I could not do that for extended periods. I have to be standing straight up, hence.......... That's not too bad. Some of them are pretty low. I need it to be tall enough to where I don't have to slouch when I am running it. The shorter ones have the wood too low and I am always slouching and it's hard on my lower back. My CL beam is 1" taller than my Speeco's at 35".
The part that gets me about horizontal is lifting logs over and over. Even lighter stuff taxes my back after a short while. I have a long body and shorter legs so it's a long way down for each piece. (My mom used to tease my dad with, "Your arse is where your knees should be..." And I take after him so...) Anyways, it's all about what works for each person so it's good these things go both ways. I just went out and ran the splitter again... in the barn because the wind was still whipping. I split the contents of the atv trailer that was sitting next to it. A very minor test but so far so good. I did time a couple of cycles and got between 11.4 and 11.6 seconds. I'm guessing that might pick up with warmer fluid. As it sat it was in a barn that was about 8 last night and only up to 15 when I started splitting. That said, the electric start was sweet getting that bigger twin cylinder started up in colder temps. I found one other thing that is beneficial while I was out there. I measured the log opening and was pleased at what I found. Both my DHT and this splitter advertised a 25" log opening. Since my furnace can take 25", I always try to get as close to that as possible. Well, we all know that long ones sneak in from time to time. The problem with my DHT was it was actually only a 24" opening. The Swisher is 26.25" so I have a little more wiggle room going forward.
System, that looks like a Real Nice Splitter you have there, I Hope that it gives you Many years of Good Service. Having read your posts of disappointment with your DHT in the past, I can’t help but wonder if there weren’t more than one DHT brand, we have the 27T, but everything about my experience has been the opposite of your’s. Our’s has the 6.5HP/196cc Kohler engine, we bought it new in 2016, and it has been absolutely Reliable, rarely takes a second pull to start. The Balance on the Beam and the Tongue are both what I would expect, no grunt needed to lift either. I can hand pull our 27T up into this trailer by myself without trouble, and at 55, It has been a Looooong time since I was 19 We go back and forth, whether we piggy back the splitter to the woods and split in the woods, or load rounds and split at home. we like to split in the woods, and and leave the splitter mess there, but the splitter uses up a lot of trailer capacity coming home, or my Wife has to drive another vehicle to tow the splitter home. She may be more open to that idea, as I just bought a New Jeep Wrangler, with the 3.0 liter Turbo Diesel, that I have a winch and bumper waiting to mount, that will be very useful for wood cutting In the pics above, we were cutting a lot from the “Tops Deck” to the right of the trailer, it was quite a haul from home and smaller wood, but Stove Ready at 11-15% MC, we wanted to max out the load on the trailer, so the splitter stayed home. Those logs were cut making fire breaks for the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire in Oregon, the Forest Circus opened those to wood cutting in 2019, we are burning a lot of that right now. We got a lot from the “Stems Deck” as well, but the deeper we got into that deck especially, the higher the MC got. Our 27T DHT tows better than I expected of such a short unsuspended trailer, and we have towed it 35-50 highway miles at a time, it says to not tow over 45mph, and I have managed to keep it to 55 or less without any issues For a $1200 splitter in 2016 , I have been completely satisfied with our 27 T DHT, I am surprised at the issues you have had with yours, if ours was stolen, or had some other mishap, I would buy another in a heartbeat, unfortunately it would have to be used, as they are no longer in business Doug
I know MA is tough and all but I thought so long as there was daylight and you can clearly see tow vehicles lights there was no issue? I drove by 3 cops yesterday towing mine... but maybe got lucky. It's not something I do often but haven't ever had an issue. In any case, sweet machine for sure but we are gonna need more actions pics.
Doug, I never had issues per say. I just didn't care for the layout. After 60 hours, I sold it for only $250 less than I paid for it so I think I did pretty good. I think some of the differences with balance and weight between yours and mine must be the beam size. I'm guessing the 35 ton packs a few more lbs than the 27. Anyways, I never meant to bash the DHT. It never met a round it wouldn't split and ran well. I just like "tweaking the system" frequently and for me there was value in the upgrade. Same as my Husky 562XP that I recently sold. It was an awesome saw and did all I wanted. I just had a hankering for the new 500i. The good news is, I really scour the net for the best price on things which allows me to buy low and sell at a reasonable price. If I paid full MSRP, I couldn't afford to keep playing like I do. I also keep my things in mint condition and both the guy who bought my saw and the guy who bought the DHT splitter were amazed at how nice they looked. So, in the end, the upgrade is as much about playing as it is about improved quality and function... cnice, more pics to come when spring rolls around. I know some states allow you to tow in daylight as long as the tow vehicle's lights are not obstructed. MA is not one of them as far as I know. Lights, fenders and registration required on anything in tow unless something changed. Who knows though, maybe it has. We finally got a law passed that DRW trucks can register passenger instead of commercial. Maybe progress can be made in our backwards state? Ah, likely not since the sale of gas powered cars has been outlawed starting in 2035... LOL... In reality though, as you said, you can drive by police who don't bother you in a lot of places. They have bigger fish to fry than some guy splitting wood. But drive through some of the small towns around me and they are so bored and just dying to ring someone up for nonsense...
Haha, "your arse is where your knees should be!!" That also is me. I always envied long legged people getting on leggy horses. When younger I always swung up like Little Joe on Bonanza. Now 100 pounds heavier, have gone to shorter horses!!!! In the horizontal position and a log lift, I can split for a long time.
A log lift would be essential for me if I went horizontal for sure! I'm not there yet and I can go faster on one knee... but I'm sure I'll get there... LOL
Got my hour meter / tach today and popped it on the splitter. Kawi says 14.5 HP at 3600 but I'm seeing about 3350 RPM. Probably will climb a bit once it breaks in. Interestingly, they also give a max torque rating of 30.9 ft/lb at 1800 RPM. I've seen small engine manufacturers list one or the other before but not usually both. Anyways, the only thing left to do is fab some log scrapers for the sides of the wedge. I'll have to give that some thought but it should be pretty simple to make them up and bolt them on.
Exact one I put on mine. You should be able to bump up the high speed idle easy enough. It's something I do on all my small engines to make sure they are running where they should be. Bumping it up to where it's supposed to be will also decrease your cycle time.
Make sure that the engine and hydraulic oil is fully up to temp before adjusting WOT RPM...otherwise it will be too high once it is up to temp. And after break in is complete too...as was already mentioned.
Like with all internal combustion engine, redline rpm's are merely just a suggestion. I spin all my small engines between 3,700 and 3,800 rpms'. I know a guy who works for Briggs in their engine design area and he says they are totally safe at 3,800rpms. I believe I recall him saying they spin the same motors in their generators at 3,800. I was also corrected by him when I used to say WOT RPM. It's not WOT. It's high speed idle RPM. It only goes to WOT when under a load trying to maintain the set high speed idle rpm. If you think about it, it makes sense. If you would hold the throttle wide open with no load the engine would be screaming. Now, what you (and I back then) mean by WOT is the actual throttle on the machine, not the throttle plate on the carb. I know.
I hope not...the gennys output HZ is controlled by the engine speed, so it's important that the speed be at 3600 (on small engine powered gennys) to maintain that 60HZ. A quality genny will hold the HZ pretty close between no load/full load...oh wait, you said he worked for Briggs, never mind... Yup, sounds like a typical conversation with an engineer.
LOL Maybe it wasn't generators then. Maybe he was referring to the high speed idle RPM, so when there is a load it would run at 3,600 at WOT....? If the high speed idle was set to 3,600, under load it would be lower. yeah, I figured if a Briggs can spin 3,800, everything else should be able to too!
My Bearcat runs a Briggs Vanguard 23hp and it's a decent motor in my experience. But like many things based on personal experience, its anecdotal. Anyways, I'll wait til the Kawi is broken in and warmed up to do any throttle adjustments. Thanks for the input guys....
