Supersplit owners: are there any carriage roller bearing options?

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KiwiBro

Mill 'em, nails be damned.
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Hi all,

For what they do, the original bearings work well, but mine occasionally seize up, need to be taken off, soaked in a heavy oil and worked to free up and run smoothly again.

I can't see any other options than the one, on Supersplit's website.

Has anyone found any other options that work for them? For example, is there a bearing that can be greased through the inner race using a through-hole type of bolt, so the bearing can easily be greased at the end of the day? A bit like how the lift bearing is set-up?

Also, has anyone increased their bearing width to overlap any lips the original bearings have worn in the underside of the beam?

Regardless, are there any options for quality bearings other than Supersplit? I had to smuggle my machine out years ago because Paul wouldn't sell me one (hey, Paul, I promised I wouldn't copy them and I have kept that promise, and I still love your machine), so I doubt they are going to support me with parts. :)
 
I was waiting for Casey to post.
He sent/gave me some sealed bearings for the top of the beam/push plate. They worked great for a year, no problem.
First I should say that my splitter was purchased (I'm guessing here) Spring of '14. I think I'm starting the sixth season, at about 60-65 cord (4x4x8) per year. Some a bit more.
It has also sat outside in the summer months, covered for the most part, but has been used in the rain, snow, etc. Or winter sunshine, with snowy wood. Wet, wet, wet.
I'm on the third bearing for the top of the beam, and second drilled through mounting bolt.
I just WD-40 spray before and after each use. This works good.
In the past I've pulled the bearing and soaked them, played with them because they have froze up, but spraying before and after has eliminated removal and soaking. Since purchasing a shipping container it is inside, locked up, but I guess condensation in containers can be a problem too. We'll see this spring.
I do keep an extra bearing and bolt in stock.
I would think SuperSplit would send you some parts if needed.
He sent me tires/wheels and an axle without question for my four wheel conversion.
Caseys bearing worked great too without fuss for a long time. It's probably in the post Guswhit referenced.
I could not be happier with this splitter for wood up to 18".
Note: I think the new bearing is wider than the original, which requires buying the bearing mount as well, and maybe the bolt.
 
Try this thread. I believe it answers all of your questions.
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/not-impressed.306652/
Thank you for that.

The lift bearing gets grease at the end of every day and I think I've only had it off twice to free it up, otherwise it works just fine (but has worn a track in the beam).
I am hoping to do something like that lift bearing lubrication for the bearings on the side guide. They actually already have the groove and hole in the inner race for oil, but the bolts are not the through-hole/banjo type, so they can't be greased/oiled through the bolt into the bearing.

I'm not convinced, but happy to be proven wrong, that sealed bearings are going to be the best long term option. Sealed is seldom ever sealed in such an application as this. That could lead to problems.

I'm going to try and find a suitable bolt and bearing combo along these lines, so they can be greased at the end of every day.

Unless someone has a better idea?
 
I was waiting for Casey to post.
He sent/gave me some sealed bearings for the top of the beam/push plate. They worked great for a year, no problem.
First I should say that my splitter was purchased (I'm guessing here) Spring of '14. I think I'm starting the sixth season, at about 60-65 cord (4x4x8) per year. Some a bit more.
It has also sat outside in the summer months, covered for the most part, but has been used in the rain, snow, etc. Or winter sunshine, with snowy wood. Wet, wet, wet.
I'm on the third bearing for the top of the beam, and second drilled through mounting bolt.
I just WD-40 spray before and after each use. This works good.
In the past I've pulled the bearing and soaked them, played with them because they have froze up, but spraying before and after has eliminated removal and soaking. Since purchasing a shipping container it is inside, locked up, but I guess condensation in containers can be a problem too. We'll see this spring.
I do keep an extra bearing and bolt in stock.
I would think SuperSplit would send you some parts if needed.
He sent me tires/wheels and an axle without question for my four wheel conversion.
Caseys bearing worked great too without fuss for a long time. It's probably in the post Guswhit referenced.
I could not be happier with this splitter for wood up to 18".
Note: I think the new bearing is wider than the original, which requires buying the bearing mount as well, and maybe the bolt.
It's very interesting how we each have the same sort of machines but have different experiences. Mine must have split around 500 cords and I'm still on the original lift bearing and the carriage side plate bearings (that roll under the top beam flange). Maybe it's just random luck, or our different environments or different ways we try to address the issues.

You mentioned using WD40. I will only do so in an emergency on-site situation when all else has failed. I'm usually anti using CRC or WD40 for these applications as I just don't trust it as anything but a water dispersing medium in our bearing applications on this splitter. In that regard, i far prefer grease. Just wipe the day's dust from the grease/oil hole and as best I can with gentle pressure insert a touch more grease via those hand held grease guns I use for sprocket tips on bars, to force a wee bit into the inner race and then roll the bearing to help said grease evenly disperse. The beam does have a wear track from the lift bearing. Just general wear, not because it has been flat spotted and skull-dragged along the beam.

All of us, once become familiar with the SS, can notice when there's more resistance in the return stroke than there should be. I try my best to stop and work out why rather than allow it to get worse. In most cases, it's a side plate bearing that needs a little attention. This is why I would really like to explore being able to grease them. If this doesn't have the desired effect then I'll have to find another option and that might be sealed bearings. Another SS owner, @CUCV , did away with these bearings completely but in the wood down here there'd be too much trash falling on the bottom flange of the beam that would get in the way of his solution.

After a year of use there seems to be no problem for you with the sealed bearings. I am surprised. I really didn't think they would hold up.

I wonder if Paul has changed his stance and will actually allow parts to NZ or if he is a bit dark that I found a way to get my SS even though he wouldn't sell me one. I'll try to find a solution locally and if no-go then will give SS a call or email and see which way the wind is blow'n :)

Thanks for that notice of the larger diameter lift bearing being used now. I guess at some stage the current one I have will fail but like I say, it's still the original, has done so much firewood that the rolling has worn a track in the beam, and is still going fine. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe, as i suspect, the fact I can and do grease it daily via that lubrication hole in the bolt has made all the difference.

The older this machine gets, the more i worry about not having spares on hand if something fails. So, I better get onto the bearings and keep a set in my splitter container with all the other bits and bobs like spare belts, etc.
 
I've never tried grease, just assumed it would be too stiff in the cold, and attract and hold dirt. The WD-40 kind of washes the bearing out.
Apparently these are not technically bearings, but cam followers or some such thing, which to me means a constant oil bath application. Anyway it works.
I have also heard WD-40 is not ideal protection if the machine sits, say all winter.
 
Apparently these are not technically bearings, but cam followers or some such thing, which to me means a constant oil bath application.
Specifically yoke type (sometimes called roller) cam follower, as opposed to stud type (often just called cam) follower.
 
I have had good luck lubricating the bearings with cornhead grease. Yes its an added maintenance step taking all the bearings out, but it works much better than WD40 or a variant of.

There is a guy on youtube that shows how he modified his pushplate to incorporate grease zerks into the bearings on the bottom of the push plate. Ive found that the thicker grease creates more resistance than the springs want to overcome, hence the 00 weight grease.
 
I have had good luck lubricating the bearings with cornhead grease. Yes its an added maintenance step taking all the bearings out, but it works much better than WD40 or a variant of.

There is a guy on youtube that shows how he modified his pushplate to incorporate grease zerks into the bearings on the bottom of the push plate. Ive found that the thicker grease creates more resistance than the springs want to overcome, hence the 00 weight grease.
Thanks. That youtube video you refer to has done exactly what I planned to do, except I wasn't going to go to the lengths of machining the carriage sides or us a grease zerk, just get someone to mill a hole into some high tensile bolts (I have noticed one of mine is bent and I doubt they's hold up too well with a hole in them if they weren't stronger to start with).

Also, I asked and SS are willing to sell me parts, which is good of them, so I guess I'll be buying direct from them, except for the bolts.

Screenshot from that video:
Untitled-1.jpg

except I won't be recessing them into the side guides. I can't see the point.
 
I've never tried grease, just assumed it would be too stiff in the cold, and attract and hold dirt. The WD-40 kind of washes the bearing out.
Apparently these are not technically bearings, but cam followers or some such thing, which to me means a constant oil bath application. Anyway it works.
I have also heard WD-40 is not ideal protection if the machine sits, say all winter.

I'm not familar with a Super Split design, but I am quite familiar with cam followers. Aka track followers. There are yoke style and stud style.

They are a roller bearing. They normally should be greased. Many are designed with a grease fitting and a passage to allow grease.
If it needs to spin easy, I'd try a thin grease before going with oil. Like white lithium grease.



Here's a photo that shows what is in them:
stud-cam-follower-bearings.jpg
 
Just wanted to update this thread as I went ahead and drilled out some bolts to allow grease into the cam followers a while ago and have been very pleased with the results. I simply give each follower a squirt of the lightest grease I can find, at the end of each day, and cycle the rack a few times to allow the grease to work itself around. I've not had any instance of the bearings seizing. I think it's partly the lubrication of the grease and partly that by doing it at the end of the day the grease displaces any exposed metal surface that condensation might build up on as the evening cools down, thus less chance of rust forming.

Just wanted to report it works well on the followers. But I did snap a drill or two drilling the bolts out.

camFollowerGreasing.jpg
 
The few bolts I've drilled out like that I pulled out and did the work in the lathe.
 
Hi all,

For what they do, the original bearings work well, but mine occasionally seize up, need to be taken off, soaked in a heavy oil and worked to free up and run smoothly again.

I can't see any other options than the one, on Supersplit's website.

Has anyone found any other options that work for them? For example, is there a bearing that can be greased through the inner race using a through-hole type of bolt, so the bearing can easily be greased at the end of the day? A bit like how the lift bearing is set-up?

Also, has anyone increased their bearing width to overlap any lips the original bearings have worn in the underside of the beam?

Regardless, are there any options for quality bearings other than Supersplit? I had to smuggle my machine out years ago because Paul wouldn't sell me one (hey, Paul, I promised I wouldn't copy them and I have kept that promise, and I still love your machine), so I doubt they are going to support me with parts. :)
Check out my videos on youtube for the bearing issue. HaroldAnderson super split
 
Check out my videos on youtube for the bearing issue. HaroldAnderson super split
Thank you. Perhaps in a year or two I'll notice increased wear but so far I've not found a need for the zerk or milling the carriage side plates to recess such a zerk. Just wipe off the dust before adding more grease to the journals. Is there something I have missed? Will there be consequences for me in the future.

That leg-mounted tow hitch is a good idea, thanks. Might steal that one and modify the hitch I made up a while ago. It bugs me that I have to take the leg off when towing the SS, so your idea will be great.

Have you noticed any sore neck or wrist, etc from splitting from one side all day for a few days on end? That and because I can't always control the side I need to access the splitter - it varies from job to job, means I don't have the luxury of adding that very useful extra splitting table area. Breaking the bigger rounds apart on the table sure does create a need for more table area. But in my case, I put up with putting the big chunks back on the ute bed or tractor bucket which are right next to me anyway. When I'm splitting a large job and going for days on end, I cannot split from just one side of the table. A bad habbit seems to be tilting my head a little bit to one side and it creates a set of unbalanced stresses in my neck. Also, my wrists get sore after a few days if I don't swap sides.

If you are still up for mods on your SS, some of us have added a UHMWPE table to help slide resplits back more easily. The difference is quite noticable. You can test it out a little bit by squirting dish washing liquid or soap on your table and running a hose on it to get the table very slippery then split a few rounds until the water dries off. You should notice how much easier it is to get the resplits back in front of the wedge and how much more control you have over that with one hand, when the table is slippery. I first noticed this when splitting through a torrential downpour to get a job done. The splitting became so much easier I went looking for a lower friction table and the UHMWPE worked perfectly.

Another mod I would like to do is find an easy way to prop up one wheel when splitting across sloped ground. I currently lift the wheel by hand and kick a block of wood under it but there has to be a better way.
 
Hi all,

For what they do, the original bearings work well, but mine occasionally seize up, need to be taken off, soaked in a heavy oil and worked to free up and run smoothly again.

I can't see any other options than the one, on Supersplit's website.

Has anyone found any other options that work for them? For example, is there a bearing that can be greased through the inner race using a through-hole type of bolt, so the bearing can easily be greased at the end of the day? A bit like how the lift bearing is set-up?

Also, has anyone increased their bearing width to overlap any lips the original bearings have worn in the underside of the beam?

Regardless, are there any options for quality bearings other than Supersplit? I had to smuggle my machine out years ago because Paul wouldn't sell me one (hey, Paul, I promised I wouldn't copy them and I have kept that promise, and I still love your machine), so I doubt they are going to support me with parts. :)
Thank you. Perhaps in a year or two I'll notice increased wear but so far I've not found a need for the zerk or milling the carriage side plates to recess such a zerk. Just wipe off the dust before adding more grease to the journals. Is there something I have missed? Will there be consequences for me in the future.

That leg-mounted tow hitch is a good idea, thanks. Might steal that one and modify the hitch I made up a while ago. It bugs me that I have to take the leg off when towing the SS, so your idea will be great.

Have you noticed any sore neck or wrist, etc from splitting from one side all day for a few days on end? That and because I can't always control the side I need to access the splitter - it varies from job to job, means I don't have the luxury of adding that very useful extra splitting table area. Breaking the bigger rounds apart on the table sure does create a need for more table area. But in my case, I put up with putting the big chunks back on the ute bed or tractor bucket which are right next to me anyway. When I'm splitting a large job and going for days on end, I cannot split from just one side of the table. A bad habbit seems to be tilting my head a little bit to one side and it creates a set of unbalanced stresses in my neck. Also, my wrists get sore after a few days if I don't swap sides.

If you are still up for mods on your SS, some of us have added a UHMWPE table to help slide resplits back more easily. The difference is quite noticable. You can test it out a little bit by squirting dish washing liquid or soap on your table and running a hose on it to get the table very slippery then split a few rounds until the water dries off. You should notice how much easier it is to get the resplits back in front of the wedge and how much more control you have over that with one hand, when the table is slippery. I first noticed this when splitting through a torrential downpour to get a job done. The splitting became so much easier I went looking for a lower friction table and the UHMWPE worked perfectly.

Another mod I would like to do is find an easy way to prop up one wheel when splitting across sloped ground. I currently lift the wheel by hand and kick a block of wood under it but there has to be a better way.
I hope you don't need them in the future. I don't yet have the luxury of being able to store my machine inside so it may have failed because of moisture creep. I recessed the original risers and didn't like how close the counterbore came to the edge so I made some new ones. I also made them out of A-2 steel without heat treating them and recessed (counterbored) them so the zert fittings wouldn't get in a fight with my production table and lose. I also tapped the top holes as deep as possible and installed grade 8 bolts to the ram. I have found that they come loose after awhile and wanted more penetration and a better bolt.

I don't split enough at one time to notice more soreness than normal wear and tear. We used to split wood for a dairy farm and that day I would have a table next to the splitter to stage wood for me to reach across and roll onto the splitter. I also would have a person at the end of my splitter taking wood away and shoving back the pieces to me that need to be hit again. That day we would have about 8 to 10 people sawing, lifting onto table and getting wood away after it was processed. We would average 6 to 8 full cords in a covered barn. I would also switch positions with the person at the end of my machine to break up the job and use different muscles. I do like the idea of putting a slippery surface on the table but I also don't want to take away any height of my slitting wedge. What thickness did you use and how did you attach?

The cam followers that came stock on my machine were proprietary numbers exclusive to super split. I got with my local bearing house, did some research and found that the small follower on the top of the I-beam is a McGILL CYR-3/4-S or you can use a KOYO YCRS-12. The large followers are McGILL CYR-1 1/4-S or KOYO YCRS-20. There are two more of the 1 1/4 followers that ride on top of the rack under the pull handle. I also have taken out those and used my bolts with a grease fitting to squeeze grease into them. I have removed the pivot pin that goes from one side of that frame to the other and installed grease fittings on those because there are pressed in needle bearings in the frame.

Good luck with the wheel propping problem. I'm fortunate to be a flatlander and don't run into that often enough to spend time for a solution. If you do use the idea on the front leg make sure you weld a cross piece in the leg so you don't crush it. Thanks for your input and happy splitting!!
 
Sandhill Crane has done the best UHMWPE mod. Better than mine. You can see it here:
https://www.arboristsite.com/commun...tried-that-didnt-work-out.311514/post-7194954Thanks for those follower/bearing cross references. Good to know.
Yes, learned the hard way to bridge the holes with pipe so the walls don't cave in. That was on a thumb for the pallet forks on my tractor. It came from the factory without any such support and the walls just crushed when I did up the nuts on the mounting bracket, so I welded (I use that term loosely because I absolutely suck at welding) some pipe between the walls.
 
I currently lift the wheel by hand and kick a block of wood under it but there has to be a better way.
What if you welded a 2' long hinged arm to the back if the rear leg, so it pivots to either side. On the end of the arm add a trailer screw jack, the style that can also pivot and pin in a horizontal position.
It could be used on either side that is low.
 
UHMWPE: I would suggest making the UHMWPE longer than the out-feed table and fastening a strip of wood 1/4" from the trailing edge and underneath, as a drip edge for dust and debris. I did not do this originally, and I wish I had. I let the trailing edge float because the material grows in direct sun. This has allowed debris to find its way underneath the UHMPWE, between it and the steel table. Also, use bolts vs screws on the leading edge. The screws I used have bonded with the steel table, and snap off when trying to remove them, so the stuff under the table is staying there for now, but it has lifted the last foot of the UHMWPE.
 
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