Tractor Supply Has The 22 Ton Splitter On Sale For $999.

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Monkey Wrench

Feeling the Heat
Nov 16, 2009
304
On The Farm
Somebody was asking a couple days ago about buying this splitter,

Just want them or anyone interested to know.
 
Going to get one in the morning. If they still have them, drove by today, only one left! :grrr:
 
I trying to resist the temptation.
 
lazeedan said:
I trying to resist the temptation.

Why resist you know you need one ... now go before they are sold out.
 
I can resist anything ...but temptation.
 
Well, went and got one yesterday morning!! Going out this morning to put it to the test. About 4 cords to split for next year and many more to come. If anyone buys one of these make sure to check the oil, they said it was full, not so. Only had oil just touching the bottom of the stick. As for the hydraulic fluid, a little overfull, but I figure after I add gas and fire her up it will bleed the air from the system and be the right level. Will update, when I finish, on my first impressions! Got alot of red oak crotches to try out, fingers crossed. Now can't wait for my camera from St. Nick to take pics. My wife said if I was good, I "might" get one from him, instead of coal this year!! Man, I wish I had a coal burner, it's not looking good for gettin' the camera :-/
 
Let me suggest that the first thing you do is check all the clamps (important) and bolts/nuts to see that they are tight. There have been a rash of new splitters from Huskee that have spit off their hoses and blown out a gallon of hydraulic fluid before the proud new owner could kill the engine. Don't be one of them. The only other complaint I've seen abuot them is occasionally the welds around the axle/hydraulic-tank allow fluid to leak. Any welder can fix it in a moment but you might want to keep an eye on it.

As to the low hydraulic fluid, don't let that happen. Air bubbles do high pressure pumps no good at all. Also the fluid will run a lot hotter if its low and then you won't be able to warm your hands on the cylinder without burning yourself. Bummer.

For whatever its worth I bought a 35 ton Huskee two weeks ago at Tractor Supply myself. It was a returned splitter. A guy bought it, took it home, started it, pulled the lever, blew off a hose, and squirted about 2 gallons of hydraulic fluid all over the place. He promptly put it back on the trailer hitch and took it back, got him another one and went away happy. The store put a new hose clamp on it and a tag that said $200 off the already reduced price, so it was down to $1,400 at that point. I saw it and said, "what have I got to lose?" and went in and offered the manager $200 less than that. He took it. There's only a 30 day warranty but I don't care - we've already split just under 7 cords with it so if it was going to break again it would have done it by now and it hasn't. Nothing will stop it. We have split/cut through elm crotches that were over 20" in diameter. What it will not split it simply pushes its way through; we have busted up some old stuff that was laying around the wood pile that I thought would never be split - never could be split to my mind. Amazing, simply amazing.
 
Kong said:
Let me suggest that the first thing you do is check all the clamps (important) and bolts/nuts to see that they are tight. There have been a rash of new splitters from Huskee that have spit off their hoses and blown out a gallon of hydraulic fluid before the proud new owner could kill the engine. Don't be one of them. The only other complaint I've seen abuot them is occasionally the welds around the axle/hydraulic-tank allow fluid to leak. Any welder can fix it in a moment but you might want to keep an eye on it.

As to the low hydraulic fluid, don't let that happen. Air bubbles do high pressure pumps no good at all. Also the fluid will run a lot hotter if its low and then you won't be able to warm your hands on the cylinder without burning yourself. Bummer.

For whatever its worth I bought a 35 ton Huskee two weeks ago at Tractor Supply myself. It was a returned splitter. A guy bought it, took it home, started it, pulled the lever, blew off a hose, and squirted about 2 gallons of hydraulic fluid all over the place. He promptly put it back on the trailer hitch and took it back, got him another one and went away happy. The store put a new hose clamp on it and a tag that said $200 off the already reduced price, so it was down to $1,400 at that point. I saw it and said, "what have I got to lose?" and went in and offered the manager $200 less than that. He took it. There's only a 30 day warranty but I don't care - we've already split just under 7 cords with it so if it was going to break again it would have done it by now and it hasn't. Nothing will stop it. We have split/cut through elm crotches that were over 20" in diameter. What it will not split it simply pushes its way through; we have busted up some old stuff that was laying around the wood pile that I thought would never be split - never could be split to my mind. Amazing, simply amazing.

Checked all that and no surprises here! Except for how powerful she is! This thing will split anything. Thought I was going to be needing a bigger one. Just pushes on thru big crotches, and 25" rounds with little hesitation!!! Amazing, I am so far impressed. 2 cords split so far, only wishing it had a larger fuel tank.
 
I got one saturday at t.s.c. 22 ton & yes it is very powerful. I did check the fluids all ok, checked all clamps all ok, but i will double clamp the hoses ,all nuts & bolts all ok, everything was ready to go xcept pulled the wheels to check the grease in the bearings & guess what, wasn`t any { xcept what little the bearing mfg. put on them} was that a surprise not really after reading some of the issues that some were having.

Both wheels were wobbling, when the nuts were put on the axles they were just put on loose, so greased up the bearings adjusted the nuts put in pins, added slime to the tires checked air pressure, were good to go........

Now i have a question on some 22 ton units the log cradle is made from angle iron & other units are made withlike a C type channel { see the pix } what is the difference. ??

Also on the foot plate the letter " H " is welded on ,is that something new or for strength. ?? { See pix }.

Got to get a work table. Has anyone else found the bearings to be dry. ??

Herman
 

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Good catch on those wheel bearings. It crossed my mind when I first got it home to pop the dust caps off the wheels and see if they had adequate grease in them. I didn't do it - sure will now.

On the "C" rolled edge rather than wings bolted to the splitter, I think its made that way for several reasons. First off its less expensive to simply bend the metal than it is to fabricate two parts and the labor to bolt them on. That's good for the factory but maybe not for you. Next is there's nothing to break. Go look for posts from guys who have jammed up a chunk of wood and bent the supports, they aren't hard to find. Then there is this, I'd be that the vast majority of these splitters aren't used in the horizontal position very often so its a moot point. I don't know about you but if a piece of wood is big enough to split I don't particularly want to lift it up; I'd far perfer to just roll it over to the splitter and then flip it up on its end. I'm basically lazy.

As to the "H" in the bottom, don't take this for gosphel but I believe its just there to sink into the ground and stabalize the beam - stop it from sliding around - while the machine is in use, once again presumed to be in the vertical position.

Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but it seems to me that any splitter on which the wedge moves into a fixed foot is made to run vertical whereas a splitter in which the wood is pushed into a fixed wedge is made to operate horizontal. It just makes sense to me that a splitter that feeds wood to wedge is designed to clear its own table with the single split and move to the next. This implies small wood. Splitters designed to work on larger chunks where multiple pushes will be required should be made so the wood stays generally in place after the split so it can be repositioned for a subsequent split. So you stand them up in the air and leave the heavy wood on the ground, push the wedge into the wood rather than vise-versa and in that case the "C" bend in the beam is little more than a wedge guide and log supports would just be in the way. That's how I see it.
 
Whoops. Something I need to tell you. This is important.

You see those two steel prongs that stick out to protect the retracted wedge, the ones that push off a stuck round of wood that doesn't split? Get yourself a grinder and round off the corners on those two things and then repaint them. I do not want to have to tell you how bad it hurts when you bang your forehead into one of them when you bend over to grab a split of wood, and you'll bleed like a stuck hog if you leave the corners sharp. Don't ask me how I know.
 
Kong said:
Whoops. Something I need to tell you. This is important.

You see those two steel prongs that stick out to protect the retracted wedge, the ones that push off a stuck round of wood that doesn't split? Get yourself a grinder and round off the corners on those two things and then repaint them. I do not want to have to tell you how bad it hurts when you bang your forehead into one of them when you bend over to grab a split of wood, and you'll bleed like a stuck hog if you leave the corners sharp. Don't ask me how I know.

Thanks, my wife thanks you!! ;-)
 
herman said:
I got one saturday at t.s.c. 22 ton & yes it is very powerful. I did check the fluids all ok, checked all clamps all ok, but i will double clamp the hoses ,all nuts & bolts all ok, everything was ready to go xcept pulled the wheels to check the grease in the bearings & guess what, wasn`t any { xcept what little the bearing mfg. put on them} was that a surprise not really after reading some of the issues that some were having.

Both wheels were wobbling, when the nuts were put on the axles they were just put on loose, so greased up the bearings adjusted the nuts put in pins, added slime to the tires checked air pressure, were good to go........

Now i have a question on some 22 ton units the log cradle is made from angle iron & other units are made withlike a C type channel { see the pix } what is the difference. ??

Also on the foot plate the letter " H " is welded on ,is that something new or for strength. ?? { See pix }.

Got to get a work table. Has anyone else found the bearings to be dry. ??

Herman


My bearings have a ton of red grease in them, its oozing out of the cap. However, the foot on mine doesn't have the pieces welded to the bottom, wonder why? My cradle has the angle welded to the beam.
 
I picked up the 22 ton huskee about a month ago. Lucked out. Went into the tractor supply store and they had two units on the lot marked with a "fixed" tag on them. I asked and the one I got was returned because the original owner felt the control lever was "sticking". They sold it to me for 25% off of the $999 price ($750) with full warranty. I have run close to 3 cords through it including a 24" diameter Elm. This splitter has all the power I will ever need, I cant see spending more money for home owner usage. If your not in a hurry to purchase I would recommend stopping in frequently at your local TS and seeing if they have any returned units on the lot.
The only design complaint I have is the small size of the plate that you put the rounds on (I use vertical mode). When splitting larger rounds it would be nicer to have a bigger plate.
 
Kong, thanks for the tip on the elbow catchers. I called speeco monday & asked about the :C " channel & the : H " on the foot plate, they told me that they are making the units now with them { new style } to be more consistent with there splitter line.

The C channel has debre holes by the foot plate & the H is for more strength.
 
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