DR Rapid Fire Rack & Pinion

[Locust Cutter]

I figured that the special addition might not be worth the $$$ for my needs, not saying it isn't worth the $$$. I knew it had the extra bearings on it after speaking with Paul as well as somewhat heavier flywheels. In fact, it was my conversation with Paul which sealed my decision to buy a S.S. (along with seeing the live demo via Sunfish)... When I spoke to him about the wood I was routinely cutting, my attempt to cut out some of the worst knots, but knowing there would still be plenty. Once I said Hedge and Burr Oak along with the usual length and diameters He recommended the H.D. although he said that both the "J" and the H.D. would soon be getting slightly heavier flywheels each respectively, (although he didn;t elaborate as to when as he wasn't satisfied yet with the finished product, (hopefully I'm not prematurely letting the cat out of the bag). I just have yet to see a video of a stock H.D. unit. I've seen the doctored up units, the one especially with the 3rd flywheel (I don't remember his screen name). I would love to see a video of the H.D. going through Eucalyptus as I realize that is a very sinewy wood!

 

[sunfish]

We should probably take the SS discussion here; :msp_smile:

http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/219558.htm

I have a few questions about the HD splitter and will ask them there.

 

[nysparkie]

Check in

Haven't been here in awhile. I own one of the original DR Rapid Fire's. Have been plowing through wood without any hitches other than long term use items. Adjust/replacing belts, tightening screws/bolts before starting. Still running well and still very happy. Can't imagine the hours that have been cut by using a fly wheel splitter. Couldn't care less if it is a SS knockoff or has China written on somethings. It has and is working great. I have the 3 year warranty on the thing and it looks like i'll get there without having to use it. Lets all pray we have no mech problems and just keep on splitting. Be back in awhile to say hi...take care all.

 

[COraghorn]

Gonna buy my 1st splitter, lookin for a little help....

Hello everybody
New to this site, I read this entire thread in my quest to buy the best splitter in my price range ($2600 MAX!). I was glad to see a post from nysparkie from today, letting me know that this thread is still active.

So here's a quick run down of my situation and what I'm looking for, any tips, advice, will be greatly appreciated.
Live in the rockies in SW CO. burn about six cords a year, have been using a buddy's troy built 33 ton for the past couple years which has treated me very well (the splitter and my friend).

The biggest reasons I'm in the market for a new splitter is 1. Don't like borrowing equipment at all, don't like loaning either. 2. Wife's current gig is over at 2pm daily so she's got 4 hrs. to fill before I get home.

Yes, I am interested in selling some firewood on the side and the wife has expressed her interest as well. She is very capable and not afraid of big noisy powerful dangerous bad ass equipment. Also I have 3 day weekends which frees me up for this little business idea.

The type of wood most readily available right around the house here is primarily Ponderosa Pine 30" minus, and Gambel oak10" minus, besides an occasional aspen this is about all I will be splitting

At about page 25 in this thread I was about to order the rapid fire proxl, now that I see the problems that have been had and the SS HD is just a little outta my reach I am once again seriously thinking about the northstar 37ton with 4way wedge wings. (2k + shipping).

Hope I didn't ramble on too long... look forward to any replies, from what I've read ya'll obviously know a lot more about this biz than I do:msp_biggrin:

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

COraghorn, I have the Pro XL and am very happy with it. I have split about 6 cords with it in the past couple weeks and have some observations that may be a help.

I have a very bad back. If I had to lift 24 to 30 inch logs onto a splitter of any kind I would be in trouble. I have a tractor with a FEL so I roll the larger rounds into the bucket and stage them so I can just roll them onto the table. I just got done cutting up and splitting a red oak that was about that size. It took me two days to get it done, but it was not too bad.

I don't know how heavy The pine and oak you will be dealing with, but if it is of any size and weight, a splitter that can be run vertically might be a serious benefit in the long run.

I am not really interested in selling firewood although I have had several people stop and ask. I have enough this year for my own use and nothing I burn is really well seasoned yet. Maybe next year I'll be more flexible about selling some. In that case, I would want something that can split in a hurry. The XL is the best I've used. The SS HD sounds like it would be exceptionally good also. I don't know if DR is still offering the 0% financing that they had when I bought mine. That was a consideration on my part.

How tough a wood is the pine and oak you are dealing with. I split a lot of Pin Oak and it is really knarly. The DR has performed perfectly. I may have to bump a piece twice occasionally but that's no bother.

One thing I really found I like about the DR is that I can split wood more accurately. By that I mean size wise. Some of the oak I just gone done with was 30 inches in dia.. I split those rounds into as many as 16 to 18 pieces, 16 inches long. I did that because they fit into my insert a lot better therefore I can load it up less and it burns a lot longer. To make that many splits with any of the hydraulic units I've run would take forever. That is my personal choice though, it may not apply to you.

My DR has had zero problems. I take care of it and do not abuse it. I lube it and check the belts every time I use it. Other than that, it's been a joy. And it sit higher than any of the hydaulic ones so it's easier on this old back.

 

[COraghorn]

Pa Pa Jack,
Thanks for the tips, Glad to hear that your PROXL is working well for you. I too have a FEL so the lifting isn't what I'm concerned about as much as whether or not the splitter can handle it.... Is this 6 cords all that you have split with the DR or just what you have split recently?

As for how tough the wood I split is, I really don't have any idea as I have nothing to compare it to. I'm gonna do some online searches to see if I can get a better idea of the hardness of what I split.

I'm not too concerned about the 0% financing as I have the money since I just sold my big honda snowblower (was able to sale the blower now that I have my tractor to clear the snow:biggrin

If I knew that I could sale a lot of wood I would just spring for the SS HD:msp_confused:, but that is a lot more $ than I've got to gamble with.

The DR is everything I need and want if it can be depended on, the 1 year hands on trial is great, other than I would be out probably 500bucks by the time I had to ship it each way.....

Thanks for the info:msp_thumbup:

 

[Como]

You can see my piles from 285.

I have probably split 30 cords this year, 6 cords you could split in a morning.

 

[COraghorn]

Como,

If I have the right info, you are also in CO and using the rapid fire.
Do you recommend it?
Where along 285?

Thanks!

 

[KiwiBro]

You can see my piles from 285.
6 cords you could split in a morning.

With many hundreds of cords through my SS, I find that claim a bit hard to swallow. That equates to about my record for a day's production in a near perfect-case scenario with little down time, perfectly sized wood cut and stacked ready for splitting.
If that's a regular morning in regular wood for you, can you please describe your set-up or post pictures? Thanks. It would be great to learn how that is achieved. I know we don't often get perfect wood or conditions here for setting records, so it's always great to see how good others have their set-up.

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

"Is this 6 cords all that you have split with the DR or just what you have split recently? "

That is 6 cords with the DR. We only recently converted our fireplace by installing an insert. Prior to that, I either bought wood or simply burned 4 to 6 inch rounds cut on my property. I've used other splitters over the years, but this is the first one I've owned.

 

[sunfish]

Hello everybody
New to this site, I read this entire thread in my quest to buy the best splitter in my price range ($2600 MAX!). I was glad to see a post from nysparkie from today, letting me know that this thread is still active.

So here's a quick run down of my situation and what I'm looking for, any tips, advice, will be greatly appreciated.
Live in the rockies in SW CO. burn about six cords a year, have been using a buddy's troy built 33 ton for the past couple years which has treated me very well (the splitter and my friend).

The biggest reasons I'm in the market for a new splitter is 1. Don't like borrowing equipment at all, don't like loaning either. 2. Wife's current gig is over at 2pm daily so she's got 4 hrs. to fill before I get home.

Yes, I am interested in selling some firewood on the side and the wife has expressed her interest as well. She is very capable and not afraid of big noisy powerful dangerous bad ass equipment. Also I have 3 day weekends which frees me up for this little business idea.

The type of wood most readily available right around the house here is primarily Ponderosa Pine 30" minus, and Gambel oak10" minus, besides an occasional aspen this is about all I will be splitting

At about page 25 in this thread I was about to order the rapid fire proxl, now that I see the problems that have been had and the SS HD is just a little outta my reach I am once again seriously thinking about the northstar 37ton with 4way wedge wings. (2k + shipping).

Hope I didn't ramble on too long... look forward to any replies, from what I've read ya'll obviously know a lot more about this biz than I do:msp_biggrin:

For 6 cords a year the SS HD is just not needed, the J model will do more than fine. I'm doin around 20 cords of oak, locus and red elm with the J... I could use a HD at this point, but I'm staying with the J...:msp_smile:

 

[sunfish]

You can see my piles from 285.

I have probably split 30 cords this year, 6 cords you could split in a morning.

6 full cords in a morning :msp_confused:

I can be pretty fast, but a cord an hour is about all I can do! :msp_smile:

 

[Hddnis]

Well, morning does last from 0600 hrs. to 1200 hrs.:hmm3grin2orange:




Mr. HE

 

[Dozer Man]

J Model rep

COraghorn keep this in mind... If you are comparing a ProXL to a SuperSplit, then you need to compare it to the "J model" SS. That is the machine it was copied from. The SS HD is even more of a splitter than the J model. Before you go investing into the long DR warranty, you have to ask yourself how much wood you intend to process per year. As for me, 10 to 20 cord per year in 5 years puts me at 50 to 100 cord (which is where I believe the problems have been showing up with the DR in commercial use). At that point it would be out of any plausible warranty. And don't forget that if you sell firewood, then technicaly it is commercial use, which limits your warranty greatly (I won't tell either).

It was at that point in my research that I started searching the forums for disgruntled SS owners for comparison... I'm still looking.

 

[COraghorn]

Thanks for the info everyone!
I'm going to call Super Split tomorrow and see what Paul has to say about my types of wood/volume, I am leaning towards the super split at this point, it's either that or the north star 37ton w/4way.....
Problem with the north star is by the time I have it shipped here and put 9 gallons of hydraulic oil in it I've just about paid for a Super Split

 

[sunfish]

Well, morning does last from 0600 hrs. to 1200 hrs.:hmm3grin2orange:




Mr. HE

I thought about that... After I posted. :msp_biggrin:

 

[sunfish]

Thanks for the info everyone!
I'm going to call Super Split tomorrow and see what Paul has to say about my types of wood/volume, I am leaning towards the super split at this point, it's either that or the north star 37ton w/4way.....
Problem with the north star is by the time I have it shipped here and put 9 gallons of hydraulic oil in it I've just about paid for a Super Split

Always good to talk to Paul...

Absolutely no way I could go back to a hydro (any size, any brand), after using the SS for 2.5 years. :msp_wink:

 

[KiwiBro]

It was at that point in my research that I started searching the forums for disgruntled SS owners for comparison... I'm still looking.

Hey, I've complained to everyone who will listen about my SS. There's no end of complaints about it. they go like:

1. Now I've got two bottle-necks (one either side of the splitter) whereas before in big wood i just had one (the hydro splitter)
2. everyone keeps wanting to borrow my splitter
3. I can't get much work done some days when fresh onsite as people can literally come out of the woods to yak about the splitter
4. Every bugger can't believe it will handle anything they can lift on the table and takes that as a challenge, which means I have to stop work and let them have a go, slowing me down. I've gotten around that by getting them to pony up some $ as a bet. This helps compensate me for the downtime.
5. One firewood retailer tried to screw me down on price of the wood I was wholesaling to him when he found out what I'm knocking out per day.

 

[Como]

"Is this 6 cords all that you have split with the DR or just what you have split recently? "

That is 6 cords with the DR. We only recently converted our fireplace by installing an insert. Prior to that, I either bought wood or simply burned 4 to 6 inch rounds cut on my property. I've used other splitters over the years, but this is the first one I've owned.

View attachment 271831

I think I have split 30 ish cords this year.

I did a trial and that little pile took 6 minutes, most of my wood is c24 inch length, I do cut some smaller which obviously increases time. And I am probably older than most on this board and at 10,000ft we have little oxygen.

I do have one larger pile left but it is at the back and my truck is in the Garage so I am going to wait until I can drive it around, dragging that puppy uphill hurts. As I mentioned in another thread I prefer bigger rounds, one lift. The main issue is picking them up.

Now the morning comment was in response to 2 people doing it, 3 hours seems long enough for 2 not rushing. 16 inch and maybe 4.

View attachment 271837

285 in the background.

I am in..

Wait for it....

Como.

 

[Como]

With many hundreds of cords through my SS, I find that claim a bit hard to swallow. That equates to about my record for a day's production in a near perfect-case scenario with little down time, perfectly sized wood cut and stacked ready for splitting.
If that's a regular morning in regular wood for you, can you please describe your set-up or post pictures? Thanks. It would be great to learn how that is achieved. I know we don't often get perfect wood or conditions here for setting records, so it's always great to see how good others have their set-up.

Well it depends on the length you cut, as I mentioned for my main stove I use 24, the small one 16 or smaller and the Boilers will take 32.

The time is cutting and moving, splitting is the quick bit.

Where my wood was is on a slope so first I blocked then I started at the top with the tray uphill and worked my way through leaving a trail of split wood behind me. Often the splitter moves itself, otherwise it is a quick tug to move it back a foot.

My plan next time, I have only half a cord wood left to split, is to keep the splitter stationary, split into dino bags which just arrived. Wood logs to be cut to length as I drag them off truck/trailer.

And get a helper to pick them up, place them on the tray, the bit that hurts.

Most of my wood in the future can be up to 32 with some 16.

Plus in my favour:
Mainly Pine, some Aspen and Doug Fir.
Well seasoned.
Minuses
My age!
Altitude, lose about 30% power on splitter and chainsaw and me.