Huskee 22 ton- slow cycle and slightly bogged down

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mudr

Member
Jan 7, 2013
97
I have a 6-7 yr old huskee 22 ton splitter that I've had for most of its life. Very good machine. It has started acting a bit differently recently. It seems to cycle slower and the motor sounds like it is under a small load even when no wood is being split. Sitting there running, its fine and the motor runs like a top. But as soon as I pull the lever it sounds a little under load. It is worse when retracting the cylinder. Also, it seems to be slower. I timed it, 17 seconds for a full cycle with no wood. I replaced the hydraulic filter and that did not fix the issue. Any thoughts?
 
how have you been storing it between uses? Possibility the valve is a problem. 2 nd the collapsing suction hose ( feeds the pump)- may or may not be a screen in the tank ahead of that hose. If you can look in the tank -are there air bubbles in the oil?
 
Thank you for the suggestions so far. Forgot to mention, I specifically looked at the suction hose while cycling. Not collapsiong.

Will look into the screen.

Thanks for the help so far, folks.
 
how have you been storing it between uses? Possibility the valve is a problem. 2 nd the collapsing suction hose ( feeds the pump)- may or may not be a screen in the tank ahead of that hose. If you can look in the tank -are there air bubbles in the oil?


I did not answer all your questions in my first quick reply. It is stored fully enclosed in an unheated pole barn. I intend to look into th4 blocked screen issue. It really acts as if something is blocking flow, and the screen makes sense. I assume it is the the opening for the line at the very bottom where the filter line comes out of the tank?
 
I did not answer all your questions in my first quick reply. It is stored fully enclosed in an unheated pole barn. I intend to look into th4 blocked screen issue. It really acts as if something is blocking flow, and the screen makes sense. I assume it is the the opening for the line at the very bottom where the filter line comes out of the tank?

By chance have you adjusted your detent on your return on your hydraulic valve?


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I have not touched the detent at all. It does not like to stat in detent as well as it used to, especially when cold. But once warm I can usually get it to keep self retracting.

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I have not touched the detent at all. It does not like to stat in detent as well as it used to, especially when cold. But once warm I can usually get it to keep self retracting.

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Do you have the means to connect the 2 hoses together that go into your cylinder? If you can do that you would eliminate your cyl as the prob.


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What weight hydraulic oil are you using? ISO 46 doesn't flow very easily below 35-40 degrees. I have the County Line 22 ton splitter that's about 6-7 years old and it works great, as long as the outside temp is above 39 degrees. I only use ISO 46 because I don't use the splitter below 35 degrees. I messed up and used it last year when it was 30-34 degrees and it didn't cycle good at all.
 
Can't speak to the splitter side, but on the motor side, I find that running 5-30 synthetic in cooler weather helps them start a lot easier.
 
If you had a suction line restriction it should cause a pump whine. You may have a binding slide, and the psi required is too great for the detent.
 
So detent doesn't work good when cold but improves when things get warmed up. Does the splitter speed get better when the oil is warm too? Or is it way slow cold or warm? Could be some moisture has accumulated in the system somewhere & frozen?

Have a chance to check screen yet?

Could also be a build up of dirt & trash somewhere where the wedge rides?

Lots of possibilities....
 
Screen would be inside tank at the port to the pump - this will require draining the tank oil. If your oil is milky then it is contaminated with water from condensation. Hydro oil is also like alcohol it has an affinity to collect moisture. You could have a broken spring in the valve or if contaminated with water rust in the piston in the valve. lot of variables. only good way is to start at one end and just work through the whole system section by section. Only other thing I can think of at the moment is if you replaced the the filter fixture and inadvertently installed it backwards ( should be an arrow or something indicating flow direction on it) My own splitter came from the mfg this way. That was 16 years ago.