Speed Pro

[ajreid]

I bought a SpeedPro splitter about 3 weeks ago. Tractor Supply had 4 of these things that SpeedPro finally did the mods to. They were marked $1499 and the manager said he needed to move them. I think the original price was $1699. After gassing one of these things up and demonstrating it I offered him $1299 and he took it.
Got this thing home and split about a half truckload of ash and it didn't take long to find out I'm going to like this thing. The ash was pretty straight grain and it split it easily at half throttle. I have tried a few pieces of knotty hickory and it has split everything I've put in it so far.
Something I didn't like was the push-button safety and the handle. Something I hate to do is go modding a new piece of equipment but I decided to keep this thing and do The handle mod. Went to the barn and found 2 scrap angle brackets and re-drilled the holes to fit the existing holes in the cover and handle and reversed the handle to face forward. Then used tie-wire to tie the safety button down.
Now just load the wood and push the handle down. I like it much better but not nearly as safe.

I need to come up with something to set the large half of a round on while splitting the other half. One other downfall to this thing is having to lift large rounds up to the splitter. Guess I'll have to go back to the painfully slow 3pt splitter on tractor hydraulics for the big 3' ones. bust in half then to the speedpro. Hope this Chinese thing holds up. I hate buying Chinese.

 

[ajreid]

By the way splitting wood and it was 108 degrees in Southern IL. Thats Nuts!

 

[bogydave]

I watched a utube video:
A 2 man operation could be a little dangerous if the trigger was pulled before hands are clear.


pretty impressive & fast. Sounds like you got a good deal @ $400 off retail.

With my back, I'm hooked on splitting vertical so I don't have to lift the rounds.

I'm with you on buying Chinese stuff but sometimes there are no other reasonable choices. (but I always shop around)

Splitting wood in 108° I agree you're nuts

 

[swagler85]

Wow that is crazy fast! Much better than the old slow splitter I borrowed to split the maple i cut. I wonder if they. Have a lift assist for larger rounds?

 

[ScotO]

I like 'em for some stuff, but I usually am splitting really big stuff with my splitter and I use it vertically for those. I am fine with 'modding' a new item, but only if it is something I can do reasonably safely and easily. Just keep the mod you did on the top of your mind when your out there in that 108 degree weather, it's easy to lapse your judgement when it is that hot. Keep us posted on how your splitter works for you.

 

[weatherguy]

What mods did Speed Pro have to do to these? I remember they had them for sale then they disappeared for a while now I see them for sale again, I was wondering why that happened.

 

[ScotO]

I watched a utube video:
A 2 man operation could be a little dangerous if the trigger was pulled before hands are clear.

Gotta love the fact that this clown is drinking some alcohol while running that splitter.......that's a recipe for disaster IMHO.

 

[ajreid]

What mods did Speed Pro have to do to these? I remember they had them for sale then they disappeared for a while now I see them for sale again, I was wondering why that happened.

I believe they replaced the rack, not sure what else.
We were diong a 2 man operation when I first got it. I was lifting the rounds and my 17 year old son son was pushing the lever. With a close call pushing the lever to soon It didn't take long to realize this wasn't going to get it. With the handle reversed it is more of a 1 man operation to me, but it does take 2 people to keep up with this thing.
First thing I did when I brought it home lube this thing up it was pretty dry.

 

[MasterMech]

Gotta love the fact that this clown is drinking some alcohol while running that splitter.......that's a recipe for disaster IMHO.

First 15 seconds of the video include the beer in-hand and "watch this"..... i was fully expecting an amputation how-to vid.

I'd like to compare the output of one of these vs. say... an Iron & Oak 20 ton Fast Cycle. 8 second cycle on a hydraulic is mighty quick indeed. Set-up both machines with two-man crew and go at it for an hour. One man crew would give the advantage to the hydraulic for sure.

 

[ajreid]

I've run a few 2 stage hydraulics and I think Kinetic splitters will easily win. Of course you don't have to do a full cycle on hydraulic cutting that 8 sec. way down, but still kinetic wins.
There are some big advantages to hydraulics though, Being able to split vertical on the big ones.

First 15 seconds of the video include the beer in-hand and "watch this"..... i was fully expecting an amputation how-to vid.

I'd like to compare the output of one of these vs. say... an Iron & Oak 20 ton Fast Cycle. 8 second cycle on a hydraulic is mighty quick indeed. Set-up both machines with two-man crew and go at it for an hour. One man crew would give the advantage to the hydraulic for sure.

 

[Jags]

I've run a few 2 stage hydraulics and I think Kinetic splitters will easily win.

Dunno, I split a lot of big, ugly stuff. To be honest, some of it probably not even possible to beat through with a kinetic splitter. Don't get me wrong, I really like the kinetics, and I think there is definitely some advantage on SOME wood, but half of what I split you can't lift and the other half seems to want to argue unless you simply over power it.

There is a reason that I built my splitter the way I did. I couldn't find anything on the market that would handle what I needed (with MY splitting style) unless I stepped up to big boy (read: $$$$) stuff.

(I ain't crawling around on the ground trying to move 350 pound rounds)

 

[MasterMech]

I've run a few 2 stage hydraulics and I think Kinetic splitters will easily win. Of course you don't have to do a full cycle on hydraulic cutting that 8 sec. way down, but still kinetic wins.
There are some big advantages to hydraulics though, Being able to split vertical on the big ones.

8 seconds (we're talking full bi-directional cycle time here) on a 24" stroke is blisteringly fast for a hydraulic splitter. Most machines under $2000 are 14-20 seconds.

And here's where the inertia splitters lose the game. I can't see one holding up long-term to this kind of wood.
Count 'em up, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hits before the log gives up. Note the $30,000 worth of equipment used to get the round on the splitter in the first place.