Harbor Freight 20 Ton Splitter Disassembly (slow cycle) Question

[jpsp]

Josh J. The four way wedge is shown in the bottom pic. Smaller one that ya need to click on to see full size. Wedge slips over the splitter's wedge. Had to grind off about 1/4 on each side to make fit since was mad for a different splitter. Works great for the right sized wood but I think I will weld about 3/4" of angle iron on the bottom to raise it up a little.

 

[jpsp]

13 GPM pump works fine with the stock engine. I went with 3/4 " lines to lower the pressure at the filter and to help lower the heat of the fluid. Larger diameter = less pressure and friction. I do split huge rounds with this splitter and the metal has distorted at the frame but the seals have been holding up.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Personally myself doing the woodwork alone I wouldn't mind the 24 seconds cycle, it would give me time to stack it as well, I think the 24 seconds would keep me plenty busy.

My machine has a 4.5 second cycle and i find that a bit slow!

 

[Tape]

My machine has a 4.5 second cycle and i find that a bit slow!

You're just SPOILED!!

BTW 4.5, that's fantastic

 

[nolids]

You don't get to do anything in that 24 second return because you have to hold the joy stick...

 

[PhilG]

I know this is an old thread, but thought I would add my experience with my HF splitter. to start, I am not a hydraulics guy or a machinist so forgive me in advance if I use the incorrect term(s).
I took some pictures to help illustrate my situation.

My piston inside the cylinder unscrewed from the shaft and the splitter cycled all the way to the out position (furthest from the operator) and wouldn't do anything else. After consulting the notes above and one of the members, I thought I would post some pictures to help illustrate what I did to get it back into working condition
Remove outer dust cover with Allen key
Drive inner cap to expose the retaining ring (like a snap ring but no holes in it) (note i did try to drill some holes into mine before I drove in the inner seal - don't do that)
pick retaining ring out off the groove, pro tip wear eye protection
thread in a new bolt to the inner cap and drove it as far as I could to removal using a slide hammer, but you can pull it out fairly easily so slide hammer is overkill
I used two screw drivers to rock the inner cap out of the cylinder as the o ring gets hung up in the ring groove
I found my goodies in good working order inside the cylinder so all I needed to do was reassemble.
to reassemble, I slid the locking ring onto the shaft
thread on the piston nut with some red Loctite
pry one of the locking ring ears onto one of the grooves on the piston nut
drive in the inner cap.
put on outer dust cap and the threaded allen bolt will seat the inner seal

I hope this helps someone. This saved me 325$ buying the new cylinder from HF

Thanks all!
Phil