Ended up getting a killer deal on a new CountyLine 40 ton wood splitter

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JRHAWK9

Minister of Fire
Jan 8, 2014
2,064
Wisconsin Dells, WI
I had a 10% off coupon so I went and picked up a new CL 40 ton splitter which they left in the crate for me. I peaked inside the plastic wrap before they loaded it on my trailer and it's not a good sign when you see a bunch of oil dry soaked with hydraulic fluid along with oil soaked towels/rags thrown in on the bottom of the crate. ;hm I took it home anyway hoping it was something simple. It appears it was, as I tightened up the filter collar at the bottom where the intake hose clamps onto and also replaced the hose clamp (which was not very tight) with a better one. This seemed to have stopped all the leaking. I honestly think it was simply leaking at the hose clamp and running down. Not a big deal.

So, then yesterday morning, I was walking into the garage from the outside and I noticed how the beam was sitting at a slight tilt. I found out why. Looks like the crate may have been dropped from a short distance at one point during it's trip from good 'ole China to WI. I emailed these photos to TSC and talked to the manager. They are giving me the splitter for half price!! So after my 10% coupon I'll be paying $900 for a $2,000 splitter which has a slight lean to 'er. They gave me the option of returning it and getting another one, but I'll gladly keep this perfectly functional one for half price! The tilt will help drain the water off the beam surface better AND will help compensate for the grade of the ground in which I use the splitter on. No joke, as where I split is on a slight hill, which places the tank vent on the low side. ;lol I actually have my 10 year old 28 ton Speeco sold for $1,000....so I'll be making a few bucks on the deal. :cool:



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The 9.5sec cycle time they tout is the real deal. I get about 9.1 - 9.25 seconds when I time with my stopwatch. This is the main reason I wanted to upgrade.

I'm not too keen on how manufactured the beam is. Although, compared to my Speeco one (which is also somewhat manufactured), the CL one actually has a much thicker main vertical steel plate running the whole length of the beam. There are other areas which have thicker steel plate and/or more bracing but not in other areas. One of the areas which it does not is the lower part where it got tweaked. The Speeco beam steel in this spot is a bit thicker. The welds on the CL look to be great in crucial spots and not-so-great in other spots not as crucial. The gross weight listed on the crate of the CL was 955lbs. !!!

When I was at HD to pick up some AW32, I stopped and looked at the Champion splitters and their beams. Those beams look to be lighter duty all together. The whole splitter, regardless of tonnage rating, is just short/small in comparison to both my Speeco and CL.
 
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And just so y'all know, I already gave him his first "you suck" award in a PM... :p
 
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I just got emailed the receipt for the partial credit.

She ended up giving me 60% off! I think she did this in order to keep my original $200 off (from a 10% off coupon). So I ended up paying a grand total of $844 for this splitter......or $800 + tax. !!!

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great deal!
 
That's ridiculous. Why would they discount it that much? It's not like it was broke in half....
Enjoy it, you lucky guy!

You got me! I wasn't even going to contact them about the issue when I first saw it. After I decided I was going to call them I had my other half come out and take a look. Her response to me was, "they are going to think you are nuts". I then asked her, "why, you don't think it's a big deal?" She replied, "nope". I told myself if I could get an additional $200 off I'd be happy. When she then told me on Friday night she would give it to me for half price I was elated. ;lol Then when I saw the emailed receipt just today for 60% off I was !!!.
 
I can believe the deep discount, they just don’t want to hassle with it and are willing to even lose a bit to make you happy. That’s close to the 37 ton splitter I got at Menards on a Black Friday sale for $900 but yours is a lot faster, 3 seconds faster ::-). You got a good deal. How‘s your Scott Kunz ported saw doing? What was it again, a 390XP or a 562 Maybe? I used my Kunz ported 390 last summer some and its got crazy power And I also have the 562 ported by him. Oh no- I remember now you have the 50cc Husqvarna saw.
 
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That’s close to the 37 ton splitter I got at Menards on a Black Friday sale for $900 but yours is a lot faster, by 3 seconds.. ::-)

yeah, it's speed is the sole reason I wanted to upgrade. 25GPM pump and a 5 1/8" ram....best of both worlds, speed and power. Add that to a decent 429cc Kohler Command Pro motor.

Normally, for consumer level stuff especially, the higher tonnage splitters are slow because they use either 11 or 16GPM pumps. Then you have the faster splitters which utilize smaller rams for their speed while still using a 16GPM pump.

What brand is yours from Menards? A Brute? Looks like they don't carry the 37 ton models anymore?
 
It’s a Forest King Pro With a 16 GPM pump. Ashful, wherever he might be nowadays always wanted me to put a 4" cylinder on it and speed it up a bunch. I’m thinking that maybe Ashful was gotten by the coronavirus since he was always on here then out of a sudden he vanished in late March. :(
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I’m thinking that maybe Ashful was gotten by the coronavirus since he was always on here then out of a sudden he vanished in late March. :(

hmmm, I actually sent him a PM a few weeks ago related to splitters and have heard nothing back. :(
 
It looks to be very similar to this one:

Except that one has a Kohler motor and a 17GPM pump.

Turns out, Forest King splitters were made by YTL International. Same company who has TSC's current wood splitter contract and who builds them for TSC to TSC's specs. When I called YTL and inquired about the CountyLine splitters, the guy I spoke to told me TSC pretty much came to them with what they wanted. He said it was kind of like a "build-a-splitter", where they choose the specs/components and YTL built them to those specs for them.
 
hmmm, I actually sent him a PM a few weeks ago related to splitters and have heard nothing back. :(

Last time he was on was May 8th. Over 6 months ago, hope he's ok.
 
whatever happened to a sledgehammer and a couple of steel wedges?
 
whatever happened to a sledgehammer and a couple of steel wedges?

They are still available if you want to go that route. I personally use a Fiskars IsoCore to hand split the big stuff in order to get it in the trailer to be put on my 'to be split' pile come spring.

Is this what you use to cut your firewood? Sounds like you should be. ;lol

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It's called progression of technology. :p
 
Yes YTL makes the Forest King splitters and another brand that L&M Fleet Supply in Hayward sells too. And a few more I’m sure. How big is the engine needed to run that 25gpm pump in your new splitter there Hawk? I have a 10.5 HP engine on my splitter so you must have a 13 or 14 horse engine on yours. I also sent Ashful a PM months ago since we used to chat back and forth fairly often but he hasn’t replied and I don’t think he’s on Firewood Hoarders either. It doesn’t look good if you ask me. I don’t think he’d just stop getting on the forums...

Edit: The splitters that L&M have that are made by YTL are Black Diamond brand. I just looked and I see they want $1400 for their 37 ton splitter similar to mine.
 
Yes YTL makes the Forest King splitters and another brand that L&M Fleet Supply in Hayward sells too. And a few more I’m sure. How big is the engine needed to run that 25gpm pump in your new splitter there Hawk? I have a 10.5 HP engine on my splitter so you must have a 13 or 14 horse engine on yours. I also sent Ashful a PM months ago since we used to chat back and forth fairly often but he hasn’t replied and I don’t think he’s on Firewood Hoarders either. It doesn’t look good if you ask me. I don’t think he’d just stop betting on the forums...

It's a 14hp. Here's the engine it has: https://kohlerpower.com/en/engines/product/command-pro-ch440

Do you know how old he was? Does anyone know his real name? I saw his posts all over this site in the past. I, too, don't think he would just up and quit all of a sudden.
 
It's a 14hp. Here's the engine it has: https://kohlerpower.com/en/engines/product/command-pro-ch440

Do you know how old he was? Does anyone know his real name? I saw his posts all over this site in the past. I, too, don't think he would just up and quit all of a sudden.
I used to know his name since he sold me a few things and sent them with his name on the packages. Maybe I can find it again. I think he was around 50 or so. I figured you’d have the Kohler Command (probably) on it. I have the same engine (probably again) on a new stump grinder.
 
If you can find his name, just Google it with obituary after it and if he passed you should be able to find it.
 
Wasn't he going to go back to school and get his PhD ? I thought I remember him talking about that.
 
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