harbor freight log splitter

[kevin j]

Row.Man:
Pump pics would be helpful.
If your pump is stuck in low flow mode, but builds full pressure just fine, it means the unloading valve has shifted to unload the large gear like it should, but is not shifting back. Given that you said the oil is really bad, I suspect dirt or water or rust got into the valve cartridge.

Take out the two cartridges, disassemble and clean. One will be a check valve, no adjustment, but that is probably working fine or you would not be able to develope pressure on the small gear side. You could leave that alone for now.

The other cartridge, that has the adjustment, is the unloading valve. You might not be able to totally disassemble it as there are usually wire clips or crimps for assembly, but get it cleaned and freed up and you should be back in business. I doubt very much there will be any RP parts for it if it is a chinese pump.

Then change fluid, only partially fill it, cycle a few times, dump again, refill and run it. And add a return filter if you don’t already have one.

Then only loan it out to the quality of friends you would loan a chainsaw to. Which means, very few. Just go with it and help and run it and see that it is taken care of.

 

[Jakers]

we had a lengthy discussion on this subject in another thread too. the cylinder would have to be custom built or bought factory direct for these. the wedge is welded to the cylinder wall and the fluid runs through the rod. not cheap or easy to replace. if the cylinder goes bad and you dont have easy access to cheap labor in a hydro shop, the machine is basically a throw away

 

[kevin j]

All:
Unfortunately, the cheap cylinders often use just an oring or two as the piston seal, and no wear bands or lip seals. Easy to find and replace, just not very long lived or durable or efficient. Once you have it open, you can measure the groove and bore dimensions and get replacement orings easily. The rod seal and rod wiper might be a bit more difficult, but hopefully the metric dimensions were just copied from Parker seal inch dimensions. Any good industrial supplier can get standard Parker seals and wipers. They have the bulk of the market for industrial cylinders, at least in the lower priced ‘normal’ stuff.

 

[row.man]

This is the pump, I just got the model info off the pump and searched for the manual.
The writing is Chinese, but the pictures are what I really needed, I'm a mechanic for a living, I just need a good picture to figure stuff out.
It's hard to see, but there is a larger cap under the black section in the middle of the cap.
This covers the adjustment screw.
Directly above this on the top is another plug, under it I found a small spring, like a pen would have inside, and a small piston. .
There is one more plug on top, towards the inlet port, I would guess this is the high flow, low pressure end of the pump, and the plug sits over the unloading valve.

This is the inlet screen, shown unthreaded, it is inside the round cover bolted to the hydraulic tank, that the inlet hose to the pump attaches to.
While I had it apart, I added an elbow to remove a kink in the hose, minimizing any inlet restrictions.
It has a coarse screen mesh, I tried to find a replacement, but nobody has one locally.

 

[kevin j]

wedge is welded to the cylinder wall and the fluid runs through the


ouch. that closes the door on replacement cylinder.
with welding heat distortion, and bending load from wedge putting stress into cylinder wall, i would not be optimistic about long cylinder life.
run it til she breaks i guess.

 

[Jim Timber]

Wouldn't be hard to re-engineer so it used a standard cylinder. Then again, not everyone has a machine shop at their disposal.

 

[Jakers]

The Northern Tool "Powerhorse" brand and the "Brave" brand are the same style but built with a telescoping square tube design using a tie rod cylinder. this is a much better and rebuild-able design.
4seasons pointed out some very key differences
https://www.arboristsite.com/commun...eight-log-splitter.249279/page-2#post-4647858

 

[Philbert]

The Northern Tool "Powerhorse" brand and the "Brave" brand are the same style . . .

They share some common ownership, as I understand it

Philbert

http://www.gnedi.com/Public/Portal.aspx

 

[Jakers]

They share some common ownership, as I understand it

Philbert

http://www.gnedi.com/Public/Portal.aspx

huh, i guess they also own CEI. I order all of my stump grinder teeth and brush chipper knives through them. great place and 1-3 day shipping from Rogers, MN to here

Edit: I guess they own Iron and Oak now too. their version of the 20ton dual split looks nice although strangely familiar....

 

[kevin j]

It’s not clear if they actually own these different brands or are distributors for them. sounds like it’s some of both for different brands

 

[Jakers]

It’s not clear if they actually own these different brands or are distributors for them. sounds like it’s some of both for different brands

that's kind of what I gathered from their website too

 

[Philbert]

I was told by someone at Northern Tool that there is common ownership of these companies and Northern Tool. Might be certain individuals. Might be some overlaps. But apparently, they are 'related'. This came up when NT discontinued their 'Powerhorse' 2-way splitter, but I was told that I could still get a version through GNE.

Does not offend me if they control multiple brands. Some are designed and marketed for rental use, individual use, store brands, etc., so there may still be differences between motors, pumps, gauge of steel used, etc. Just interesting to know about the common parentage if you are, in fact, looking for a 'different' manufacturer .

Philbert

 

[row.man]

Took apart the outer port, there is this ball bearing, and another spring like a spring from an automatic pen.
I cleaned the seat for the ball bearing, and really assembled it all.
Refilled the tank, and fired it up.
I think it is back to normal.