HF 5 ton Electric review - 06/14 update

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BrotherBart said:
Mine has been sitting at Fedex in Ohio for a week. No response from HF or Fedex.
Click to expand...

Did you ever get yours? Mine has been sitting in NJ since the 26th. FedEx says its HF issue because the shipping label was not attached correctly.
HF hasn't responded to my emails and when I called this morning they say they have proof of shipping. I know that! They are not willing to do anything about the
fact that it has not been nor will be delivered.
This was my first order from HF and obviously I will not be ordering from them again. I am going to continue to try to get something for the $232 I paid them.
 
hey BB the terminal is only a few miles from me, is there anyway I could pick it up? I will gladly and forward on to you. maybe the tracking number and I could get it??
 
ironpony said:
hey BB the terminal is only a few miles from me, is there anyway I could pick it up? I will gladly and forward on to you. maybe the tracking number and I could get it??
Click to expand...

HF finally contacted me after six emails. Shipping another one supposedly. Since HF is the shipper Fedex will only deal with them on it.
 
They shipped another and the first one is still hung up in Ohio. The replacement is sitting at the local Fedex to be delivered Monday.
 
@BrotherBart -- Good luck on Monday! Keep us posted. What this all tells me is that I need to physically go to HF to buy what I want before I move so nothing gets shipped by them. Valuable info -- just sorry it was on Aimee's and your experiences. But I learn from experience!
 
I have ordered stuff from HF for years and this is the first shipping problem.
 
When I lived in CO, I ordered many items from HF, from lift-gate size to small boxes, and never had a delivery problem.
 
I bought one of the HF 5 Ton splitters a few weeks ago. I have to say I am amazed by it.

I never really considered one in the past, because I couldn't imagine a 5 Ton unit getting the job done. We have ski cabin and burn mostly Tamarack and Doug Fir. Tamarack splits very easily, but Doug Fir is variable, some (including last years batch) is tough and stringy. We buy most of our wood from the Warm Springs Reservation and the larger logs (24"-36") are typically quartered. In the past we split everything with a maul and wedges when required. One year I rented a 26 Ton splitter to take care of a cord of damp Lodgepole or Ponderosa Pine that we just could not split by hand. I could not believe a 5 Ton unit would have the moxie to resplit these, when we often had to use wedges.

I recently read a lot of positive comments about 4 to 7 ton electric splitters, and at the same time replaced our old Garrison stove with a Jotul Castine. The Castine needs smaller wood than the Garrison, so we were going to do more splitting in the future. We have several HF Stores locally, so I could see the unit and also wait for a 20% off the "Sale" price coupon. Based on a lot of positive reviews I went ahead and bought the HF unit. So far it has performed very well, splitting everything we threw at it, including a few pieces left over from last fall that my son gave up on (using wedges).. The cycle time is a little slow, but not bad. I love the size, since I can put it in my garage/wood storage without taking up much space. In fact we will probably leave it setup all the time to re-split over sized pieces. At first I wished it was a little taller to keep from bending over so much, but then most of the wood is on the ground anyway, so maybe it doesn't make that much difference.

I will make the short cycle mod to the splitter, since most of our wood is about 16" and it will speed up the operation.

I'll post a follow up review this fall, when we get our next cord of wood in and have to split and stack it.
 
Yeah mine is doing a better job than the 4 ton I have. And the always on switch is a big help. I mounted it on a hand truck for portability and a little more height. It is slower than the four ton but that has to be the way they up the tonnage with the same pump and motor.
 
I got one a few weeks ago. Pretty much ditto what others have said. I split about 1 cord of 12"-18" crotches and rounds of mostly box elder (I'm a begger not chooser yet) that had been sitting 12 months after I had done the easier stuff with the maul last spring. This got most of it. I had to just whittle away at a lot of it, though, since it was the ugly stuff, and it took a lot of time. Some big rounds were easy, while a couple 6" elm rounds were no go until I sliced an inch off the sides and ended up with kindling.

I do find the log cradle to be fairly flimsy for bigger rounds, or even smaller rounds if they push sideways and deflect the cradle while being split.

Didn't take long to come up with the below variation of the ram stop that others have mentioned.

splitter stop.png

Just a 2x6 block about 8" long I had laying around. The block just sits on the rail and then wedges between the handle guard plate and the retracting log pusher thingy part whose name I can't think of. It's nice because I don't have consistent wood lengths, so I can place the block either sideways (5.5 inch) or lengthways (8 inch) to stop the ram at the position that gives the least clearance and cycle time for whichever round I'm splitting. Next time I'll probably cut a 2x4 about 10 inches long to give more options. My only concern is if the return spring is too stiff whether that would mess with the handle guard over time, but it doesn't seem to be a problem yet; I'll keep an eye on it.
 
Crap.. my buddy's been trying to sell me a lightly used one for $200.. guess I'll make him an offer...
 
Jags said:
I have no affiliation with HF or this splitter other than being an owner of one. I hope this provides useful to those that may be in the market for a little electric splitter.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I've been looking at different splitters back and forth between pto and gas, and after reading decided what the heck. Waited until I got a flyer for a sale and then heaped a 25% coupon on top so got it for $219 delivered. I still don't understand how something that weighs that much could ship for $6.

I appreciate the mention of one handed operation. Not having used anything but a maul, I wouldn't have known some are 2 handed. Easy enough to put together, although I will mention that I had to use vice grips to get fluid cap off 1st time. Paint in threads made it too stubborn for flimsy allen wrench included or even a beefier one. Works fine after that, and I saw in reviews that stuck cap is common complaint.

Did my few tests of red oak, ash, and even a stubborn gnarled pine that maul kept bouncing off of. Ash was at least 24" but I threw it on the flimsy table to try anyway and it couldn't do it until I busted it into thirds. After it did everything without a hitch.

I may or may not eventually want something bigger, but for now it's fine, and with the saved $$$ bought a very clean older 372xp last week.

tom
 
I do have a noob question on it. lt calls for AW32 fluid. Went to tsc thinking it shoud be easy to find, especially since they have a very similar looking one. Instead I got a lot of jugs with "iso" on them with much larger numbers on them and nothing with aw or 32.

So after going home to read up on what it all meant, I think I got the lingo now to know tsc didnt have any that grade. So can I mix heavier fluids (like ISO 68) with the aw32 already in the splitter or do I need to either find aw32 somewhere else or drain it and refill with a higher graded fluid if that's all I can find.
 
What is commonly referred to as "universal hydraulic fluid" is typically right in range of the ISO 32 weight. It is all I have used for years. Heck - it says "universal" right on the jug - it must be good.;lol;lol
 
Thanks, I think that chart was what I found that told me aw=iso. Yes, I see the hd universal is aw32, but try as I might, I can't find anything on the tractor supply "traveller" universal. It just says 10w30. I'll just stop by hd.


On the other question, can you mix different
weights of hf in a splitter, or always must use same?


It's funny, I've had a jd tractor with a fel for years, but they don't use the ratings systems. I just go get hygard low viscosity and I' m set. Funny a tiny splitter would give me more grief.
 
has anyone run this splitter off a small generator? I'm going to be hauling wood out from the back side of my property I'd much rather do all my cutting and splitting there and leave the mess there too
 
Toward the end of this video they use a generator on a similar splitter. I'd guess as long as the generator is rated for at least 15 amps you should be good.
 
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