Electric log splitter best one for the money

[Stelcom66]

If I do get one I'll post how it worked out. I see that many modify them so they're a bit taller. Today I split a good size log, about 29" in diameter and 20" high. Once I got the pieces to a certain size probably a 5 ton unit would have been fine.

I saw that the Homelite got very good reviews.

 

[schwaggly]

I just picked up a like new HF electric splitter for $50. I teied it out and it works great. I'm going to look into a momentary foot switch. This is my second one of these. I snapped lever off my first one and loaned it to B.I.L. 2.5 years ago. If I asked for it back they would of course "need it" and my wife would say you're ruining another Christmas, or some crap.
$50 is a small price to pay for a good splitter and peace.

 

[Stelcom66]

I just picked up a like new HF electric splitter for $50. I teied it out and it works great. I'm going to look into a momentary foot switch. This is my second one of these. I snapped lever off my first one and loaned it to B.I.L. 2.5 years ago. If I asked for it back they would of course "need it" and my wife would say you're ruining another Christmas, or some crap.
$50 is a small price to pay for a good splitter and peace.

Wow if I could find that unit for $50 I'd buy it too. Like you said keeping things cool with the family and it goes for what, around $150 new? I've heard pretty good reports surprisingly about the 5 ton electric splitters.

 

[schwaggly]

$299 new but are coupon eligible 20% & occasional 25%. Keeping things peaceful is
more important now more than ever. Plus the old one was beat to heck.

I ran it the other day and it is one handed operation, bonus!

 

[Stelcom66]

$299 new but are coupon eligible 20% & occasional 25%....

Oh Ok I may have been thinking of the manual hydraulic HF splitter I had. Good to hear it's working out in more ways than one!

 

[BCC_Burner]

Bumping this thread, does anyone have any experience with the Swisher 22 ton electric splitter, or the electric log splitters from RamSplitter? I'm interested in a 16-22 ton electric log splitter, and those seem to be the best options in that range. I have a nice shop area adjacent to the woodshed where I can plug in to split, plus I hate small engine noise and the smell of exhaust, so it seems like electric is the way to go.

 

[Montanalocal]

Hi. I have a Ramsplitter 16 Ton. I would not recommend it. It took most of a year of fixing to get the kinks out of it. The Swisher looks to be way better.

 

[blades]

Please detail the problems encountered on the Ram splitter-

 

[Montanalocal]

One of the worst problems is that the stub axles were not long enough. There was a hole on the very end of the axle to put a cotter pin through to keep the wheel on. The wheel hub was wide enough that it did not fit inside the cotter pin hole and covered it up. I tried using it without the retaining pin, but just rolling it around the floor of my shop and out onto the driveway would very quickly result in the wheels working themselves off the shaft.

I wound up having to drill a hole into the end of the shaft, tap small threads with a bottoming tap, and thread a small bolt with washers onto the end of the axles to keep the wheels on. I have to continually check to see they do not come lose. This worked for me with a farm shop full of tools, but would probably not work for some people.

Another problem is that the valve lever was mounted by screwing it onto a short piece of pipe threaded directly into the return port of the hydraulic cylinder. After a period of time using the control lever handle, the repeated jolts back and forth will of course loosen the threads on either end of this pipe, resulting in a hydraulic leak. To tighten these loose threads, one has to remove all the hoses of the valve so that it can be turned in a complete circle. Thus resulting in draining all the hydraulic fluid from the hoses, and a huge mess.

After about the second time this happened, I replaced the piece of straight pipe with two nipples and a pipe union. Now, when the inevitable leaks occurs, I can just loosen the union, tighten up the leaking thread, and retighten the union. The real fix would have been to build a support so that the valve could be solidly mounted on its own support, and all connections made by hoses. I notice a number of splitters have this problem.

 

[blades]

send a note to ramsplitter if you haven't all ready at least as tio the wheel issue ( likely a vendor change) as to the valve mount - yes that is a pain on others also- bean counters poking nose where it don't belong.