Good deal on a home made splitter? $475

[par0thead151]

description
"This is Heavy Duty . on an 8" x 8" steel I Beam . An Industrial / Commercial 11 Hp. , Cast Iron Bore , Briggs Engine

Electric Start , 2" hitch on trailer , takes a piece of wood up to 25" long "


I was contemplating building my own, but for 475(i am going to offer 400 and see if they bite) its almost not worth spending the time to build and tweak my own. is there anything i should look for in particular on a used splitter? the shaft, so long as its not pitted can have the gaskets replaced if it leaks.
thanks

 

[MasterMech]

I see some evidence of leakage there. Looks to be a fairly small cylinder, so maybe a 20 ton unit? That's an itsy bitsy hyd reservoir on it too. Also son't see a filter on it but it may be hidden?I'd ask if it had a 2 stage pump on it, what the relief pressure was set at, and how big a pump was installed (GPM). $400 would be a good deal if there were no major issues and it ran well. Remember that there is no vertical mode or log lift there so unless you do something about that, big rounds are going to be back-breakers.

 

[par0thead151]

a response i got to questions
it's fixed horizontal , The switch had went out , I bought a new one today , not exactly the same ,

however , with changing around a couple wires , it will work fine . It starts easily without the key , but I will

have it installed .It runs great , uses a little oil , it seems to leak it rather than use it . probably 1/3 of a quart ,

or so , over a 3 to 4 hour period . It's 10 1/2 feet long x 5 1/2 feet wide x 3 feet tall , Also have an extra

tire for it , but its not on a rim . Unsure of the rams specs
with the oil leak im considering offering 350-375$
since its a home made unit, im assuming the oil leak is not a easy fix like a seal on the shaft

 

[Jags]

Diameter of the Ram? It does look to be well made. "Most" leaks are not hard to fix. If the engine is leaking oil (not burning) it is probably the pan gasket. Pretty easy to fix. It could also come through the breather, but that starts pointing to other problems (rings, valves).

And MasterMech - I would wager a bet that the tank on the splitter holds a min. of five gallons. The one on my splitter appears to be a bit bigger diam. but shorter and it holds 7 with headroom. (which I would have never guessed).

I can't say that I care for the bolt on wedge, but that can be fixed pretty easy. Also, the control valve looks to be in a precarious place. Again - pretty easy fix.

Strap a log lifter and outfeed table on that baby, and I bet you can get some work done.

 

[par0thead151]

Diameter of the Ram? It does look to be well made. "Most" leaks are not hard to fix. If the engine is leaking oil (not burning) it is probably the pan gasket. Pretty easy to fix. It could also come through the breather, but that starts pointing to other problems (rings, valves).

And MasterMech - I would wager a bet that the tank on the splitter holds a min. of five gallons. The one on my splitter appears to be a bit bigger diam. but shorter and it holds 7 with headroom. (which I would have never guessed).

I can't say that I care for the bolt on wedge, but that can be fixed pretty easy. Also, the control valve looks to be in a precarious place. Again - pretty easy fix.

Strap a log lifter and outfeed table on that baby, and I bet you can get some work done.

he does not know the ram diameter
i would replace the wedge with a 3 or 4 way splitter. or weld on my own addition that split it to the side so each stroke makes 4 wedges.

 

[Jags]

he does not know the ram diameter
i would replace the wedge with a 3 or 4 way splitter. or weld on my own addition that split it to the side so each stroke makes 4 wedges.

You won't want to do that till you can confirm the specs of the machine. Depending on pump and ram size and operation pressure, you currently have no idea of the machines capabilities.

That is the down side. Two stage pump or single stage?? Diameter of the ram (if he doesn't know it, I would ask him to lay a tape across it - subtract 1/2" - gives you a pretty good guess). Pressure relief settings. Any one of these things out of whack and it will be the weak link. For your sake at least find out what the pump and ram are. The pressure can be adjusted.

 

[bogydave]

Don't think you can build one for that kind of money.
Wouldn't work well for me, since I split mostly vertical, but looks well built.
But for less than $500, reasonably priced IMO.

 

[triptester]

The leak looks like it may be from the plumbing which appears to be a lot of water pipe fittings and unions.
par0thead151 if you are considering building your own ,the materials in that splitter are probably worth the purchase .

 

[par0thead151]

well typical craigslist seller.
i emailed asking if i could swing by yesterday afternoon/night. no response from the guy.
then he emails me today saying the unit sold this morning to a guy who wanted to look at it.
sigh....
oh well. the quest continues.

 

[richg]

well typical craigslist seller.
i emailed asking if i could swing by yesterday afternoon/night. no response from the guy.
then he emails me today saying the unit sold this morning to a guy who wanted to look at it.
sigh....
oh well. the quest continues.

things happen for a reason. I was uncomfortable with the splitter at the asking price, and even at $350.00, there seemed to be too many questions about the capacity, the leak, etc. Here's a theoretical: what if you bought the thing for $350.00, and six months later it cr@pped out and needed $500.00 worth of parts and labor? If it were me, I'd be kicking myself that I didn't just fork out the money for a new Huskee 22 ton. My suggestion would be to use Searchtempest and agressively troll for a good, used name brand splitter. They are out there, you just have to work it. Buying somebody else's homemade splitter scares me, because as Forest Gump said, "You neva know what you gonna get".