Ruggedmade 28 vs 37 ton

Haven’t had the opportunity to run it that much, but the big ash trunks look like warm butter these days! I’ve only put about 1.25 tanks through it, ran like crazy!

 

Interesting....my CL 40 ton was actually a bit faster than 9.5sec out of the box as well. Nothing crazy, but a couple hundredths. My Speeco was a couple hundredths slower than spec out of the box.

These guys also make some pretty fast hydro splitters.

All Wood Log Splitters - Commercial Log Splitt

4 sec cycle time:
All Wood Log Splitters - Musclewood Series

 

The RM definitely is no where close to that fast! Headed out later today to time the RM. What I said above was unclear, the RM is definitely faster than what they say on their own website. I think they just copied the 37t specs to the 28t verbatim. Seems silly to me.

My CL 40t is exactly the same as yours, just a little bit faster than the spec. It is a fast, good machine. If I could have added a log lift to it, I would have been happy to keep it.

I wish I could justify one of the AWLS machines. They appear to be very well built, and high output!

 

I hear ya. It's hard for me to spend $$$ on something I am doing in order to save money. I was himmn' and hawing over whether to spend the $1,000 (after selling my Speeco for $1,000) to move from my Speeco to a CL 40 ton mainly for the faster cycle time. I ended up lucking out though, as I ended up -making- about $150 on the deal.

 

Another reason I decided to go for the RM was that I’m pretty sure I can make money on the 40t CL. Prices have gone way up since I bought it. I’d say you did well!

 

What did you pay for the CL? They have been $1,999 for as long as I have been watching them.....which really wasn't all that long.

What are you thinking you are going to list it for?

 

Anyone know of any issues with that RM 22 ton with the log lift posted earlier?

I picked up a Huskee 22 ton v/h for a decent price. Thinking of moving it on since that log lift keeps catching my eye. Plus, I grew up on a push block. That whole “moving wedge/stationary wood” thing still hasn’t caught up with me yet. Idk...

 

I can definitely see the advantage of a push block vs the moveable wedge for some, especially for those who use a conveyor to carry the splits away. I know for me and how I do things as a one man show, I actually prefer the consumer style of having the wedge on the ram. This way it keeps the splits in front of me so I have easy access to throw them into a trailer. Otherwise I could see myself having to move and bend to access the splits which are being constantly pushed away from me. I guess I could always have them get pushed into the trailer, but doing that and having the splits just randomly placed with no way of being able to stack them higher in the trailer would severely limit how much I could put in the trailer.

 

I don’t remember what I paid exactly, it was on sale and the manager discounted it further, for a reason I don’t remember right now. It certainly wasn’t damaged. It’s list price was $1699 back then, $2199 now. I think I’ll list it for $1600. It’s only split 7-8 cords over the last 1.5-2 years. It’s already had 3 oil changes, just getting broken in.

 

Log lift is worth it for me. I went with the 28t for the full beam, but I suspect the trunion mount 22t works really well. I almost wish I’d gotten it instead, with a 16gpm pump (out of stock right now), it would make firewood really quickly!

 

good 'ole regional pricing.......it's $1,999 here.

 

I timed the 28t this afternoon, I’m getting over 7 seconds, maybe 7.5. They spec 10s! The big gain is in the larger rod, the retract speed is quite fast. Overall I’m making firewood about as fast as the 40t CL, with auto-cycle it would probably be a decent bit faster. I think I’ll go with auto-cycle, a flow control valve for the log lift so it doesn’t bog as much and build heat so fast, and a dump valve when they show up in stock.

 

that'll do it!!! nice!

Going from my 28 ton ~12.5 sec Speeco to the sub 9.5sec CL 40 ton I increased my splitting rate from 0.8 - 0.9 cord an hour (4 years worth of data) to 1.25 cord an hour (splitter run time of 9 hours doing 11.3 cord). So ~47% increase in splitting production.

 

Rush Battle I have to apologize for not replying sooner but I finally got to use the splitter.
Still have to do some more mods to it. But it did work well. Ran fine. Did not install fenders since it will never be on the road. I'll roll it onto my trailer if I have to go anyplace. Only one oil leak and that was completely my fault. Didn't really tighten one fitting.
In the pic below you can see why the trailer hookup is in the wrong place!

 

Ok gotta do a few more tweaks.
Good first run today.

 

One thing I did not like was the battery setup.
Lots of vibration with their battery location attached to bottom of engine. Can't be good for battery.
I have extra batteries and a couple of Anderson Power Connectors so that's what I did for elec start. I have to fine tune where to locate short wires on splitter and how to tuck them in. Battery will stay in shed and come out with splitter. I think I remember amateur cutter used a separate battery too. Will tinker tomorrow.

 

mikeward looking good! I haven’t made any mods yet, but mine has made a few cords and has done really well. I just wish I had drilled out the holes in the log lift cylinder, it’s too slow and bogs the engine too much.

 

I did, the battery holder & tiny battery were a joke. I mounted a small Honda car battery right on the hydraulic tank on the front side & tied it down good. Simple quick & always starts & no worries about it falling off.

 

Can you explain this. I did notice the engine bogging down more with the lift cylinder than the big splitting one.

 

My 37 ton log lift also tends to bog the motor down as well. I think the reason being is that the valve is a 3/4 inch port but the lift cylinder only has 1/2 ports , might even be only 3/8 ( I don't remember off hand without looking ) and that is a lot of oil from the larger port going into such a small port so there is no doubt a restriction. I think that if they used a different valve with smaller ports that actually match the cylinder this problem wouldn't exist.
I just don't push the lever 100% and run the lift a little slower.