Pulled the trigger

Congrats on the new (toy) splitter. I have had the 22ton for just a year now and put 100 cord threw it with no trouble. It only used a cup of gas and starts before I pull the cord what a great tool to have. EMBELLISHMENT ALERT.

Really have done 6 cord + - with out a hiccup. Hope yours serves you as we'll.

Haha! I was reading that thinking, "This dude's full of it!"

Kool_hand_Looke said:

The pin on my Huskee broke. I threw a bolt slightly larger than the through holes in the freezer, heated the through holes up and dropped it in. Then welded the bolt.

And embellishment? No one EVER embellishes here.

The Ariens is balanced a LOT better than the Huskee I beam as well. That helps. A lot.

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The only annoyance I've had with my Ariens 27 ton is that the holes in the pin lock don't line up always when moving from vertical to horizontal after using it. Just have to jiggle a bitbut it eventually fits. Just an annoyance. Would be nice of the "oval hole" was moved forward so it would actually be in the right spot.

EDIT: There must be some flex in the splitter BC it lines up as it should when I get on level concrete.

Hogwildz said:

Just be careful with the Ariens and others with the same set up. I saw on here and other sites that the issue with those, are when splits are stuck on the wedge, and the wedge is brought back in attempt to get the split to release, the pin holes on the back of the wedge tear open &/or the pin bends. They are set up great for pushing, but not so great for pulling back.

A beam on a splitter hardly weighs a "few hundred pounds".
There may be a slight bit of embellishment there.

And we all tend to try to put pcs through, that maybe should not be sent through.
That makes it fun.

Its all good. Enjoy the new toy.

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Did this happen more than once to this splitter? I've only seen the one link and it seemed like a weak bolt. Something any splitter could have?!?

I am not sure just how common a problem it is, but I think it was reviews on another site (forget which one, think it was HD) that showed the same issue.
Given the thickness of the material where the pin set through, I can see it being an issue mostly for folks putting big gnarly pcs through that get stuck on the wedge, and using the return to try and get it unstuck.
All the beef on on the push, with not much for return.

that's a 4.5hp engine right? It should do well on sipping fuel. 22 ton is plenty, I rarely saw my 27 ton need to go past 17 ton except on some nasty crotch wood.

Not being overly familiar with hydraulic splitters, how does one know that they didn't "go past 17 tons?" is there like a dual stage pressure switch thingamajig going on there? The 27ton that I used (Father-in-law's) didn't have anything that I could discern other than grunting a little bit on hard stuff...

Swuteyethot.

Here is my splitter. It splits on both strokes. Makes for quite efficient work. it will take up to a 24" piece. Runs off the tractor hydraulics and I think that it is only 12 ton or something like that.





Jeff

I've been following this thread from the beginning as I had narrowed my choices down to the Ariens or Dirty Hand Tools 22 ton. In the end (yesterday) the DHT won. Like the Huskee/SpeeCo models, it looks nearly indestructible. I guess time will tell on that score. Added oil & gas, did a quick read through the instructions, and pulled the starter. The Kohler starts right up, runs smoothly and isn't too loud.

Now the DHT with a Subaru engine would have made my decision a no brainer. But as someone pointed out, the Kohler will see way less run time than the Briggs on my lawnmower, and thats been running with nothing more than an annual oil change for twelve years. So the for four or five cords I need at home and splitting a similar amount with a couple of buddies, I think I've got a winner.

Edit: Today the log catcher came in the mail. Nothing wimpy here! It's a serious hunk of steel with some similar hardware to bolt it on to the beam. I have no doubt it's a bit tougher than the "cradles" on the Ariens.

And having read down through the Kool BS on this thread, I can't believe the mods haven't shut it down yet!

Here is our old 2 way splitter. Was originally a 3pt pto driven. We we put an axle and tongue one it years ago and just recently put the gas engine on it. We used it this morning and it does real good.

I have a kohler on my mower. I love it. I have a Kawasaki on my other rider. I love it. I have a couple of B&S and I love them, too. I have had several other Briggs, and I did not show them love, so they did not show me love. I think most of these will last a lifetime on a splitter if properly taken care of.

i run the 27T and see the ears on the wedge are starting to pull off, I think its from when i retracted it and had a piece stuck on the wedge. Pretty poor design, thats a function of the splitter and shouldnt be considerd abuse. I may try for one under warranty or just cut the factory ones off and make my own out of some 3/16 plate.

Other then that i love the heck out of the thing, great design/egronomics and the motor is tits its a real fuel sipper. I probably only run half throttle.

So the consensus here is the Ariens 22T from HD is the better deal than the Dirty Hand Tools 22T from Lowes? Worth the extra $200?

Consensus? Not sure. I've never used an Ariens splitter, but a Subaru engine is a plus. Then again, I've never had trouble with my B&S and Kohlers.

I'm a fan of the in beam cradle on the DHT and others. It keeps the log centered on the beam. I also prefer the cylinder to be supported fully by the beam in stead of a trunnion attachment. The log dislodger on the Ariens seems flimsier than others, too. If I had an Ariens splitter, however, I'd probably be happy with it.

Who does the warranty work on the DHT splitter? Has anyone looked for certified warranty whatevers online, etc?

I googled 'Dirty hand tools warranty' and they have a web site.. but I can't access the page from work..

According to the DHT website, the DHT service centers are essentially the small engine shops in my town. The map shows seven of them within a 10 mile radius of my town. (This question came up before in our discussions.)

Kool_hand_Looke said:

Way better than the Huskee. Balanced very well. I like that it's not I beam construction. That little Subaru purrs right along too. Split some pretty big oak rounds. I'm very impressed.

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Kool_hand_Looke said:

I've been an iron worker for 5 years. A structural welder, and a structural fitter. The I beam design is complete overkill and a LOT of added weight that isn't needed. I've got a pretty good grasp on whether I beam design is over kill or not. And I'm telling you, it is.

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I think you're missing a key consideration in the Huskee I-beam design. The weight and balance are intentional, so as to prevent tipping when you place a large round up on the beam. This is why the Huskee tongue weight is abnormally high, and not because the designer was just sloppy.

It's fine that you're happy with what you bought, but you clearly came to some erroneous conclusions of your own, about competing products.