Warning!!! Northern Tool/Northstar 37 Ton log slitter failure!

[glenng]

Owners of Northern Tool/ Northstar 37 Ton logsplitters check the bolt that allows your splitter to pivot to make sure that has not sheared. The bolt(actually its a threaded rod that is welded on to the tilting hinge) on my splitter sheared and the cylinder and I-beam came free from the trailer portion of the splitter. While towing my splitter home I heard a clunk and then I saw a shower of sparks in the side mirror. When I pulled over I found the I-beam and cylinder dragging on the ground held only by the hydraulic hoses. Had the cylinder/I-beam separated from the rest of the unit it could have been deadly for other motorists.

I just got home and I`m a little P.O. and I need to vent but this could have been a deadly catastrophe.

This could also be a potential problem for owners of the 22 and 30 ton units because they are probably built on the same platform.

I don`t abuse my equipment and I drive 45mph max and tow 16 miles round trip to my wood site. My splitter has maybe 150-200 total miles on it.

I`ll call Northern tomorow and find out what the deal is. The splitter works awesome but the trailer/tilt mechanism/tires are flimsy under engineered crap. I will be re-engineering the trailer portion asap.

I am not trying to tarnish Northern/Northstar but this is dangerous and serious.

I appologize for being alarmist but this is dangerous and owners need to know that this machine has a serious design flaw.

PS , Moderators can we make this a sticky for a little while? It may save a life. I do not think this problem will be unique to just me. The machine has a dangerous design flaw.

Thanks
GlennG

 

[Jay H]

That sounds pretty catastrophic, though I have not heard of any other problems with the NT splitters.. Good to check on NT for sure, good luck. Let us know how NorthernTool treats you...

I towed my Troy Bilt 27 ton splitter the 2.5 miles home from Lowes and I did not go above 30mph. First of all, the tiny tires on the splitter would bounce like mad on any pothole and it recommended a pretty slow speed anyway (I don't remember) but since I split where i live, it probably wont be moving anywhere anytime soon and if i was going any serious distance, I'd get a trailer..

 

[computeruser]

That's not good. Glad everything (safety-wise, anyway) turned out OK.

Yet another reason why splitters should not be towed...unless they're riding along strapped down in a trailer.

 

[gpcollen1]

That's not good. Glad everything (safety-wise, anyway) turned out OK.

Yet another reason why splitters should not be towed...unless they're riding along strapped down in a trailer.

Yup - mine is always in my trailer. This is probably just a good shout out for the periodic inspection of equipment, including all bolts/pins/other stuff.

 

[Carl]

Sorry you had this problem with your splitter. No fun indeed. Things just happen and no one is able to stop a lot of them. They wouldn't be called accidents otherwise. Maybe you didn't get it fastened down correctly and it flipped up while towing causing the bolt to break? Just a thought with on finger pointing to anyone.

Hope Northern will stand behind it and repair your splitter to new condition again. Good luck with it.

I see others saying not to tow splitters but if they weren't ment to be towed they would not put a trailer hitch on them. I purchased one from Low's a month ago, towed it home 25 miles, then towed it later about 50 miles to help a friend split wood with no problems. I will have to check out my splitter better to see if I could have the same problem as you did. I don't move it around much and certainly couldn't lift it into my truck nor do I want to drag a 16 foot tandom trailor just to haul the splitter.

 

[Jay H]

My splitter I bought from Lowes say no more than 45mph, In NJ, I didn't need lights on it because it's fairly low, but with the small tires and no suspension, it would bounce like mad when going over bumps and stuff so I was pretty conservative, hardly going over 30mph with it.

Jay

 

[Carl]

My splitter I bought from Lowes say no more than 45mph, In NJ, I didn't need lights on it because it's fairly low, but with the small tires and no suspension, it would bounce like mad when going over bumps and stuff so I was pretty conservative, hardly going over 30mph with it.

Jay

Same as mine but I couldn't see it behind my truck so what I didn't see I couldn't worry about. I did hit the 45 or so with it on smoothe roads and would slow considerable for bumps and potholes. I don't think it was made for long commutes but it should be able to take some towing.