A long-lasting relationship that started 5 years ago with me stopping to ask permission to cut firewood has come all the way around to a free working logsplitter...
5 1/2 years ago, while driving home from work, I noticed a neighbor a mile down the road had several trees cut out of his yard. I had just ordered my stove and needed wood. So I stopped and asked. His only condition, I had to take some of the poplar if I was going to take some of the Oak/Ash.
That wasn't a problem, I needed quick drying wood because I only had August-November to season my first winter's wood.
From that time I've always stopped in to talk and offer up my help on anything they might need help with (older semi-retired couple). A month or so ago when I was over cutting more wood from some trees he had taken down he mentioned his old log splitter wasn't working right and he was thinking about just getting rid of it, sort of hinting if I would be interested. I noted a little interest if the price was right. A couple weeks ago when I stopped in to chat for a while he told me I could have the splitter if I could get it working right.
So I stopped back in this past weekend and picked it up. Got it home and tried it out. It fired right up and everything moves/runs. He said the problem he was having was the breather for the reservoir keep blowing off and spilling oil. Looks to be ~20 ton based solely on pump/engine size plus ram size. Very few markings on any of the parts... Engine is a Briggs & Stratton 5 hp that fired up on about 3 pulls...
The return line to the reservoir is clear vinyl (pretty sure thats not right) but in running it I could see a lot of air passing back through. The only thing I can think is that the suction line for the pump may have a pin-hole leak, it's sucking air, and when it gets enough air mixed in the oil it fills the reservoir up and blows the breather off. I'm going to replace all the low-pressure lines just as a precaution and see if that helps...
5 1/2 years ago, while driving home from work, I noticed a neighbor a mile down the road had several trees cut out of his yard. I had just ordered my stove and needed wood. So I stopped and asked. His only condition, I had to take some of the poplar if I was going to take some of the Oak/Ash.
That wasn't a problem, I needed quick drying wood because I only had August-November to season my first winter's wood.
From that time I've always stopped in to talk and offer up my help on anything they might need help with (older semi-retired couple). A month or so ago when I was over cutting more wood from some trees he had taken down he mentioned his old log splitter wasn't working right and he was thinking about just getting rid of it, sort of hinting if I would be interested. I noted a little interest if the price was right. A couple weeks ago when I stopped in to chat for a while he told me I could have the splitter if I could get it working right.
So I stopped back in this past weekend and picked it up. Got it home and tried it out. It fired right up and everything moves/runs. He said the problem he was having was the breather for the reservoir keep blowing off and spilling oil. Looks to be ~20 ton based solely on pump/engine size plus ram size. Very few markings on any of the parts... Engine is a Briggs & Stratton 5 hp that fired up on about 3 pulls...
The return line to the reservoir is clear vinyl (pretty sure thats not right) but in running it I could see a lot of air passing back through. The only thing I can think is that the suction line for the pump may have a pin-hole leak, it's sucking air, and when it gets enough air mixed in the oil it fills the reservoir up and blows the breather off. I'm going to replace all the low-pressure lines just as a precaution and see if that helps...
