Steve NW WI
Unwanted Riff Raff.
I went to a charity wood cut Sunday, and my local OPE dealer brought along a GNE 20 ton 2 way log splitter. GNE is a distribution company that handles lots of different OPE, out of Rogers, MN. I don't know who makes this splitter, but the only site I found it on says pump, steel, and beam are made in USA. The motor is a Honda GC160, and I assume hoses, valve, wheels, etc. are "offshore" pieces.
Here's a pic from Great Northern Equipment 11571 - 20-Ton 2-Way Honda-Powered Gas Log Splitter My dealer mentioned a price of "about a grand", I'd have to investigate more to know an exact price, but I'm sure it'd be less than the price in the link.
I and a bunch of other guys put about 5-6 hours on it, and split Gawd knows how much wood (the skidloader kept hauling away our split piles, and we just kept moving it around to new mountains of rounds). It never failed to split, didn't spend a lot of time shifted into low speed, and got probably an hour and a half of splitting on a tank of fuel.
Likes: Once you get used to it, it's fast. Maybe not quite Super split fast, but a maybe 30% more productive than a 22 ton Speeco that'd be in the same price range. It does take some unlearning to not automatically go to retract the ram after you finish a split.
Control (simple single lever) is pretty well placed, easy to reach while working.
GC Honda started easily, and ran flawlessly. I do wish for a manual throttle though. Fairly quiet.
Bark, dirt and gunk are basically self cleaning off the ram/slide assembly.
Dislikes: Plastic fitting on the back bottom of the tank for the oil pickup - BAD place to use plastic, would be easy to snap.
Round bar stock grates on the log tables sometimes hung up the wood when you were trying to slide it around. I'd put solid sheet steel over em and solve that problem. I'd also add a platform to set the other half of the round out of the way on bigger stuff, just my preference and easy enough to do if you're mechanically inclined.
Crooked sawed pieces liked to slide off the push plates, there were a couple buttons welded to them, but I'd like to see a few more.
The plate that mounts the control valve (remember I liked where it was), is close to the back push plate, and could be a good place to smash a finger if one wasn't paying attention.
It could be 4" taller. Bigger tires, or a simple lift kit where the ram assembly bolts to the axle/tank assembly would work.
After running a while, I noticed the paint was cracked on the back of the 1"x3" block that the cylinder pins to on the frame, but I didn't see any cracking in the metal, I think it was just that the paint didn't flex when the steel did. It is a concern, but at this point I don't think it's a serious one.
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Overall, I like it, quite a bit more than I do the Speeco I ran a couple weeks ago. I think it's on my buy list when that elusive extra money shows up.
There's more pics of it here, but I didn't get any closeups of everything, because my camera pooped out on me on Saturday. I might can swing by Boyd's and get some shots of it later this week.
More pics of it in action in this thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/170526-41.htm I'll see if I can get some more of the guys that ran it to chime in here as well.
Here's a pic from Great Northern Equipment 11571 - 20-Ton 2-Way Honda-Powered Gas Log Splitter My dealer mentioned a price of "about a grand", I'd have to investigate more to know an exact price, but I'm sure it'd be less than the price in the link.
I and a bunch of other guys put about 5-6 hours on it, and split Gawd knows how much wood (the skidloader kept hauling away our split piles, and we just kept moving it around to new mountains of rounds). It never failed to split, didn't spend a lot of time shifted into low speed, and got probably an hour and a half of splitting on a tank of fuel.
Likes: Once you get used to it, it's fast. Maybe not quite Super split fast, but a maybe 30% more productive than a 22 ton Speeco that'd be in the same price range. It does take some unlearning to not automatically go to retract the ram after you finish a split.
Control (simple single lever) is pretty well placed, easy to reach while working.
GC Honda started easily, and ran flawlessly. I do wish for a manual throttle though. Fairly quiet.
Bark, dirt and gunk are basically self cleaning off the ram/slide assembly.
Dislikes: Plastic fitting on the back bottom of the tank for the oil pickup - BAD place to use plastic, would be easy to snap.
Round bar stock grates on the log tables sometimes hung up the wood when you were trying to slide it around. I'd put solid sheet steel over em and solve that problem. I'd also add a platform to set the other half of the round out of the way on bigger stuff, just my preference and easy enough to do if you're mechanically inclined.
Crooked sawed pieces liked to slide off the push plates, there were a couple buttons welded to them, but I'd like to see a few more.
The plate that mounts the control valve (remember I liked where it was), is close to the back push plate, and could be a good place to smash a finger if one wasn't paying attention.
It could be 4" taller. Bigger tires, or a simple lift kit where the ram assembly bolts to the axle/tank assembly would work.
After running a while, I noticed the paint was cracked on the back of the 1"x3" block that the cylinder pins to on the frame, but I didn't see any cracking in the metal, I think it was just that the paint didn't flex when the steel did. It is a concern, but at this point I don't think it's a serious one.
----
Overall, I like it, quite a bit more than I do the Speeco I ran a couple weeks ago. I think it's on my buy list when that elusive extra money shows up.
There's more pics of it here, but I didn't get any closeups of everything, because my camera pooped out on me on Saturday. I might can swing by Boyd's and get some shots of it later this week.
More pics of it in action in this thread: http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/170526-41.htm I'll see if I can get some more of the guys that ran it to chime in here as well.
for a review of the DR "Dual Action 10 Ton Electric Splitter" or the Ramsplitter 16 Ton electric--no takers yet. 
