Timber Champ Log Splitter

One of these is $399 locally (plus sales tax). I split pine, douglas fir, and western larch. Currently I am using a 5 ton electric, and an X27.

What are your thoughts?

Greg

 

Buy it! Build a rugged small work table that puts it right at the height you want, and catches the splits... that's 10x faster than the 5 ton electric/hydraulic splitter I had.

 

I can't find any reviews. Could be a bad sign ... or maybe I need to pave the way!

greg

 

At least it's around the price of the elec/hyd units.

 

I found the manual for it.

http://www.timberchamp.com/assets/images/manuals/4008019.pdf

Greg

 

Looks ok and the price is not bad, sure is fast.
My 7 ton electric did a real good job, it was faster than your average 5 ton because it had 2 speeds.
Put that puppy up on a stand with a back table you could make a lot of splits, pretty fast

 

It appears to be quick but I have a few concerns:

1. Two handed controls. No way to hold or catch the splits. This means that every time you have to do multiple splits on a round you have to bend down and pick them up.

2. Max 20" length. Too short for my stove. Also in some videos that try 20" rounds it takes several hits to split. (Including DR and Speedco kinetics)

3. Hard to split wood takes several hits and there is nothing to dis-engage the split from the blade.

4. It is fast but on the stuff in that video an axe would be as fast if not faster.

If you are not splitting near a power source it would require a heavy duty extension cord or a decent size generator.

If what you are splitting is clean and not too long it is probably easy and fast. I use an axe or light maul for that stuff.

KaptJaq

 

The one thing I did not like about my electric was the two hand operation but I fixed it so it was one hand operation

 

I use the hydraulics nowadays for what I can't do by hand. I don't think that little bugger would help on those.

If you are looking to avoid hand splitting all together, it looks like a decent option.

BUT... few who have ventured down the kinetic path have faired well. I would not be the guinea pig on a low cost (cheap) kinetic splitter.

 

I aint no x-pert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once. It just seems to me that of all these video demonstrations of the newest fastest biggest bad azz cheap splitter I have ever watched over the years it seems like the rounds they are splitting are all so freaking dry already that they really don't need splittin and if they do need downsized to fit in the stove an axe would do the job. That's just me cuz I like to see, touch, and smell what I am plunking down my hard earned cash for. Your mileage may vary.

 

If it were me I would save my money up until I had enouph go get one of the many 22 ton splitters such as the Speeco.
I do not believe that splitter will do anything more than your 5 ton you have now will do.

 

Greg,

I found this topic on a search the other day as the only one that had a comment on this product. Of course not much info though as you found. I went ahead and bought it yesterday to take a chance on it.

It did a wonderful job on the first 5 or 6 splits then it didn't. I will be calling the manufacturer this morning to see if they have a fix but if not I am going to see if North 40 will refund the purchase.

A few pre failure observations. It is really heavy. The wheels are tiny making moving it on anything other than a constructed floor difficult. It was packed well and assembly was simple. It included a replacement belt, a Phillips head screw driver and a combo 12mm/14mm wrench. You only need the 14mm to assemble which consists of attaching the ground rest/handle on the end of the table with two bolts. The screw driver is used to remove the shields to replace the belt.

I was splitting pine cut a year ago. The unit worked excellently on the first few splits although the release handle sometimes gives a jarring kick. I started out with some pieces under 12" then moved up to pieces about 16" to 20" and again it worked well until I hit a knot. It stalled and since it throws a series of weak, short strokes with little force.

I will report back after I talk to their support staff.

 

Welcome to the forum Cowcatcher ! Thanks for the report, in the end I had enough doubt to where I did not jump at this. Your experience seems to confirm this.

Let us know how it goes with the manufacturer and North40.

Greg

 

Greg,

I am not giving up on it. Here is the response I got back from the manufacture after sending them pictures of the motor plate and pieces of the broken pinion I found under the unit when I tipped it over to find the plate and photograph it.

Let me add that the reason I went ahead and purchased it was how much faster it split. There is a 7 ton hydraulic on Amazon available for the same price but watching how slow it split was painful.

Here is Timber Champs reply:

Dave,

Your pictures are showing me that the pinion in fact did break.

We have seen this on occasion and usually we send out new replacement pinions but in this case I would like to send you a new unit.

You may scrap the other unit or use for parts but if you would like to send me an address where I can send you a new unit I will get one shipped out to you with tomorrows trucks.

Again, thank you for your purchase and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,

 

Wow! That sounds good!

Greg

 

I hope that works out for you Cowcatcher

My cautious side is saying get the refund or have them agree to an extended warranty. A busted pinion already and a known issue...

 

BTW, thanks for joining the FHC, and for adding this information here. As you well know, there is nothing on the web about this splitter, now we are the cutting edge

I hope you stick around.

Greg

 

Welcome to da club Cowcatcher

 

I may stick but I am not a big wood cutter these days, just cleaning up Ponderosa, apple, cherry, boxelder, aspen and hawthorn around the edges of the farm. Last fall, after the crops were off, I hired a tree climber friend to limb some ppines with branches twice as big as my arm that were taking 25 foot bit marks out of my fields plus tearing up combine and tractor cabs and other equipment. This year will be at taking the edges of an old orchard and some really big old weedy hawthorns. It is a multi year project that ultimately ends up in my fireplace. I have also down graded from using my Stihl to a 16" rechargeable GreenWorks. Old age is a ruthless judge!