Inherited MTD Horizontal/Vertical hydro splitter

My dad bought this a number of years ago. The engine code says it was made in 2004. Our first hydro splitter.
MTD 21 ton splitter. It has a Tecumseh 5hp vertical shaft engine on it. Never had an issue with it myself, but mom used this and there was a Jerry rigged recoil handle on it. Part of a ratchet strap tied to the recoil rope. That worked until the "knot" let go and the recoil rope retracted all the way into the housing. So I had to pull the recoil assembly off to try to fix it.


35 minutes of screwing around with the recoil rope and I got it. I had to use a tiny eyeglass screwdriver, some floral wire, a needle nose pliers, a tweezers, and Scotch tape. I used an old pull handle from a push mower that died years ago. The rope was fine.


Done.
I'll put the recoil back on and see if the float needle valve is working as it's supposed to. The engine smelled like fuel after hauling it home 200 miles, and the fuel tank was empty. I'll probably pull the carb bowl and clean the fuel tank out for good measure. I have a little ash I need to split to test it out.

If I need to dig into the carb and swap the needle valve, I will.

 

Looking good!
I've been getting in the habit of switching the fuel shut off when transporting, had one where it emptied the tank into the engine, good thing i checked the fuel and oil before firing, was full

 

If it had fuel in it before the trip, then its all in the crankcase now...better drain the "oil" before you start it.

Yup, always shut the fuel off on a gravity fed system when transporting (its a good idea to shut it off anytime its not being used really)

Is this one of those machines that has a belt driven pump that can be disconnected to help start the engine in really cold weather? My neighbors machine is like that...kinda nice really...wish mine was that way...the one time I was trying to split in really cold weather (0-10*) it gave me a real hard time starting due to the cold hydraulic oil.

 

Looks like a nice one! My Huskee did not come with a fuel valve so I put one on. Always run it dry unless I'm using it the next day.

 

Good point...some stuff doesn't...my snowblower didn't have one, so I put a custom 90* valve on it since the fuel line was pretty short and would not take a standard straight valve...works out really well since there is a spring loaded drain valve on the carb bowl...shut the fuel off, hit the drain valve, bam, all ready for storage! (old Tecumseh Sno Patrol...or whatever they were called)

 

I don't think I used yours Dennis. This one has the auto return valve. I could've sworn that this one was older than it was, but I looked up the engine date and it can't be older than that.

The "arms" that holds splits are all bent up, as they were not very HD. That's won't matter once I make this into a trailer splitter.

There's no fuel shutoff on this one, yet. Adding one is super simple on this engine. Also, I bet the fuel went into the engine. It will get an oil change brenndatomu . It needs that anyway, but I think I know where the fuel went.

The fuel tank is tiny, I'll probably want to add a bigger tank at some point. I'll recycle a tank from something else.

I'm not certain how the pump is run. I'll take a look if it's belt driven or direct drive.

 

Lol. My wife said that too after I got it fixed.

 

It's Lovejoy direct drive. And yes. Oil level was high and smelled like gas.

Draining oil. At least there's a plug.

Recoil assembly on

 

Shutting gas off is SOP. My DH 28 is just the opposite. I shut off the gas or store it dry for a few days and I’m guaranteed to pull the carb apart.

 

Changed the oil, it needed it.
It has spark, so that's good.
Here's what was in the carb bowl.



But it won't pop over. It's fuel delivery related.

The carb at worst needs cleaning, the float doesn't swing easily and will stay hung up, or down, wherever you put it, even defying gravity. Not good.

Down


And up??


I'll see if the carb cleans up. If not, a new carb is like $14 online.

 

It would be much more impressive if I got it to start and run today.

 

Yeah, new carb and some fresh oil, you'll be all good to go.

Might be worth it to check/replace the plug as well.

 

The plug was ok. It sparked fine, maybe a little dirty, but it will clean up when it gets running.

 

Well MacGyver that thing into blowing some smoke man!

 

I'm done messing with it today. Working on beer now. I'm pretty good at fixing those.

I'll look at the carb tomorrow. If it's nasty, which it might be, a new carb is as low as $11 on Amazon.

 

Careful w/ that chinese crap. It's hit and miss.