Black Diamond 28 ton splitter..

[Tar13]

After selling my commercial splitter and dump trailer to finance my custom boat build I started the search for a splitter for just my personal use and I had to search high and low locally to find one with a Honda motor on it and actually found it right across the state line..ran over and paid for it and they assured me that it had engine oil and hydraulic fluid in it...it sure did at half a quart to much engine oil and 2.5 gallons short on hydraulic fluid...lol...I corrected those issues and ran it for 10 hours and changed the brake in oil...any doubts that I had about what it could handle quickly vanished as it has handled everything I have through at it so far..and that has been around 6 cord of white oak rounds...knots... crotches and all...it has been pretty impressive for a $1500 farm store splitter...some minor things that I did not like...the trailer jack was of the flat plate variety and I quickly swapped that out for a wheeled model ...so much easier to move around now..the ball hitch was a new design that I had not seen before and I did not like it as there was no provision for a hitch pin? And it it was hard to operate and made of a cheap cast material so it it got replaced and lastly the log catch was vastly undersized to be of any real benefit so its getting replaced here in a few minutes with a larger model meant for a county line splitter...

 

[Turbo89]

After selling my commercial splitter and dump trailer to finance my custom boat build I started the search for a splitter for just my personal use and I had to search high and low locally to find one with a Honda motor on it and actually found it right across the state line..ran over and paid for it and they assured me that it had engine oil and hydraulic fluid in it...it sure did at half a quart to much engine oil and 2.5 gallons short on hydraulic fluid...lol...I corrected those issues and ran it for 10 hours and changed the brake in oil...any doubts that I had about what it could handle quickly vanished as it has handled everything I have through at it so far..and that has been around 6 cord of white oak rounds...knots... crotches and all...it has been pretty impressive for a $1500 farm store splitter...some minor things that I did not like...the trailer jack was of the flat plate variety and I quickly swapped that out for a wheeled model ...so much easier to move around now..the ball hitch was a new design that I had not seen before and I did not like it as there was no provision for a hitch pin? And it it was hard to operate and made of a cheap cast material so it it got replaced and lastly the log catch was vastly undersized to be of any real benefit so its getting replaced here in a few minutes with a larger model meant for a county line splitter...

Congrats on the score! I have a similar rated custom build from about 20yrs ago, it’s a beast with a fully functioning ram, even wins notable seal leak it still gets work done! The pivot feature on that it nice! I need to add that or a log lift to mine.

 

[John Mc]

Be very careful with a hydraulic leak. A fine stream getting shot out under pressure can be tough to see. It can also get injected through your skin causing some serious medical issues - sometimes without creating a visible cut in your skin. Gangrene is a serious risk. When diagnosing leaks, do not use your bare hands when the system is under pressure. Hold a piece of cardboard over the suspect area and look for a spray hitting it.

 

[Duds13]

I'd like to know more about this custom boat build! Maybe you can start a separate thread for that