SSHD vs snow

[Sandhill Crane]

Working on next years wood which this past week was snow covered and wet. SS still worked great. Today not so good after sitting a day. The first round split easily and quickly. And the extended ram sat there. I was planning on splitting wood and found myself pulling the cam follower off, cleaning it and freeing it up. Once done and reinstalled it worked great, bouncing on the return bump stops again. For those who have not used or seen a SuperSplit the ram return is accomplished with two long return springs, and a spring loaded push plate guide that lifts the rack above the pinion gear. That push plate guide rolls on 'cam followers', not sealed bearings. There is one on top, centered on the beam, and four under the top flange of the beam, two on each side. When I bring the splitter in at night I'll be pulling the top cam follower off and soaking it in oil at night until I hear or find a better solution.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

 

[zogger]

Working on next years wood which this past week was snow covered and wet. SS still worked great. Today not so good after sitting a day. The first round split easily and quickly. And the extended ram sat there. I was planning on splitting wood and found myself pulling the cam follower off, cleaning it and freeing it up. Once done and reinstalled it worked great, bouncing on the return bump stops again. For those who have not used or seen a SuperSplit the ram return is accomplished with two long return springs, and a spring loaded push plate guide that lifts the rack above the pinion gear. That push plate guide rolls on 'cam followers', not sealed bearings. There is one on top, centered on the beam, and four under the top flange of the beam, two on each side. When I bring the splitter in at night I'll be pulling the top cam follower off and soaking it in oil at night until I hear or find a better solution.

Just a thought..instead of oil lube, clean it well and try a dry lube, teflon spray?

 

[DrewUth]

Sounds/looks to me that the solution is a ball bearing! Or maybe like a chain roller- use an old skateboard wheel if you're not a motorsickle guy.

 

[Joesell]

I think water gets in there and freezes. I think wd 40 would help. It's supposed to displace the water.

 

[USMC615]

Yep...spray the cam follower(s) with WD40, Pennzoil Z4, Slick 50 One Lube, etc...pull the rack out manually a good handful of times prior to splitting, it'll free up. My SS HD has two cam followers that ride the top of the rack under the flywheels cover, as well as the single spring tension cam follower right behind the rack/ram head...yours may just be a little older than mine, and only have one roller that rides on top of the rack under the flywheels cover. But do have the four, same as yours, two each side, that ride the underside of the main beam flange. Granted I don't deal with snow, but have read that's the common problem and fix for the rack not returning if used in snow. By the way, my return spring is one spring, vice two separate...it's bent over mid-length in the center, attaches at the rear eyebolt in typical fashion to that center spring point, then both ends stretch and attach to the first set of cam/guide rollers under the main beam. Good luck with it, let us know what works for ya.

 

[Guswhit]

I had it happen to me last year. In my infinite wisdom I was spraying the beam with spray grease also and the bolt with the hole in it ended up getting plugged and wore a flat spot from not turning. Learned a lesson the hard way. In the summer the spray grease was working great, but once it got cold it just plugged everything up, froze or something and it was a $40.00 screw up plus the down time. Been using straight WD-40 now with no hiccups!

 

[Harold Anderson]

Check out these. I sell them for the Supersplit HD.

 

[Woodcutteranon]

From my experiences the SS doesn't like working in the rain and definitely in the snow. The top bearing gums up, freezes up, seizes up. My best successes have been simply keeping the top beam clean and dry and hit the bearings with heavy spray lube each use.