Ryobi splitter not wanting to split

You could... you'd need to fab a bracket for the pump, (or find the correct one) but yeah.
I linked to my build in my previous reply just now...wait, I still have it here...
Hey buddy, will you give me a lift?

 

isaaccarlson has electric powered conversion splitter too...and Screwloose was working on one too...

 

Reading..

I have a welder and a milling machine so fabbing a bracket would not be an issue.

Big issue is finding a splitter with a blown engine. A cursory check of Craigslist shows nothing. Maybe something to keep an eye out for.

 

Craigslist is all but dead most places...Facebook marketplace is the place to shop now...

 

The issue you described also sounds like mine when a strip of wood gets jammed behind wedge plate. It is a pia, because I have to unbolt the blocks that secure it to the beam to remove the jam. If I’m lucky I can grab with a needle nose or hammer it out with a tool narrow enough to fit the gap between the plate and beam. Either way it interrupts my flow and pizzes me off. I have adjusted my technique to avoid it most of the time, but like grounding a saw, chit happens sometimes.

 

As mentioned, I converted my gas splitter to electric. I have no plans to go back to gas. . I used a 3hp 240v motor. I have a 100 ft cord on it and it works great. I have a removable 4 way that I use 99% of the time. It has no trouble with any of the types of hardwood I have put through it. It is currently set at about 17-18 tons relief, but will easily do 20-25 tons, maybe more. It is so nice because it will run all day for a dollar or two and I don’t have to worry about gas/oil. It’s pretty quiet too. I just flip the switch and it runs. No more pull cord, sore back, messing with a choke, etc…

It works better on electric than it did on gas. The kick down pressure is a bit lower, but only because I used a 3 hp motor. If I was going to do it again, I would use a 1725 rpm 5hp motor and a 28 gpm pump. That would make 14 gpm and would be almost silent.

3600 rpm pumps whine a bit. You don’t hear it over the gas engine, but you will hear it over the electric motor.

As long as you set your pressures right, it will work great for many years. If buying a hydraulic pump for this, size it to your electric motor. You can only do so much per hp of electric motor, and if you pass that, it could burn up. An honest 5hp electric will run a generic log splitter pump at normal pressures. My pump has a slightly smaller high pressure side because I did’t know if I would need 20+ tons. Turns out I hardly ever go over 1,500 psi, which is 9.5 tons on a 4” cylinder. Most of my splitting is under 5 tons.

The wedge is the biggest factor in ease of splitting. My permanent wedge is a knife edge. The 4 way slips over it and the wings are set back about 2” from the front. That lets the wood split one way before splitting the other way. It reduces tonnage by a LOT. I tried it with the wings flush and it would not go with 22 tons. Not it uses about 5 tons. HUGE difference.

I have videos on my youtube. I have now added a detent return so I can split faster by myself. I can easily to a full cord in 40 minutes. More if it is 8-9” wood.

 

Good post thanks for the food for thought!

 

Man that thing eats. Also yeah I hear you on the whine thing. Interesting.

 

Urgh. I should have left well enough alone.

Drained out the splitter and put the AW32 in. It's worse now. Slightly better than when I first started but it's doing the thing again where it barely moves in the second half of the stroke. It was 100000% fine when I had the weird mix of old fluid and ATF in there. I thought maybe it was air in the system but I ran a bunch of strokes with no wood in and that did nothing.

Fuming atm...

 

Try standing it up to run a few strokes?

 

I would stick with atf. Aw32 is thicker and may not flow well enough.

 

Also, make sure it is full.

 

Is it possible that might run it dry though, depending on where the pickup is?

 

Maybe I can dump some ATF in to thin it out. Quick somebody do the math for me on what it would take to achieve AW22 viscosity by adding ATF.

 

Pickup is probably down by the motor/pump...and a quick little burp of air wouldn't hurt anything anyways...just don't let it run long like that.
You were sucking air when you were using it and "running out of power"...so any damage that would potentially be done, is already done...but it's likely fine.

I don't think ATF has an official "viscosity", and different ATF types are different weights, but I think most people generally consider ATF to be ~"20 weight"

 

Tried it, did nothing.

Tried draining a bit and replacing with ATF. Very little or no change.

Looked online. AW22 is surprisingly expensive. I'm not sure the $25 I spent on AW32 + $50 for AW22 is going to be worth it, at least this season.

I might try dumping all the fluid out and putting ATF in as a hail mary but it sounds like my time with this splitter is coming to an end. Ugh.

 

Hmm, that is so weird...you said it worked great after you topped it off, right? Then the trouble started again after it was drained/refilled? If so then there has to be air in it still...if you operate it for a bit and pulled the dipstick (assuming it has one) does the oil look aerated/milky? If so then there is definitely air in it still...which I don't get why it would be so difficult to get it purged out!
How exactly do you check the oil level on your machine?

 

On my electric splitter there is a bolt you need to remove to vent it as you fill it. Its actually a wing nut on mine. You fill with it standing on the motor end of the unit. It has a dip stick as part of the fill hole cap.

 

Right. So it was mostly empty, added a bit of ATF and it worked as good as new. Then, trying to be a good boy, I drained all that and put the AW32 in and it went back to nearly as bad as before.

Oil does not look aerated.

I check oil by turning it on its side long way up, unbolting dipstick, wiping clean, and then re-inserting and checking without screwing in, which seems appropriate.

 

I have the wingnut, it's been 1/2 unscrewed the entire time, but I didn't remove it when re-filling, though it did sit for a solid 24 hours after adding the AW32.