Log splitter abuse?

JoeyD said:

I will go into this more later but for now, what would you consider a person can do while splitting wood to be abusive to the log splitter? The manufacture has been great but the service center has not left a very good impression on me.

I'm really trying determine if I could have done something wrong that I wasn't aware of. As it turned out the manufacture agreed I had a defective part but the service guy said I abused the splitter.

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I have loan mine out and done myself over 50cords cant see what you could do to abuse one

A little pipe soap and a hickory split. I'll show that service guy what abuse is :coolmad:

did you shout obscenities at it until it cried? That might be considered abuse :coolgrin:

As long as the bypass is set correctly in the control valve, I can't see anyway to abuse it. Unless you did something real cool like trying to split the atom with it.

You should have asked for his definition of abuse and what signs he saw that led him to believe it was abused.
Splitting wood of any kind is not abuse that is what the tool is designed for.

smokinjay said:

JoeyD said:

I will go into this more later but for now, what would you consider a person can do while splitting wood to be abusive to the log splitter? The manufacture has been great but the service center has not left a very good impression on me.

I'm really trying determine if I could have done something wrong that I wasn't aware of. As it turned out the manufacture agreed I had a defective part but the service guy said I abused the splitter.

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I have loan mine out and done myself over 50cords cant see what you could do to abuse one

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The only "abuse" that i can think of off the top on my head, is that you dropped it off a 10 story building.

We have 2 MTD's at work, used by employees that would rather stay warm (while I fix it), and go through
a tough 2-mile trek on less than ideal paths and towing equipment every day. The only things that they
managed to "break" are the fenders, log holders, and the ball hitch-which is a stocked item; 5 min. in-n-out.
They are used 7-days/week 3-4 months during the off season. Both where new in 2003, but look like they
where built in the '70's. Filters and fluids are changed one a year - whether it needs it or not (defiantly needs )

I couldn't count how many cords where split by them, but it has to be in the hundreds.

My neighbor claims he is abused every time I bring it out, as he is the one hauling the rounds to the splitter. Outside of that, cannot see where you could abuse it. You weren't trying to press bearings in with it, right?

B said:

You weren't trying to press bearings in with it, right?

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I've used mine to bend steel and don't consider that abuse. I work it harder to slice up crotch pieces.

B said:

... You weren't trying to press bearings in with it, right?

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Thanks for the idea

’berta Burner said:

did you shout obscenities at it until it cried? That might be considered abuse :coolgrin:

As long as the bypass is set correctly in the control valve, I can't see anyway to abuse it. Unless you did something real cool like trying to split the atom with it.

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My thoughts exactly. How else would you abuse it? Maybe take a willow switch and slap it a few times on the butt...

Only real abuse that I could see being done would be things like running the engine out of oil, or with dirty / missing air filter or the equivalent... Maybe leaving the cap off the hydraulic tank so that dirt and water could get into the hydraulic fluid. One could also attack the surface on the piston rod with some sort of hard objects that would bugger up the chrome...

However I can't see any kind of "normal" use, i.e. firing up a reasonably well maintained engine and using the control handle to make the wedge go in and out, that could constitute abuse.

Gooserider

+1 what goose said.

I am mechanical enginerr and design mobile equipment hydraulics. the only use I would call abuse is fluid, filters, or temperature related, or taking the relief valve way above recommended settings.
ALL other operation should be in the initial design by the mfr. that is one big advantage of hydraulics, the ability to stall, almost forever, at maximum force and pressure at a precise known force. Thus, the splitter itself should have been designed for this force. It is not like a mechanical drive where you can dump the clutch, or have flywheel effects.
so ANY oepration you did, cutting crosswise on elm or anything, that runs it at full pressure every single cycle should not be consdiered abuse by the mfr. THere could be some fatigue of metal and welds at max forces, but still sshould be in the millions of cycles. Not fail under homeowner use in short time.

Don't let them tell you that xx tons is 'peak usages and that something way less is 'continuous rating' I've heard that before.....



and the rest of the story??? what did they claim you did or broke?

tks, kcj

JoeyD said:

I but the service guy said I abused the splitter.

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lift yer leg on it often ?

’berta Burner said:

did you shout obscenities at it until it cried? That might be considered abuse :coolgrin:

As long as the bypass is set correctly in the control valve, I can't see anyway to abuse it. Unless you did something real cool like trying to split the atom with it.

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LMAO!!

LLigetfa said:

B said:

You weren't trying to press bearings in with it, right?

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I've used mine to bend steel and don't consider that abuse. I work it harder to slice up crotch pieces.

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ditto. Our homemade 80s vintage model gets used gets used occasionally as press on something either too big or too strong for my cheapy 12 ton HF shop press.