My new DR Rapid Fire finally came in today after ordering it 3 weeks ago from the local (25 miles away) dealer. It was all assembled and setting in their yard ready to go. After making final payments we pulled it on my trailer and I looked it over. I noticed the drive belt was twisted and laying in the groove on the flywheel sideways. It looked like the pulleys were not in perfect alignment. After removing the guard over the flywheels you could straighten the belt but it would roll over again when you turned the wheels. The dealer's mechanic got his tools and tried to align the motor pulley by loosening the motor mounts and got it closer than it was but the belt would still not run true. The owner of the shop then came out and said to put a new belt on it (a much heavier belt than the original) and then it would stay in its groove. So I head home.
At home I have 4 blocks of firewood sitting by the garage that need splitting. Two were white pine that it handled with ease, a small elm it split with some stringers holding it together and a large ash that took two hits the halve it and then the rest of the pieces were no problem. Except for the fact that it would not retract all the way or even half way. I would have to push it back by hand and the flimsy springs were attached but too weak to pull it back.
I had told my Amish neighbor I was getting this splitter so when he heard the engine running he came over to see what was up. He said he had some elm I could practice on so I hauled it down the road to his place and backed it up to his wood pile (it was still on the trailer). He handed over a couple 6" elm pieces and it popped them good. Then he handed a piece of elm that they had ripped with the chainsaw, it was 6"x6" square and it took three hits to split it. A few more 6-8 " elm rounds would often split with one hit but sometimes would ride up on the wedge and come flying back at you. A 12" long 12" diameter ash crotch with a knot in it got jambed on the wedge after 6 hits and it took a 12# sledge to drive it back off. I didn't try it again for fear of breaking something. All this time the ram would not fully return unless I manually helped it. Thankfully it ran out of gas at this time, the setup man must have only put in a quart.
There are only two grease zerks on this machine and one of them was laying on the bed of the trailer for some reason.
All in all I wasn't very impressed with this $2100 machine. (Its the pro model, not the XL Pro). It seems very light duty almost to the point of being flimsy. It has a no-name engine, DR brand I guess, the dealer didn't even know. I'll try it out this summer, although I much prefer to cut in the winter, and give it a good 6 month test. My shoulders have given out from hand splitting for 40 years and I thought this machine would keep me going for a few more. I have my doubts.
Sorry for the long rant.
Ken
At home I have 4 blocks of firewood sitting by the garage that need splitting. Two were white pine that it handled with ease, a small elm it split with some stringers holding it together and a large ash that took two hits the halve it and then the rest of the pieces were no problem. Except for the fact that it would not retract all the way or even half way. I would have to push it back by hand and the flimsy springs were attached but too weak to pull it back.
I had told my Amish neighbor I was getting this splitter so when he heard the engine running he came over to see what was up. He said he had some elm I could practice on so I hauled it down the road to his place and backed it up to his wood pile (it was still on the trailer). He handed over a couple 6" elm pieces and it popped them good. Then he handed a piece of elm that they had ripped with the chainsaw, it was 6"x6" square and it took three hits to split it. A few more 6-8 " elm rounds would often split with one hit but sometimes would ride up on the wedge and come flying back at you. A 12" long 12" diameter ash crotch with a knot in it got jambed on the wedge after 6 hits and it took a 12# sledge to drive it back off. I didn't try it again for fear of breaking something. All this time the ram would not fully return unless I manually helped it. Thankfully it ran out of gas at this time, the setup man must have only put in a quart.
There are only two grease zerks on this machine and one of them was laying on the bed of the trailer for some reason.
All in all I wasn't very impressed with this $2100 machine. (Its the pro model, not the XL Pro). It seems very light duty almost to the point of being flimsy. It has a no-name engine, DR brand I guess, the dealer didn't even know. I'll try it out this summer, although I much prefer to cut in the winter, and give it a good 6 month test. My shoulders have given out from hand splitting for 40 years and I thought this machine would keep me going for a few more. I have my doubts.
Sorry for the long rant.
Ken
