Ruggedmade 28 vs 37 ton

That would be pretty neat! The EM and TW commercial box wedges are expensive, plus they are not available for months or years anyhow. So your idea for a box wedge is even more interesting! The 37 ton RM went out of stock today, right as I was about to order it in anticipation of the box wedge. I guess I can still do it with the 28t, but it would be nice to have more push with a multi-way.

Talked to Paul today, who didn’t tell me the 37t was just about to sell out, but he did offer to take the order right when I was on the phone. I called because the 28t and the 37t have the same listed cycle times, which can’t be the case. Paul said they were essentially the same, which is hard to believe. Anyone have a 28t to test cycle time? It would be a bonus if it was faster cycle times, as that is really what I’m after.

 

To have the same cycle time, the pump GPM would have to be the same percentage larger as the cylinder size. So if the 28t has a 4" cylinder and the 37t has a 5", then the pump would have to be 25% larger on the 37t. Assuming they both have the same size rod diameter.

 

28t has a 4.5” cylinder, with a 3” rod, the 37t has a 5” cylinder with a 3.5” rod. Same pump. I’m guessing Paul’s commission goes up a tiny bit if he sells the 37t.

 

Assuming a 16GPM pump and 24" stroke for both.



Not exactly the same.

 

True.

Do you work for a hydraulics company? I used to, and have forgotten a lot already.

 

Weird. I never looked at the 28T. Checked the specs. Strange they would use the same engine and pump for both splitters. 22gpm on a 28 ton with 15 horsepower?
I’m not a professional log splitter guy but the specs seem weird to me.

so what happens if the 37 t is not available? Any idea on lead times? Do they still offer the Honda engines? They’re listed as an option but the option to order seems to be locked.
Any idea on how long this company has been around?

 

no, but I found an online calculator thanks to Google!

Wood Splitter Hydraulic Cycle Time & Force Calculators

 

I used the calculators on that site, and even using the OD of the cylinders the numbers don’t work out for the cycle times and flow rates listed on the RM site. I think the slower times listed on the RM site are probably correct based on video of the splitters running.

 

15hp comes short of covering the power needed to flow 22gpm at 2500psi. That flow at 2500psi would need 32.1hp. The 28t actually seems like a better balance to me than the 37t.

No idea on the new lead times, the 37t orders were preorders already. They do offer the Honda engines, but they charge quite a bit for them. They have been around at least 5 years, no idea how much longer.

 

Keep in mind it's a 2 stage pump. You won't need that kind of power when running a 2 stage pump. Our CL 40ton has a 25GPM pump with a 14hp engine. It has a 22GPM first stage + 4GPM second stage. The more common 28GPM pumps have a 22 first and 7 second.

Interesting. I plugged in the numbers for our CL splitters and it was pretty much exact.

 

My 37T would need some pretty straight grained easy splitting wood to use a box wedge. I've stalled it on some really nasty knots with the 4 way. FYI.

 

Thats not good to hear. The RS 4 way doesn’t seem too formidable a wedge to begin with. One of the reasons I liked the RS. The wedge can be cut off easily
There’s no doubt a lot of oomph is required with a box wedge. Some of that can be engineered out but the horizontal wedge area is more a knife than wedge. That requires force. IMO just putting the larger butt of the round towards the wedge solves a bit of that problem. Designing it too split in stages helps greatly also. Even the design of the push plate can be tweaked to aid in performance.
All that being said oomph is a good thing to have. Overworking a splitter beyond its capabilities just leads to its early demise. I think my DHT 28 is down to about a 20 by now. Doesn’t have the power it once had. I’ve met plenty of knots it refused to do.
I’m at the point where I have enough wood stockpiled where crotches either stay in the woods or get noodled down. A bandsaw would be nice but that’s another story LOL

Overall how do you feel about your RMS 37?
There’s some hincky things about the website that throw up red flags. It is basically a Chinese splitter like all box store splitters. My DHT taught me much about wrenching. Not too scared of that, sort of expected. There does come a point where it’s just throwing good money after bad tho.

 

As I said somewhere in this thread, for what I paid no regrets. It works well for what it is. For the new price, I'd spend for Wolf Ridge or similar.

 

No regrets myself with the 37 ton , like yourself for what I paid it was the best bang for my buck.
I do not split for a living and this is for my personal use. Could I have gone with something smaller , sure I could have but I was looking for a horizontal push through splitter and wanted a log lift.
Getting older and wanted a machine that I could stand comfortably at. My old splitter was a horizontal / vertical type ; it worked fine and paid for itself many times throughout the years I had it. Too low to split horizontal comfortably and not being push through it wasn't the easiest to split like that , vertical worked OK but kneeling in front of it was starting to grow old.
I have the Raven engine on mine and it has been no trouble what so ever , if I am not mistaken ( don't have paperwork for it here in front of me ) the Raven engine had a 3 year warrantee and the Honda was only 1 year , I figured for what the added cost was I would pass on the Honda. I can't knock the Raven engine. Like any other equipment maintenance ; especially oil changes in something like this is key to a long life.

All in all I have been very happy with it , but do see that price has also increased since I bought mine.

As I mentioned earlier it did have a few things that I felt needed attention.

1) log tray seemed very loose and wobbly , I added another support and that really stiffened it up.
2) Oil squirting out the breather / fill plug when ram would retract , added a larger vent line to a breather tank , problem solved.
3) Needed a tongue to tow it on the other end , added a receiver under back of the beam and made a removable tongue.
4) Battery box a little flimsy , I have not addressed this yet but only use mine in the yard and do not tow it over the road.
5) Complaints about not having a solid axle an the axle stubs bending ; again I do not tow it over the road so personally not concerned with that.
6) Ships in a crate and you have to assemble , that was not an issue to me but did take some time.
7) No oil or battery with it so that is an extra cost.
8) As we know , not made in USA ( However it is pretty well built )

For my personal use I am still very pleased with it.

 

Here are a couple good videos regarding 2 stage pumps.

 

Do you know what pressure your relief is set to (on the controller valve, not pump)? You may not be given er' all she has.

I know on my CL 40ton I adjusted my control relief down a bit from where it was at the factory to about 3,300psi. Don't know for sure where it was set to, but more than where it is now. 3,800psi is what gives me a full 40 ton. I have it set to about 34 ton right now. I also adjusted the pump's relief/crossover point so it stays in the first stage longer. I also adjusted the detent pressure down a bit.

My pressure gauge has yet to go over 300 psi or so splitting the easy stuff I do.

 

This is concerning, but my equally rated county line is just a single wedge so I’ve never been able to stall it. Cuts through the gnarliest knots after slowing a bit.

If you had 15 cords or so of rounds that are in danger of going punky over the summer, and many that are too large to lift, would you buy the RM to replace a single moving wedge, or just make do and buy a commercial grade splitter with a 0.5 to 1.5 year wait?

 

If you adjust the cross-over relief on the pump it will raise the pressure in which it goes to the second (high pressure/low flow) stage, therefore keeping the pump in high flow (faster speed) longer. I never really used my splitter with the way it was setup from the factory, but I turned mine WAY up and I could still probably go more based on the bench testing I did. You will know if you go too far, as it will kill the motor when bench testing because it won't crossover to the low flow/high pressure part of the pump and the motor won't be able to keep the flow high at the pressure it would be seeing. Essentially turning it into a single stage pump.

 

This is sort of where I was standing.
Me more tired of lifting and bending being my concern.
You will probably get a bunch of different feedback on this question.

Again myself , I bought a ruggedmade and have been pleased with it. With a few issues I addressed and modified.
Not really a commercial grade machine ( maybe entry level commercial ) but a higher end home owner machine.
I only split for myself and personal use so it is a homeowner machine for me.

It really depends on what you want to do and your long term plans or goals are with it.

You could always noodle into quarters and use what you have now if you want to save up for a true commercial machine.

 

To answer your question, I've got 30ish cord of rounds I intend to run through mine in the next month or two. The log lift is the real time/back saver for me, I've lifted 36" X 2' Oak rounds & split them no issue other than the big pieces fall off the table if I don't have help. For the price point & what you wanna do I think the RM will do you fine. Once you use the log lift you'll never go back.