Need rec on a solid gas-pwr splitter

[mtcsottile]

Hi - we live on 5+ ac in New England and do a lot of wood burning to supplement our heating. We also have a load of trees on our property, many of which we're itching to take down, but cutting them up ourselves and splitting them by hand puts a crimp in things! We were thinking about renting a splitter but would rather buy one. I've been all over the web and am more confused than when I started - just need some suggestions from folks who are using them regularly.

We're looking to cut 6-8 cord a year, so not a small amount. At least 20hp, reliable & easy to maintain (we're in a rural area, so service is an issue), small enough that we can tow it either by hand or hitch to our John Deere (no truck access to most of our land), 15 sec or less cycle time, horizontal/vertical preferred (horiz for the smaller stuff, vertical to save our backs on the big stuff). Preferably not too loud, and budget is most certainly an issue. We were looking at a Northstar 20hp, but with shipping it's going to be $1500. I wonder if we couldn't do better than that. We were hoping to keep it around $1000-1100.

Any recommendations? I've looked at used, nothing really where we are.

 

[computeruser]

I'll presume you meant to type 20ton instead of 20 horsepower, in which case your best bet by far is the Speeco models sold either as Speeco at dealers or as "Huskee" at Tractor Supply. They're built solid and priced very reasonably. Dollar for dollar, you won't do better.

 

[woolybugger141]

i have the troybilt 27ton, the honda engine is a perfect match for performance,reliability and very quiet for a splitter. i give this splitter hard workouts and has never disappointed me. on troybilts website they do offer free shipping. for me it was the honda engine that did it.

 

[willisl64]

I have the northstar 20 ton with the briggs motor and have been very pleased. I have split around 6 cord with it since we bought it late last summer for $1000 picked up at the local NT.

 

[Gooserider]

I was in your shoes a few months ago. I did loads of research and looked at loads of splitters. The one I picked out as the best bang for MY money was the MTD 25 ton sold at Home Depot for $1249. The Troybilt and Cubcadet are VERY similar and are made by MTD. I ended up finding a deal on a new Troy Bilt and have been very pleased. Search the forums for my username (adrianrog) and you'll see a small write up I did on it. If my splitter disappeared tomorrow, I'd buy the MTD at home depot.

Other than the three listed above, my second choice might be the Speeco splitters sold at Tractor Supply. They were lacking a couple of little refinements that might make your job a little easier. Also, the base plate seemed a little small. I'd spend the extra few bucks for the MTD.

I'd stay away form anything sold by Harbor Freight. If you search, you'll find a review done by an owner who's spent 80 hours or so to get his working just right. Loads of small leaks, not as refined a design, and the ergonomics suck. I wouldn't expect any better from Northern Tool.

Hope this helps.

-Adrian

Nowhere near 80 hours, probably closer to 20-30, and would have been much less than that if I was a full time wrench w/ all the appropriate tools, etc... Also note that a fair bit of my time was spent on "enhancements" not fixing actual problems with the base machine.

Lots of small leaks, I agree, but that was easily fixable. The ergonomics weren't great, but they could have been a lot worse. As shipped I found it quite usable, and in fact did most of this years production that way... The key was getting it "Just Right", not making it work - I'd probably have spent as much time (though possibly fixing other issues) on ANY machine I purchased to make it "better" - or at least thats the way it looks from when I look at the units on display in various places.

Gooserider

 

[ccwhite]

I've heard a lot of good things about the Northern tools splitters. I do like the tractor supply Huskees. For me it just made more sense to build rather than buy. I saved a lot of money this way.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/2855/
Pics of mine are on page 4.

 

[smokinj]

i have the troybilt 27ton, the honda engine is a perfect match for performance,reliability and very quiet for a splitter. i give this splitter hard workouts and has never disappointed me. on troybilts website they do offer free shipping. for me it was the honda engine that did it.

same here that honda seems to get stronger each time i use it!

 

[fullbore]

I have my 22 ton Huskee/Speeco for about a year and love it. Split about 18 cords so far. The Briggs is a little loud.