Some of you may remember some years back when I posted about my home made kinetic log splitter that I made in 2019. I loved building it and I loved using it. Yes, it was dangerous if you were not careful, but to operate it I stood on the side with the guard, and I never had a problem using it. The problem was.... things broke. Twice the pinion gear lost a few teeth and each time it took 2.5 days of work to get the 300 pounds of flywheels off, replace the 1" shaft and the pinion gear, and put everything back together. The pinion gear was U.S. made, but of sintered steel, and I wondered if that contributed to the failure. The kinetic splitter WAS exciting to use--no doubt about it. Pull up sharply on the handle and the ram shot forward lickety split and got the job done pronto. Earlier in the Spring I was using it, and I noticed little shards of steel had come off the pinion gear--a sure sign that a rebuild was going to be needed before long. So I decided to buy a hydraulic splitter and retire my kinetic one. I found this Brave 22 ton splitter at a neighbor's for too much, but bought it anyway. It needed new tires and a coil and a gas cap and a new carb. But it came with a 4-way. I love it. The cylinder is leaking and it needs to be rebuilt. Made in the U.S.
I imagine it would be hard to go back after getting used to a kenetic. Wish I had one. Hope the Brave treats you well.
I know the kinetic was faster, but that hydraulic will split knotty pieces better. Maybe you can find a better pinion. Use both splitters
The kinetic splitter was all hand made from pieces I bought cheap on ebay or Amazon. Like I say, replacing the pinion and shaft takes 2.5 days of work and $150. The gear then has to have a keyway broached into it, which I can do, but it takes time. All critical fasteners were red-locktighted in place, so removing them takes a torch to heat every bolt and nut and every set screw. Each flywheel is mounted with four 7/16ths grade 8 bolts to a keyed flange that fastens to the keyed shaft with 3 set screws. After removing each flywheel from its flange, each flange needs to be pulled off the shaft and that has proved to be very difficult, as the clearance was purposely minimized to avoid any vibration from slop. Its just too much work. I loved building it and I loved using it, but....... removing all 5 flywheels as well as the large pulley is a job I just don't want to do anymore.
