PRIMING A NEW LOG SPLITTER
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nothing real fancy. You can pull the spakr plug and crank over, but far easier, just make sure the suction is full and flooded, start and cycle at low idle speed.
Do NOT hit the end of stroke and build pressure. just go back and forth in mid stroke.
If you hit end of stroke, any air in the cylinder gets compressed up to the relief valve pressure, say 2500 psi. That doesn't hurt anything until you shift to the other direction. Then, that side of cylinder is connected to tank. The compressed air acts like an accumulator. It expands and pushes out the oil REALLY fast. The pump may be moving 2 or 5 or 10 gpm, but the air decompressing can push oil out at many times that rate. The flow in return line and filter can exceed the ratings, even the bypass valve can't keep up, and it can blow the hose or housing.
Any load that can go past center (from resistive to overruning), like a log lift or boom or something, must be controlled carefully. With a cylinder full of air, the load can fall over center and crash. There is no oil coming out of the cylinder to meter and control.
So just start it up, let it idle, check for gross leaks (not with your hands), then cycle from say 4 inches to 20 inches (of a 24 inch cylinder). Do that a few times, then build a slight amount of pressure at each end. If all is good, split some wood at low idle condition. All still good and no leaks, go to high idle and go to work. I'd take it easy and try not to hit relief pressure, give the pump gears time to seat a bit, but nothing very fancy is required.
k
Do NOT hit the end of stroke and build pressure. just go back and forth in mid stroke.
If you hit end of stroke, any air in the cylinder gets compressed up to the relief valve pressure, say 2500 psi. That doesn't hurt anything until you shift to the other direction. Then, that side of cylinder is connected to tank. The compressed air acts like an accumulator. It expands and pushes out the oil REALLY fast. The pump may be moving 2 or 5 or 10 gpm, but the air decompressing can push oil out at many times that rate. The flow in return line and filter can exceed the ratings, even the bypass valve can't keep up, and it can blow the hose or housing.
Any load that can go past center (from resistive to overruning), like a log lift or boom or something, must be controlled carefully. With a cylinder full of air, the load can fall over center and crash. There is no oil coming out of the cylinder to meter and control.
So just start it up, let it idle, check for gross leaks (not with your hands), then cycle from say 4 inches to 20 inches (of a 24 inch cylinder). Do that a few times, then build a slight amount of pressure at each end. If all is good, split some wood at low idle condition. All still good and no leaks, go to high idle and go to work. I'd take it easy and try not to hit relief pressure, give the pump gears time to seat a bit, but nothing very fancy is required.
k
Gooserider
Mod Emeritus
The directions I've seen say to pull the engine over a few times (usually less than 10) with the ignition off, until the piston starts to move, then start the engine and cycle gently a few times as the previous poster suggested.
I didn't find it worth while to pull the plug on my splitter when I was starting it up, my engine has a compression release that made it no big deal to pull over, but taking the plug out would have made pulling easier. (BTW, pulling the engine over like that also helps get the engine internals taken care of as well...
Gooserider
I didn't find it worth while to pull the plug on my splitter when I was starting it up, my engine has a compression release that made it no big deal to pull over, but taking the plug out would have made pulling easier. (BTW, pulling the engine over like that also helps get the engine internals taken care of as well...
Gooserider
Gooserider
Mod Emeritus
Almost forgot, when pulling the engine over to prime the hydraulics, you need to hold / tie the valve handle down to the "extend" position!
Gooserider
Gooserider
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