troy bilt wood splitter maintenance

[aaron1]

Hi, it has come time for me to do some maintenance on my wood splitter. I have a troy bilt 27 ton splitter. At the very end of the section where it talks about changing the hydraulic fluid the manual says

"Contaminants in the fluid may damage the hydraulic
components. Flushing the reservoir tank and hoses with
kerosene whenever service is performed on the tank, hydraulic
pump or valve is recommended. Contact an authorized service
dealer."

I was assuming I could just drain the hydraulic fluid and then refill it with fresh fluid. Do I need to flush the reservoir and hoses with kerosene!? I'm not really performing service on the tank, pump or valve am I, just changing the oil? If I need to flush it with kerosene every time I change the hydraulic fluid, I guess I need to just take it to a service center to have them do it all for me... I don't think I want to get into washing things with kerosene and collecting the waste and all of that with my minimal garage setup, etc.

 

[gzecc]

How many hours have you used it? Residential usage or commercial?

 

[aaron1]

How many hours have you used it? Residential usage or commercial?

honestly, i have no idea how many hours it has been used. i bought it used for half price from a good friend. i had used it many many times and he moved and sold it to me. i am not aware of him doing anything with the fluid so i think i should probably just start from scratch. a couple years ago the hose came off when i was splitting and i dumped about half of the hydraulic fluid out onto my yard, but i just put the hose on and filled it up again at that time. i would think it's had maybe 50 hours since then, but i can't say for sure. i would think it's had 100 hours over its life by now, but i can't say. the manual recommends a change at 100 hours.

it's just for residential usage, but i've been putting her through her paces with 3-4' rounds the past few days. i just don't want to damage anything by using the fluid too long. i think i should change the oil in the engine again too. i changed it this spring, but it was pretty dark looking like it was pretty old so maybe i should just change it more frequently for awhile to help clean it out.

 

[johneh]

Change the filter. pour the oil in the filter into a clean
container if it is clear it is good to go dark colour or milky
change it and flush the system.
in7 years of home use 10 cord a year have never changed the oil
always clear. The filter yes every year. don't forget to top up the hydraulic oil
after filter change.

 

[aaron1]

awesome! thanks! i just ordered an OEM filter today. when it comes, I'll do as you suggest. Thanks for the reply!

Aaron

Change the filter. pour the oil in the filter into a clean
container if it is clear it is good to go dark colour or milky
change it and flush the system.
in7 years of home use 10 cord a year have never changed the oil
always clear. The filter yes every year. don't forget to top up the hydraulic oil
after filter change.

 

[Mutineer]

I went about 25 years on my 20 ton Northern Tools splitter hydro oil before I replaced it. It was a little milky bjut still worked fine. The splitter is almost 30 years old and the only issue I ever had was I wore out the original 5 hp Briggs & Stratton about 15 years ago and replaced it with a Honda GX200. Never had any issue with the hydraulic side of things, even have the original high pressure hoses still hooked up, they do need replacing if I can get the nuts loose. Never under cover either.

 

[aaron1]

wow, interesting. i'm always paranoid that i'll have a hose failure and i'll get a laceration caused by super high pressure fluid cutting my face or something.