Log splitters

Has any used and oil products from Warren Oil, have any quality issues? Specifically the "Hydraulic Fluid 5 GAL Coastal J20D Synthetic - Tractor". I just tried getting the Chevron Aircraft Hydraulic fluid, its not currently in stock with in 300 miles. NAPA has this synthetic hydraulic fluid, that will be here on Thursday. If no one says don't, then looks like I will T&E.

 

Would transmission fluid be any better in cold weather ?

 

Well this is what my manual says
Automatic transmisssion fluid can be substituted and should be used instead of hydraulic oil when temperatures are below 32 degrees

 

No ETA on the Chevron. If it was going in something other than a splitter I would wait. It has a cold pour of -55 I think it will be fine in this application.

 

ATF is more expensive than the synthetic hydraulic fluid. The synthetic fluid has a -55 pour temp.

 

The splitter will spend its spare time in a heated shop. I don’t want the fluid to get thick when it’s cold out and slow the ram speed down.

 

I have almost that exact one in 300 watt but don’t use it much. Up here we normally use the heating pads that attach. The heat transfer is way better than the magnetic. I am hoping that starting out warm that when it got outside and starts cooling down the synthetic fluid stays warm enough from the pump. If not I may have to look into putting on a heat pad. Will come down to how much heat does the pump generate.

 

It will make plenty of heat while you are using it...that's one of the things some people that use them heavily complain about on these "mass produced" splitters, lack of extra oil capacity, which makes 'em tend to run high hydraulic oil temps when run hard in hot weather...so it should work just fine for you in cold weather, especially since you are starting out in a heated garage.

 

Some time over my days off, and I get the synthetic fluid in, I will be giving her a go. Fridays high is 8* and Saturday 11* it will be a good lookie see. I am figuring that big hunk of steel will cool quickly, but hoping enough heat is generated to keep the cycle times good. Summer time heat that we will run the splitter in will be no more than 80* but most likely between 60-70*. Evan at that temp I think the synthetic fluid will be helpful.

 

Here is my Speeco 22 ton. It has worked flawlessly since I bought it. This day was in the teens and I put my gloves on the ram to dry when I take a break because the ram gets warm. Run regular hydro fluid. The table is just some scrap black pipe I had around. It was meant to be able to remove it but my fab/welding skills are far from perfect. I have 3/4" couplings w/nips welded to the side rail that slide inside of the 1" pipe of the table. During weld up it moved enough to make it very difficult to slide on/off so now I just leave it on as it doesn't get in the way of anything I would do with the splitter.

 

The champion did not start up at 10*. I gave a few pulls, she wanted to. So I put her in the garage ran to Napa to get the synthetic hydraulic fluid. Have decided to run the splitter with the fluids it can with. And at the end of day change all fluids to synthetic.

 

The warm splitter cranked on the first pull. It was 10* and the pump kept the hrydralic fluid warm. The cylinder was warm enough to most likely dry a glove in about a half hour. So glad I got the splitter, the boys and I got a few cords cut and split. Some stacked the rest in a pile in the pole barn.

Be work I went OSHA on the boys, we had a safety brief, question and answer session then a walkthrough with demonstration. I put a glove with ketchup packs inside, and used a 4 inch round. I demonstrated how easy the wedge would cut an arm off. The squirting ketchup really drove the reality home. Along with some pics from the Internet and the story of Mrs Witmer.

We ran the splitter about 5-6 hours all was well.

 

That's the way to get at it man ,You can get a lot done with hydraulics
I love the demonstration idea you came off with ,But where is the pics from that ?

 

You got some good helpers there too Rope And I bet you're glad to have them

 

I did not take pics of the demonstration and Jake (lab) had taken the ketchup glove.