Log Splitter - Hydraulic Oil Change Out

Hello-

My wife and I just purchased a cabin near Buena Vista, Colorado, and the previous owner left an old log splitter behind. I'm betting the log splitter hasn't run in 10-20 years.

The 9 HP motor was seized up, so I purchased a new 9 HP motor. So, the new motor works great and the log splitter is operating great (still need to build a new motor mounting plate), but the hydraulic oil looks milky (water, I assume). So I want to change out the hydraulic fluid.

No drain plug in the reservoir tank (I can easily pump the reservoir tank out with a peristaltic pump.) I don't want to fill up the reservoir with fresh oil, and have the remaining old oil contaminate it. So, I want to remove the return line from the reservoir tank until new fluid comes through the return line. I'm trying to figure out which line on the reservoir tank would be the best to intercept the old oil coming back. I assume it would be one of the lines on reservoir tank or would all three lines on top of the reservoir be the ones I want to remove?

The reservoir tank is 12" X 14" X 20". I get about 2 cu. ft., which is about 15 gallons.

Anyone seen a setup like this (photos below) and can recommend the best way to change the oil?

Paul

 

Don't toss the Briggs, it's 10-0% rebuildable and cheap to rebuild. Far as the tank and contaminated oil, I'd drain as mech of the old stuff out as possible and refill it with new. Hydraulic oil has a nice aspect and that is, it can keep water in retention and not destroy internal metal parts. if it was mine, I'd renew the fluid and then maybe next fall, renew it again.

 

Nice leave-behind! Good luck breathing new life into it.

 

Looks like the previous owner made the tank a permanent fixture. Looks like you’ll have to cut the tank legs and make it a bolt on, or detach the lowest plumbing and tilt the whole machine

 

Wow...someone enjoyed hydraulic puzzles apparently!
As near as I can tell, I think removing that lower line to the tank would likely be a return line and you could drain/pump out from there...its gonna be hard to get it all though, the cylinder and lines will still have oil, even when the tank is dry...but as was mentioned, unless the oil is really contaminated, I wouldn't worry about it too much, just replace what you can get and then do it again in a year or so...some of that moisture may burn off with use too, but not what is already churned into the oil (why its white)

 

That's the plan. Drag it home and try and get it to run again.

Big thing was to see if the hydraulic side worked. Changing out the motor seems to be the easiest route (plus the new motor has electric start). Really glad that the hydraulics was working.

Good to hear that I don't really need to remove all the oil. The photos don't have the best angle to show how the lines are actually connected (I took just four photos right before I left). Good enough for me to get familiar with unit, but will draw out the hoses to figure out how the fluid flows through the unit.

Paul

 

Agree about the hydraulic puzzle, photos have a bad angle to show where the hoses actually goes.

Paul

 

I did split a couple logs. One was 18-20", Honey Locust, the splitter had no problem splitting it.

Paul