Well, pretty tired today but did go to the barn to see if the splitter would start. The last time we used it was a year ago last July or August. The engine is just about ready to be replaced but I am hoping I can baby it through another year. I put in some gas and oil. Took the breather out and gave it a shot of starting fluid. Zoom! But stopped. One more shot and Bingo! We have ignition. I was amazed and very happy. No, I did not split any wood with it today. In fact, I was putting the filter back in when my wife drove into the barn with the atv. She and the atv was pretty wet. But that's okay. I don't think I have enough energy left today to do any splitting but hopefully sometime yet this week we can give it a try. I did make sure I have a milk crate and a cushion so all should be well. I think we added about 2 more rows to this in early January. I'll get a picture update before the splitting starts.
Good news for sure Dennis. Glad to hear the engine started and things are looking up for splitting shortly. Milk crate and cushion are at the ready, and to think you could stand and handle most of that and not have a sore back afterwards
I put my splitter away for the season on Sat. I'm also surprised at my splitter every year, it always fires right up. I store it with cheap Wallyworld gas and no treatment just like everything else. It will bite me one day.
Dennis, why do you think the splitter motor is on it's last legs? That pretty much like my parent's mtd. From what I can see. Their splitter is just barely broken in.
I've found that just running them out of gas with the gas supply valve off is the easiest and best way to store almost all seasonal toys. Just top off the tank with fresh gas when you want to use it again. It's never bit me yet, and I've tested this out quite a bit with e10 for over 20 years.
"I store it with cheap Wallyworld gas and no treatment just like everything else. It will bite me one day." Yeah. Don't do that. As stated above, just run it dry. Or it WILL bite your backside one day.
The engine has been on its last legs for several years now. When a neighbor borrowed it and ran it out of oil I figured it was done for. Did have some problems for a while but so long as it still runs, oil is still cheaper than metal. Our splitter is well broken in having split well over 300 cord so far. We bought it back in the late 80's. Today I went out to split some and it started, first pull. Guess it will go a while longer. On the other hand, another neighbor many years ago did not realize how good these splitters are. He had some humgous white oak logs and he was not looking forward to splitting them. I offered my splitter. He did not think it could do the job. Okay, I followed him home and we split the oak. The only hard part was getting them onto the splitter as it was white oak, cut at 18" and they were probably 40" or more in diameter. He was so impressed the next day he bought one. He is on his second engine and says that one is about done. It, like mine is a Briggs & Stratton 5 hp. The only difference is that mine has a throttle rather than most of them that now run only at high speed. I have never liked starting a cold engine and having it run full throttle and the same for shutting it down. Heck I rarely run ours at full throttle even when splitting.
So you can see how much was added to the pile. This just before I split a little bit today. It seemed good but I'm still amazed at how weak I am. Now I'm also sore!
Ahh, yeah Dennis, oil is good for an internal combustion motor. I see that's a horizontal shaft Briggs. That sucks that someone ran it out of oil, as it shouldn't be needing replacement otherwise. The 5 HP horizontal shaft on my buddy's didier splitter is 40+ years old, and it still works fine, despite a few issues. Using oil isn't one of them. My parent's mtd is s little different, 21 ton, vertical shaft briggs. It also is much newer as they got it in the early 2000's. You should have no issue finding a replacement motor for that splitter. If you do, let me know.
