Anyone here running a Black Diamond splitter? Ive got the 30t model, it seems to do pretty well, definitely needs more HP. Ive put quite the load on the little 6.5hp Kohler several times. Even stalled it out a few times while it wasnt quite completely warmed up yet. Just recently had a problem today with it, it wasnt pulling enough hyd. oil from the reservoir to feed the pump. I figured out the issue but just dont quite understand it. Anyone else dealt with this issue yet? Or who knows what i am talking about yet? I'll get into further detail, wanting to see if someone else knows what i experienced today with my simple yet short explanation. hah -Sean
14 GPM pump Black Diamond 30 Ton 196 CC Kohler Log Splitter LSP30 by Ytl International for $1,299.99 in Logsplitters & Accessories - Power Equipment - Lawn & Garden : Rural King Depending on what the relief pressure is set at, 14gpm is going to work that little Kohler pretty hard. Carb is most likely a bit lean for emissions purposes which would explain the stalling when a load is suddenly applied. I don't know enough about these engines to be of much more help tho.
Looks a lot like a county line just different name. I have a county line 28 ton. If yours is new it might not be broke in yet. I remember mine being a little on the sluggish side too when new Mine has the 6 hp Honda. Mine improved with use. Honestly though I'm not much on these new engines. I have another splitter with a old 8 hp Kohler from 1980. It's three times the motor of these new ones in my opinion
If it's a K-series unit then it's three times the engine you'll find under the hood of most cars. Built like a brick ****house for sure.
From the pic. it looks like the line from the hyd. tank to the pump is a low pressure line. Is it collapsing under load in a spot starving the pump?
Yep it's s k181 easy to work on parts are still avail and runs like a raped ape. I have two john Deere lawn mowers one is a 1969 model 110 it has the k181 as well in it. The other is a 1973 I think 140 with the k321 14 hp. It was the first model hydrostatic lawnmower/garden tractor john Deere made. It will pull a house over. I use it for wood operations all the time I love when people say get rid of that piece of junk and then they see how much power in a little package it has.
Alright, i'll spill it. lol Dont seem to be too many others here using this splitter. I was splitting some wood yesterday, pump started making some noises. Almost sounded like a piece of wood had fallen and was rubbing the coupler. Didnt notice anything, maybe 2 strokes later things really slowed down. I managed to split one more piece of wood and then started checking things over. Shut the engine off, fired it back up, no change, changed the idle speed with no change also. The feed hose coming from the reservoir to my pump, i noticed air bubbles, big air bubbles. So im thinking, ok, im low on fluid. I check the tank, dipstick says im half low. Or the level is half way between high and low. So im thinking, that cant be low enough to start starving my system for fluid. So i run to the parts store, buy a gallon of fluid. Top it off with no change. Its actually slower now. A half dead ant moves faster then my ram at this point. I dig into it.. There is a plate attached to the reservoir where the feed hose slides onto at. It seemed the pump was being starved, as mentioned above. So i started draining fluid, eventually ran out of clean containers. Took that plate off to find a 2nd filter behind it. Spin on deal, should of taken a picture of it. It had spun off and was just sitting in my reservoir. What puzzles me is that the intake was still submerged in fluid, but somehow now drawing enough fluid to feed the pump. Spun the filter back on, bolted the plate back up, re introduced what clean fluid i could save. Fired it up and it works great again. Now im about a gallon and a half low on fluid. I'll fix that today.
You should have took a pic of it. I bet it was a strainer to keep air out of the suction line. If you get air into the pump it will make it act weird. I have a pretty good size strainer on my custom made splitter, with 28 gpm pump on it. A must have for the amount of oil I am flowing.
Long shot here, but are you sure the coupler between the engine and pump is snugged up tight? If not it could make some weird noises and cause your pump to pump at "half dead ant" pace.
I checked it. It was fine. I could clearly see that my transparent feed line to the pump was just about dry.
Glad you got it figured out. That has to be a weight off. The other day I noticed my splitter was leaking fluid. It wasy fault I pulled it for the first work of the season and tightened everything except for the hyd filter itself forgot about it It vibrated loose quick fix and back on track again
