Split rounds all day with my new to me Champion gas hydro. I mounted a u bolt to keep my Fireside Friend handy. It payed dividends. A few observations. I wish both sides of the log holders were level. There is not enough room to store half round on this side. It was a pain. I’m going to flip the short side up side down before I split tomorrow. The side I am pointing to cannot be flipped. I may devise something flatter and about two inches wider. Winter project. And I wish the “chaff” cut outs were bigger. Debris clogs here all the time. I may torch them out but have to analyze the structure first. Then I was splitting on a side hill and the relief valve started spewing hydro oil. Some dumb arse had the hole pointed right at the engine. And that was me. Had to go home and clean things up and point the plug a different direction. Completely covered it with ATF. The same guy may have over filled it or I was too uneven. It blew two times for about 20 seconds each then it settled down. According to the sight glass it’s not over full now! That black locust was so heavy I had to go vertical. I got a lot done. Sure is easier than splitting by hand. I wish there was a way I could cobble in a relay or something to enable to engine to idle down when not splitting. Maybe another winter project. It would sure be handy to have two people when going vertical. One guy could wrestle the next round over when you’re halving a big bertha. Overall I like it but still thinking of ways to make it better for me.
I noticed the log holders were weird on the last champion I had, I flipped them around and it was a lot better...I feel like they were a bit different than those though. Yeah if you are on a hill, make sure the vent is on the high side or it'll spew oil
Note to self: make sure you are level bonehead. I have a lot to learn on this contraption but I am up for the challenge. One thing that is puzzling is if you shut it off with kill switch, it is a bear to start 5 minutes later. The previous owner told me to always shut er down with the fuel shut off not the off switch. “otherwise it is hard to restart”. I thought that was weird but he was right. No problems re starting if I just kill the fuel. Always starts on the first or second pull hot with no choke,,
That kinda sounds like the float needle is leaking, just a bit. Not an issue if you continue to operate it as you stated.
Got back splitting today in my woods. Did not get done won’t be back in the woods til Monday. Started on some black locust. Then some oak. I thought some of this would be campfire wood but I was wrong it’s good. I flipped the log tray on my side it worked better. And kept a close on that red dot. (hydro level) Hickory. It would have been impossible to split this hickory by hand. It gave the hydro a good workout. Then I had to set up in guillotine mode. These oak rounds were so heavy I couldn’t pick them up. all this came from one tree got a nice jag Finished up on another oak. I was whupped. I hope I don’t get run out of town but do not care for vertical splitting. It just seems unnatural to me. I will only do it when I have to,,,
I'll die on this hill... I don't like vertical splitting either. When dealing with rounds too big to lift, I'll half, quarter or even sixth them into smaller chunks that I can pick up and split horizontally.
