Harbor Freight 30T Log Splitter - Any Feedback??

[davefr]

A friend of mine loaned me his hydraulic log splitter. I don't know the brand of his unit but all I can say is these things are great. (I'm getting too old to use a splitting maul).

I'd like to buy my own and noticed a Harbor Freight 30T for $999 with Briggs and $1099 with Robin. I've always been leary of buying Harbor Freight but the engine is name brand and it's a Haldex pump. I can't imagine the cylinder to be all that bad.

For occassional homeowner use (ie several cord per year) will this unit suffice. My budget is about 1000-1500.

Any other considerations in picking out a unit. I saw some at Home Crapo but they had Tecumseh engines which I'd prefer to avoid.

TIA.

 

[CaseyForrest]

I havent seen one in person, but the Harbor freight unit seems to be OK. You are right to question its components, but with all being name brand, the only other thing to check out is the build quality. Inspect it closely, check all the welds, make sure they are smooth with no pits or jumps in the welds. Also, make sure its easy to work on so when something does break it wont make you want to kick it! I bought one of the 27 ton models from Home Depot, and broke both the ears off the cylinder splitting some red oak, so my experience wasnt good with the MTD, otherwise it looked VERY well built. Try TSC if you have one nearby, they have a 34 ton for $1539 or a 26 ton for $1339.

 

[DanManofStihl]

I have a 24 ton north star and it works great. I bought mine used it had alot of use and I put a new 8 hp honda on it and it runs and splits like new. I have 95 hours on it since the begining of the season about 2 months ago. I love the honda motor it has a 1.5 gallon tank on it and it last for about 5 hours if you split for about 30 minutes then idle it down and push more wood over to it. If you run it full throttle it will last for about 3 hours. Which is still twice what my briggs ever got.

 

[WoodTick007]

6ft beam

The only splitters I have seen with problems are the one that have the short beams. The traditional ones with the 6ft plus beams have the splitting ram mounted at both ends of the ram. The short beam is a neat idea and makes the spliter more compact for storage. There are tremendous forces placed on a single location...the bracket holding the ram. I have seen the brackets crack over a period of use.
JMHO

 

[treeman82]

Here are my experiences as of lately.

Homey Depot, "Yard Pro" Killed 2 machines to split not even 1 cord of wood. Not a bad deal for $1500

Northern Hydraulics, split several cords with this machine, no problems to speak of. Light duty Honda engine, solid frame, overall not a bad machine. My friend paid about $1000 for his 2 years ago.

Timberwolf, never run it, but MAN what a nice machine, good, strong, solid components, solid industrial grade honda engine. Unfortunately out of your price range

 

[climber1423]

Timberwolf has a couple of new smaller units out. You should check them out because they may fit your needs, but not to sure on prices.

 

[Big Woody]

I have had the 22 ton Husky from Tractor Supply for 2 years. Was a little concerned of the size but the 34 ton was 500 more so bought the 22 ton for around 1000 including taxes. It has the full size I beam. Before buying I called the manufacturer in CO and they assured me it would be sufficient for personal use. They were right.

I have split lots of wood with it. Oak up to 36" diameter and 18" tall. It will split a bigger piece of a log than you could manuver under it. I think it is built heavier than the Home Depot/Lowes with the compact size as mentioned above. It was also cheaper (when I bought it). It'll be all you ever need.

 

[KarlP]

I've had the 27 ton version for over a little over a year and 10 cords. I've split some very large (40"+) logs with it just fine. The only problem I've encountered is the hydraulic filter needs to be tightened every 1/2 cord or it sprays a mist of hydraulic fluid all over the tire. They have evidently switched hydraulic filters to avoid this problem in the new ones. Since the return filter simply screws into the return tank with 3/4" pipe thread I plan on replacing the whole filter assembly on mine... eventually.

Overall build quality seems better than the comparable Troy/MTD splitters at Lowes/Home Depot. While it isn't a commercial Honda engine, the Briggs engine on mine is at least an OHV Intek engine with cast iron sleeves.

 

[Vman]

i have the harbor freight 22 ton (Central Hydraulics?) with 5 1/2 hp briggs. got it 3 years ago...$799 delivered...works great, no problems.

 

[kf6ivi]

I have not had good luck with the Harbor freight 24-ton brand splitter. I bought one about 3-4 years ago. I had it shipped to my house for $899. That is when I found out it only had a 90 day warranty on it. The motor had 1-2 year on it. I split about 4-5 cords in the first 8 weeks and the front seal on the cylinder went out. Had a new seal kit shipped to me, put that in and that lasted 2 days. They the stated they will ship a new cylinder to me. I had to wait for it. I was told they had to order the part from who ever make the splitter in china. After waiting 9 weeks for the new cylinder it still had not come in. per harbor freight it was on a boat come over (must be a slow boat). I had Harbor freight take back that splitter.

Once I got my money back I bought from harbor freight a 22-ton “brave” brand splitter for $999 shipped. I bought if from harbor freight because they where the cheapest and they had free shipping. The brave is much better splitter. The cutting edge is so sharp you can almost shave with it when it was new. It is still very sharp after 15-20 cords of oak. The brave used ½ the gas as the other splitter. The brave had longer warranty than the other splitter.

Ethan

 

[bikepilot]

My dad had a large husky splitter from Tractor supply (32 ton IIRC??). It worked great, very reliable, very very powerfull. The thing would even cut wood against the grain if you tried.