Huskee wedge bolt breaking 22 ton

While splitting today I noticed a fix I made a couple of years ago on my splitter and thought someone else might have a better fix than what I did.
Every couple of months the bolt holding the wedge to the piston would snap. Got so I kept a couple extra grade 8 bolts in toolbox.
The last time it happened I took a big thick washer and shoved and taped it between the wedge and the end of the hydraulic shaft. There was a space there and the bolt would keep flexing till the stress would crack it.
Hasn’t broken since. The washer is all deformed now and won’t fall out. Didn’t think I should weld it in place.
Just in case I had to get it out
Any other fixes out there. I’m fine with how this worked just wondering.

 

Broke/lost one in my 09 35 ton. I think we replaced it twice now, but that's only because we lost the nut and lazy replacing it.

 

That happened once but I put a nylon lock washer on it. Didn't lose bolt just washer. After that they kept breaking till I put the big washer under to stop excess travel.

 

Yeah, we have one of the nylon nuts on it now and haven't had any problems yet.

 

I used caterpillar bolts on the splitter I designed and built. They are expensive but tougher than the hinges of hell.

 

grade 8 is a bit on the brittle side vsthe common everyday ones at hardware store which will kinda smear off rather than snapping. If the play is in the wedge wings maybe drill them out and install a bushing to elimnate play.

 

Try a grade 5 bolt . A grade 8 has more tensile strength . But , as mentioned above they are more brittle and don’t resist shear as well as some bolts of a lesser strength .

 

Thanks for the advice. If/when it breaks again I will try that.

Hoard on!

 

Thank you for the advice will try it out!

 

also find a bolt that the shank goes all the way thru the hole, no threads inside the hole. make sense ?? what diameter, maybe you can find a pin like a hitch pin.

 

Thanks, thought of the no threads and the hitch pin sounds good! Gotta check sizes.

 

If you find one slightly bigger you can ream the hole to fit and it might take out some play. TSC has quite a few sizes.

 

Drill the holes in the wedge bigger. The ram should contact the wedge instead of the bolt taking the force. Much like you did with the washer. There should be play and slop. Technically you don’t have enough if the bolt is snapping. Could weld another slab of steel on the wedge. I’d be concerned that the wedge is deforming where the ram contacts it. Is that possible or is it solid steel?
A softer bolt probably be better. It’ll bend instead of snap.

 

This is exactly what is going on!
The wedge seems to be solid steel. The way it is now before I put the washer in , the bolt would flex a little with each stroke.
The washer was a temp fix to see if it worked. Probably the simplest thing would be to tack weld something onto the wedge to take up the slack
Thanks for the reply

 

I guess the only stress on the bolt should be when its pulling up from being stuck in a log
Nothing on downstroke, the ram should make contact with wedge.

 

Great hack! I've replaced mine as well, and the replacement doesn't have much life left. I'll definitely get a couple washers in there when I replace. ALso, I'll trim the bolt down as the excess length can catch a split from time to time.

 

I did that too. Any threads sticking out of the nylon lock nut were cut off.