Well I am way behind this year. I am down to less then a cord of wood CSS and winter is knocking on our door. After lending it to a neighbor at the end of last year, I had a lot of work to do to get the splitter up and running. He dropped it in my driveway with a flat tire when he was done with it. I did not have time to move it right away, so after backing into it with my tow ball it needed a new motor or some repairs to the old one. I decided to go the easy route and put a predator motor on the DHT 22 ton splitter. The swap went pretty easy and I was able to split a couple rounds that same night. On the second round one of the side track guides blew off. I guess he had left a broken pin in the track and the wedge hit it and broke the weld off down the whole track. After much heating and hammering and prying, I got it close enough to weld back on and I am back in business. Then one of the rocker arms fell off my new predator motor!! Once I figured out what had happened it was a quick fix and up and running again. Disappointing that the rocker arms are held in with C-Clips! Worked up a decent size pile so far today and all is right in the world again. Please do not laugh at my awful welding skills. I was using a small lincoln wire feed and it would pop the breaker after about 1 inch of welding.
Can't like that. Stinks when someone is nice enough to loan something out and they do not take care of it. Good job getting it back in service and good luck catching up with the firewood. Do you have standing dead to use this year?
Was wondering were ya been, Handsonautotech.... Glad things are getting turned around, but hard to hit the “like” button, except that you have things fixed up. And your welds are fine.
Next time you are forced into welding thick metal with a small welder try pre heating it. Even a propane torch can help a lot. Well at least your neighbor brought it back, some don't even go that far.
I think there is standing dead in the upper meadows. I might be heading up with two other neighbors to run a small on site processing operation. The stuff in this picture was sitting for two years and popped open nice and dry. I have another pile of rounds at the house that I think will be ready to go also. The site will not let me upload any more photos. Maybe I reached a limit?
Sorry about the motor and guide track. I think it is a good deal to have cheap replacement motors like the predator available. It is just as good as the smaller Kohler motors. Hope it serves you well. Pre heat on the weld as Screwloose recommended is a good idea. As for the welds....if they hold up, they were good! Glad you are back underway!
That's tough. I have a big heart for certain things but certain things I wouldn't let any one borrow..
Learned my lesson a long time ago about lending lent out my hydraulic auger for skid steer it came back with the 2 inch thick auger shaft broken 850.00 for part ex friend said he just tried to push a stump out of his way with the auger??? Many other times I have lent tools and they never came back in the same condition as they left so the lesson learned is when they ask to borrow send them to the rental center but glad you are up and running JB
It sucks when someone borrows a tool and returns it broken! I spent the better part of today taking my two week old DHT 35ton apart to repair hydraulic leaks. it came assembled in the crate It leaked as soon as I started it, I tightened that fitting. Then yesterday while splitting some large Elm rounds it started blowing Hyd. oil from another fitting. When they put these things together they put thread sealer on the fitting and hand tighten. I decided to take everything apart and tighten all fittings. Should be back up and running tomorrow.
Looks like a fun project! The clips are if I remember, on the hemi!!!!! The regular true honda clones don't use them. That's the more desirable engine. The regular clones have a hexagonal valve cover the hemi is square if I remember. Never heard of one coming off. Can't see your welds covered in slag!
I had the same thing happen to my 27 ton DHT. I was splitting some cherry and noticed I was getting sprayed with hot fluid. Looked over and saw that one of the lines going into the valve was bleeding pretty bad. I ended up taking it completly apart and saw that there was not any pipe sealer on any of them. Not even teflon tape. So I spent the better part of the evening fixing that and splitting the next day.
Mine had sealer but were only tightened hand tight! If they are going to ship them with valve installed and oil in tank they should be tight. very frustrating having to disassemble and re assemble. I emailed DHT to check Quality Control.
I agree. I bought mine from Lowes. They are shipped from DHT on a pallet and the employees are the ones that "quickly" put them together. To me, thats where the quality control issue is. It is very frustrating to have that happen. But either way, I absolutely love my 27 ton DHT and would recommend their product to anyone.
well don't feel too bad years ago when I bought the HF 30 t splitter the first thing that happened after starting it was the return line filter canister blew off. put it back on hand tight and promptly blew the whole assembly in 1/2- was installed backwards at Factory. At that point I still had yet to even cycle the ram. few days later as I was splitting a big bang- rear cylinder mount let go - cold welds. Over time other things happened bent foot plate, sprung beam for a couple, so a few years back re-built it correcting some other design flaws along the way. it's 18 years old many many cords though it now still OEM cylinder pump lovejoy motor ( briggs 8hp) valve wore out so that was replaced. Originally it ran so hot that after an hour you could not touch the cylinder with out getting burned- so during the rebuild it was completely re- plumbed reducing as many restrictions as possible adding an aux tank for fill and expansion as the fill port and the return line were at the same height ( the return line did not have a 90 deg fitting in tank so it would just spray across captivating air in the oil), runs all day now with out over temping.
When DHT ships the units all of the hydraulics as well as the engine are completely assembled and full of the proper oils. The store employees only have to attach the lower, towing beam to a bracket on the axle/hydraulic oil reservoir and connect the handle to the detent valve. With the lower beam removed the splitter can be put into vertical position with the tow beam upright & strapped to it. This way the oil reservoirs (engine & hydraulic) are in the correct/upright position and do not leak. Also with this setup the unit can be placed on a fairly small steel pallet, with a small footprint, for shipping & storage. I bought my DHT in the box & on the pallet and was surprised how little I had to do to "assemble" it. If there are leaks or loose connections (other than the two bolts that hold the towing beam to the axle or the carter pin connecting the control handle) they were done at the DHT assembly point and the quality control issue is there. KaptJaq
