The bearings on my huskee didn’t last long. But I’ll guess they didn’t get any grease on assembly and shame on me I never looked. I got the 25$ kit too. No problem since but I really don’t tow it far. The lack of suspension and number of heaves/ potholes prohibits it.
Boy, this Predator 301 looks like a big block crammed into an Escort! A lil tight! Both the beam and the tongue are about 1/2" or less from the muffler...back side of the engine block is about 1/4" from the hydraulic tank too. The electric motor is just the opposite, it looks like a 3 hp Briggs in an F250 engine bay!
I should get a picture, but the 15.6HP I put on the old Huskee raised the pump to, I want to say, less than a quarter inch of the I-beam. Didn't think about the longer stroke raising the crank. Almost an Opps moment.
Got the auxiliary hydraulics tank mounted...still only going to be 8-9 gallons total capacity, not ideal for a 16gpm pump, but a lot better than the factory 4! Should be fine with all the surface area for cooling, and the fact that I'm minimizing heat causing restrictions. Pretty much ready to start plumbing things up...need to order the fittings, hoses, and cylinder now. Haven't sold the old cylinder yet, so I think I might try it with all the original plumbing (except the pump...it's missing parts) so I can compared the speed difference between old and new cylinder/fittings/hoses.
Can't wait to see the final product. I don't remember if the lift is hydraulic or a manual of some sort.
Heck, the old Didier splitter we have has oilite bushings. That thing was made before all the litigation happiness occurred though. Dave, you have projects?
Was going to pick up a couple buckets of hydraulic oil and it looks like TSC has about the best deal on it right now ($39.99 ea) but the local store only had 1 in stock...my travels to pick up my new fridge control board yesterday took me near the next closest TSC store, so I checked and they showed 2 in stock...called to confirm and they said they'd pull them and have them waiting by the checkout for me when I got there I was surprised to find that they were $10 ea more than at my usual store! I mentioned it and the cashier lady said no problem, we can match our own prices...I sure hope so! Working on ordering fittings here this morning. I think I'll have a local farmer make the hoses up for me...he has a nice inventory and fair prices...its close by so I'll just take the splitter over and custom fit stuff before cutting/crimping. About time to start thinking about paint color(s)...not sure if I want to stick with Huskee red, and maybe some black...or get creative and do something like red white n blue! Any suggestions? Could go (Ford) blue to match muh truck too...
Got one set of wheel bearings done today...looks like the inner bearing tried to lock up at one point...it was obvious that it had spun on the shaft, gaulding itself on a bit...nothing the whiz wheel, chisel and hammer can't handle though! Also pressure washed/wire brushed the loose paint and rust off the wheel while it was off...coated with rust converter too. One wheel ready for paint!
Been tied up on a project at work, plenty of OT, but progress on the splitter has slowed to a crawl. Not sure if I'll have it operational in time for the GTG walt...certainly won't be done, if it is usable...but that might be a good preliminary test though too. What should be the last of my hydraulic fittings should be here tomorrow...I've come to the conclusion that the people who say the best way to build a fast splitter is to start with a 30-35 ton model, and then just put a smaller cylinder on it, are absolutely right! And man, these builds really nickel n dime you to death! Plus I could have saved a ton of time if I had started with a machine that had the engine mounted down low on the opposite side from the operators station!
You ain't kidding. I didn't factor abrasives into my initial budget. I just got my beam back from blasting and priming yesterday. Still need to add a few weldments for wedge adjustment mechanism and log lift. I wish I had more days I could work on it longer than a couple hours at a time. The pusher is in the mill and I will finish drilling holes when it starts raining. I weld outside, so I have been trying to do as little machine work as possible during the dry days and focus on outside stuff. I am putting a fold-up push off table on the back side of the wedge. I was going to use steel, greasable, bushing. But decided to give Delrin a shot. I can always weld in steel if these don't work. I'm trying them on the lift as well.
Well, anybody that followed walts GTG thread already knows that I did not get 'er done in time for the GTG...I just today got it back together after disassembly for painting...just need to get the hydraulic lines made up, then I can finally run it! So far any/all "test runs" have been by using compressed air to operate the cylinder. This and the next 2 pics show the male/female wedge quick couple arrangement I came up with to swap from the electric motor to the gas. One of several design challenges (read: snafus) that I ran into along the way was that my lift pivot/support point "moves" when going vertical (I wanted to keep the vertical option because sometimes I get some bigguns!) so I had to make it so that it can easily engage/disengage when going vertical/horizontal. This leg just drops onto the splitter foot to keep the whole machine from doing a wheelie when lifting the aforementioned bigguns...it also holds the lift up so it can be used as a table while splitting...doing it this way kept me from having to cut/weld on the splitter foot too. When its time to make a lift, just drop the turnbuckle into the hole in the wedge. Afterwards the rigging can be popped off and hung out of the way on the lift foot...it sounds unwieldy, but it is really smooth quick n easy. I also made some tool holders for my hatchet, pickeroon, etc. I still have some wiring to do for the electric motor, so it will make its inaugural run with the engine, since it just needs gassed up to be ready. Everything in the transport position. Now I need to call to see when I can get the hoses made up...
Nothing like making a post like that twice! I had it 99% done the first time and suddenly POOF, most of it was gone...hitting the undo/redo buttons did nothing either!
