On my old speeco I changed the oil to 5wt and even switched out the hydralic to atf and that thing would pop off easily even down to 20 below(I will do that with this new one too). It wasnt fussy at all with gas either. I probably ran saw mix most of the time in it. This new one kinda has me leery and wishing I would have bought the one with the honda motor. But anyway thanks for the advice.

 

[projectsho89]

The new Briggs engines require 93 octane gas.....read somewhere they won't run off regular......

That doesn't make any sense since higher octane gas is HARDER to burn.

I just got one of these things and spent some time last week getting acquainted with the carb with the primer bulb. Mine had set all summer and the main jet clogged requiring its replacement.

I concluded that, although there is a choke plate, it's never actuated (yet, in my observation). The primer bulb is there to pressurize the fuel bowl a bit so that engine vacuum will be able to draw some fuel through the main jet into the venturi when it's cranked. Personally, I smell an EPA-mandated cluster-you-know-what in this setup.

Gotta play with it some more, but I found a quick shot of carb cleaner in the throat of the carb, then pulling on the cord works well. PITA.

 

[sbhooper]

I run 0W-30 Amsoil and regular, unleaded gas in mine and it will always turn over in the cold.

 

[griffonks]

I have had problems recently with the gasket behind the primer bulb on the Briggs engines. It doesn't want to seal right. On these there is a channel that the vacuum sucks thru running half way around the base of the bulb and then to the primer. A little gasket sealer does the trick, presto no more hard starts, I keep a few extra gaskets around as they are easily damaged and with sealer on them they are worse... I'm assuming the splitter has a vertical briggs.

Oh, by the way, I replaced my old horizontal briggs with a chicom engine from harbor freight, no more problems....

 

[giXXer]

Prior to purchasing mine I did some research and found that these briggs engines had "issues." There are several threads on this site discussing these problems and also solutions. One of the most common solutions was the addition of a fuel shut-off. I added the shut-off and also squeezed a fuel filter in the line as well. I don't remember where I read it, but the use of premium unleaded is not just recommended, but required. After purchasing the splitter (pre-assembled) I fixed the hydraulic leaks (one broken hose clamp and one loose) and ran it for a couple of hours then drained the oil and replaced it with synthetic 15W-30. I haven't had the chance to run it during periods of cold weather, but so far it has run flawlessly.

 

[projectsho89]

Briggs makes no mention of premium fuel in their recommendations. They recommend 87 octane.

griffonks,

I think you're onto something there. I'm going to give that try later this week when I have time.

This thing sure could use the fuel shutoff and filter. Gotta do those, too.

 

[laportian]

Update on my speeco. I went to split wood last Saturday and the Speeco wouldn't fire. The air temp was 35 degrees and before trying to start it I drained the oil and put 5w in it. Well I'd had it and went and took it back and got my money back. I ended up getting a north star 22 ton with a honda motor. For this upgrade I ended up spending about 300 more. I had to put it together myself and after i had it all oiled up it started up on the 2nd pull. Totally what i expected.
Don't get me wrong I would have bought the speeco with the honda motor if one was available in my price range. The design of the speeco is way simpler and is just a really tried and true design. The north star has alot of nuts and bolts and has two outriggers which are a pain. One next to the hitch and one at the rear behind the tank and wheels. The speeco has only the one, which is nicer as the splitter is very well balanced. The nice thing about the north star is the bolt on log cradle appears to be pretty sturdy. I went and looked at the mtd splitters, while shopping around for a splitter with a honda motor, and they have a pretty chincy looking bolt on cradle. The north star also came with a nice motor guard.
The honda that came on the north star was their cheapy grade motor which is a heck of alot better that the briggs that comes on the speecos. Even if it dies on me in five or ten years upgrading to the good honda will be easy enough. Like I said, started on the 2nd pull new in 30 degree weather. Where as the briggs who new? Like I said before I had a 22 ton speeco with a briggs on it that was great, but that was like 8 years ago and the newer ones are just too problimatic for me. The one i just returned last week had a total of 4 tanks of gas burned in it. I followed everyones advice with starting procedures and lightening up the oil and it still refused to start when it was chilly out. That isnt piece of mind enough to stand by it.