Splitter maintenance

What you all do? I have the huskee 22 ton, checked the oil before using it today, but going to change it soon. Drain plug under splitter, so this should be easy. Hydro fluid should be fine. So far I've run about 8 cords through it.

Something I noticed is I lost a screw at the base of the cylinder, although nothing is leaking, I'm not sure what the purpose of the black screw is. Other than that, anything missing I should look at? thx

I'll be changing the oil (5w-30 going in for the winter, check your manual) I also will be changing the hydraulic oil filter, spark plug seems fine but I do have one extra just in case.

zap

Most small engine w/o oil filter spec a 50hr oil change interval.

Best thing would be check the owners manual.

Yup. 50 hours on the hydraulic oil filter is good.

Zap, I've not changed a spark plug on ours yet.

I agree with the other posters that you should follow you owners manual. That said, I too have a 22 ton Huskee and assuming you bought it new and run 8 cord through it you should change the engine oil and hydro filter. I believe Briggs and Stratton recommend changing the engine oil after the first 5 hours of use on a new engine then the 50 hour interval (check owners maual X2). The 22 ton Huskee is a nice unit for the money so take care of her and she'll take care of you.

Missing screw may be access to remove the end cap of the cylinder. ( a guess)
I have an allen head screw on the wedge end of the cylinder. Not sure what it's for.
Couldn't find it on the parts break down.

I'm thinking about spraying all hoses with armourall can't hurt keeping the rubber from drying out a bit.

Same here, not in manual. Its at wedge end though. I'll research

I change the spark plugs in the saws and the splitters every year, I only had one problem with the American CLS with the spark plug being bad.

zap

Might be a set screw to keep the end cap from turning or moving.
My guess is it should be there. LOL

I would not worry about the hydraulic hoses. A better practice would be to spray down the wedge, beam, and any other bare metal with WD-40 or a similar product after each use to prevent rust.

Going to make a real ugly mess when dust sticks to it faster that a fat lady wolfing down cupcakes.

Found my screw, gonna re install it, like the wd-40 spray down idea.

Actually, it is a PITA and the oil runs all over the place making a mess. I keep meaning to add some pipe and a 45 elbow to run it out to the side. One of them round-to-it jobs.

I got it changed, and it want bad. My socket set w/o any socket undid it in a snap, and I used a small funnel with a long exit tube into a small container. Bit of a pita, but not bad.

It will evaporate quite fast. A bit better to use oil. You could use some light grease but then you would need to clean it before using it the next time.

A tad bit of oil sounds good too. Whatever keeps it in good shape a long time as well as regular maintenance.

Wow Dennis! You weren't kidding when you said all you ever did to that old splitter was fix a broken pull chord! That thing has treated you well.

Funny thing is, most folks change spark plugs like tissues "just because". Truth is, if the engine is running correctly, there just isn't enough heat/compression in flat-head type small engines to wear out a modern plug every year, five years, etc... Or in Dennis' case, 20 years....

WRT spark plugs, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have lots of OPE that is decades old with the original plug. I've tried changing the odd one only to find that it runs better on the old plug than the new one.