harbor freight log splitter

[Streblerm]

Harbor Freight has recently excluded "predator power products" from their 20% off coupons. Looks like no more <$600 splitter.

 

[Philbert]

I've gotta laugh when NT says they have their own factory. I've never been impressed with any of their house brand machinery.

Jim,

I visited their Faribault, Minnesota factory and was very impressed. I visit a lot of factories, so I have something to compare it to. Very modern, up to date equipment and processes. I also saw some of their product testing, where they ran some of their stuff and some competitive products to failure for analysis. They build their red 'NorthStar' log splitters, pressure washers, and generators there, along with some of the other lines that they sell through other channels. Based on that visit, I would buy those products.

I was told that they also own their own factory in China, where a lot of their blue 'PowerHorse' and other products are made. They said that that making those 'in-house' gives them more control over the quality of these products and components than similar items made by contract manufacturers overseas. That makes sense, but I did not personally visit that location and can't personally vouch for it. I also can't tell you which items they make themselves and which are contract manufactured.

Some of the items they sell in their stores is low end stuff that I would avoid. I assume that the tractors are made in some factory somewhere that makes them under several names for several companies. Parts and support for these down the road may be sketchy, as it can be for many lower end products. But this could be a special problem for a large, expensive item you plan to keep for a while, so I would be skeptical about those as well.

Used to be different when it was Northern Hydraulics.

Same owner.

Philbert

 

[chuckwood]

Well that is.surely great news. One thing for sure is Harbor Freight sets the Gold Standard for customer service in chinese manufactured stuff. Just make sure you purchase the longest extended warranty and keep all you paperwork.

I've purchased a lot of stuff from HF over the years, and I always research the item before I buy it. I weld and I have a small shop, so I'll admit to "customizing" and modifying some of my HF stuff to make it work the way I want it to. And yeah, I bought the two year extended warranty. I do plan on working this thing hard for the first couple of years, I'm clearing out around 8 acres of wood and the byproduct will be firewood. I'll let y'all know just how this machine holds up. This year, I revived a rear tine rototiller with an HF predator engine - the original tecumseh engine blew up on me, and I'm really impressed with the Predator's performance.

 

[WoodTick007]

I've purchased a lot of stuff from HF over the years, and I always research the item before I buy it. I weld and I have a small shop, so I'll admit to "customizing" and modifying some of my HF stuff to make it work the way I want it to. And yeah, I bought the two year extended warranty. I do plan on working this thing hard for the first couple of years, I'm clearing out around 8 acres of wood and the byproduct will be firewood. I'll let y'all know just how this machine holds up. This year, I revived a rear tine rototiller with an HF predator engine - the original tecumseh engine blew up on me, and I'm really impressed with the Predator's performance.

Take it back at the end of two years and exchange the engine. They will do it with very few questions asked

 

[Jim Timber]

Jim,

I visited their Faribault, Minnesota factory and was very impressed. I visit a lot of factories, so I have something to compare it to. Very modern, up to date equipment and processes. I also saw some of their product testing, where they ran some of their stuff and some competitive products to failure for analysis. They build their red 'NorthStar' log splitters, pressure washers, and generators there, along with some of the other lines that they sell through other channels. Based on that visit, I would buy those products.

I was told that they also own their own factory in China, where a lot of their blue 'PowerHorse' and other products are made. They said that that making those 'in-house' gives them more control over the quality of these products and components than similar items made by contract manufacturers overseas. That makes sense, but I did not personally visit that location and can't personally vouch for it. I also can't tell you which items they make themselves and which are contract manufactured.

Some of the items they sell in their stores is low end stuff that I would avoid. I assume that the tractors are made in some factory somewhere that makes them under several names for several companies. Parts and support for these down the road may be sketchy, as it can be for many lower end products. But this could be a special problem for a large, expensive item you plan to keep for a while, so I would be skeptical about those as well.



Same owner.

Philbert

Yes, those are quite different than their sand cast iron machinery which I'm more likely to be in the market for. Thin castings, weak and flexible drill press heads, concave Blanchard ground tables, the list of flaws goes on and on.

Northern Hydraulics was a different business model. They focused on carrying higher quality products, and had a much smaller catalog of offerings. Now they've expanded into all sorts of junk and their sales staff is about as useful as Radio Shack (who also morphed into something useless from having had a past of better days).

 

[chuckwood]

I saw harbor freight has a good looking log splitter for a great price. Do any of you have any experience with one?

http://m.harborfreight.com/20-ton-log-splitter-61594.htmlhtml

I picked mine up today at the ConWay freight terminal in Knoxville. It comes in a wooden crate wrapped in cardboard. They loaded it in my trailer with a forklift, weighs around 450 lbs. Got home, took the crate apart while it was on my trailer, and got everything out except the hydraulic cylinder/ram assembly, which weighs around 225 I've read. I used the front end loader and some straps to pick it up and set it on the frame we assembled. It took around 4 hours I guess to put it together, with my grandchildren helping. Tomorrow I'll get the hydraulic fluid, start it up and see what it will do. I like the design in that it splits both ways, seems more efficient to me. Two stage 8 gpm pump. I'm clearing woods and most of my trees are small/medium size, I'm too skeered to mess with the big monster trees anyhow and I'm gonna leave most of them alone. I figure a 20 ton splitter should be adequate for my project. I'll be pushing it hard, if I have to make a claim on the two year extended warranty, I'll report on what happened. So far, I've got a good feeling about this machine.

 

[Jim Timber]

I'll be looking forward to hearing what you think of it after it's split some wood. The video's thus far are promising.

 

[chuckwood]

I'll be looking forward to hearing what you think of it after it's split some wood.

I've been splitting with it yesterday and today. So far, so good. It does have one issue that I've had to deal with. With most splitters I've seen, the hydraulic fluid tank is box shaped. With this unit, the tank is thin shaped but quite long, and is mounted above the axle. The fill plug is located at one end of this long tank, and the plug is vented. If you position the splitter on a slope with the fill plug/vent on the down slope end, hydraulic fluid will spray out of the vent hole. I guess there is pressure inside the tank. The manual does say to use it only on level ground, and this is a bit of an issue for me because my ground ain't that level. I can always take a small jack with me and level it though. The predator engine always starts on the first pull, which I'm not that used to with most of my other engines. After the first oil change, I'm thinking of running synthetic in it for easier starting if we have a bitter cold winter, which appears to be what we are in for.

 

[Philbert]

The fill plug is located at one end of this long tank, and the plug is vented. If you position the splitter on a slope with the fill plug/vent on the down slope end, hydraulic fluid will spray out of the vent hole.

Can you plumb in a short extension, to effectively raise the filler cap opening? Just a thought.

Philbert

 

[chuckwood]

Can you plumb in a short extension, to effectively raise the filler cap opening? Just a thought. Philbert

Yeah, that would be easy to do. Good idea, I'm gonna try that.....

 

[Ayatollah]

I've been splitting with it yesterday and today. So far, so good. It does have one issue that I've had to deal with. With most splitters I've seen, the hydraulic fluid tank is box shaped. With this unit, the tank is thin shaped but quite long, and is mounted above the axle. The fill plug is located at one end of this long tank, and the plug is vented. If you position the splitter on a slope with the fill plug/vent on the down slope end, hydraulic fluid will spray out of the vent hole. I guess there is pressure inside the tank. The manual does say to use it only on level ground, and this is a bit of an issue for me because my ground ain't that level. I can always take a small jack with me and level it though. The predator engine always starts on the first pull, which I'm not that used to with most of my other engines. After the first oil change, I'm thinking of running synthetic in it for easier starting if we have a bitter cold winter, which appears to be what we are in for.

My brother-in-law has a HF splitter, and I've borrowed it. My experience with it has brought me to the conclusion that it spits fluid out because the RPM's are too high. When it does this, the fluid is usually too hot from same. Slow it down slightly and see if that doesn't cure your problem. Other issues I've seen with this machine were that the big steel plate on the end bent a little and isn't stright. I think it might be a little too weak of steel. Also, the pressure control spring bolts have vibrated loose several times. And lastly, the position of the hoses are in the gravity zone of falling wood after splitting. It needs a shield or platform

 

[chuckwood]

My brother-in-law has a HF splitter, and I've borrowed it. My experience with it has brought me to the conclusion that it spits fluid out because the RPM's are too high. When it does this, the fluid is usually too hot from same. Slow it down slightly and see if that doesn't cure your problem. Other issues I've seen with this machine were that the big steel plate on the end bent a little and isn't stright. I think it might be a little too weak of steel. Also, the pressure control spring bolts have vibrated loose several times. And lastly, the position of the hoses are in the gravity zone of falling wood after splitting. It needs a shield or platform

Well, we spent the better part of the day splitting with this new HF splitter. Since I'm breaking in the engine, I'm running it at about half throttle, so I don't think it's rpm's making it spit hydraulic fluid. It only happens if I tilt the machine sideways with one wheel higher than the other, and the lower wheel is where it spits. I'm assuming that all hydraulic fluid tanks must have a vent. If the big steel plate on the end bends too much, then the cylinder will bind and hang up in the heavy steel frame it moves through, there's not much clearance there. After my two year warranty has expired, I'll weld on it and beef it up with more plate. If anything bends or breaks before that, HF is gonna give me a new splitter - or I ain't ever buying any more two year warranties from them. I'm not sure what pressure control spring bolts are, but I have noticed a couple of bolt heads on the pump, one on each stage. Yes, the position of the hoses and the motor are in the gravity zone of falling wood, and this is a typical Harbor Freight situation where you have to "improve" their product to make it perform better, I like tinkering in the shop so the next project is to fab up some shields, I already know where I will be bolting on the brackets for the shields. Today, we split a big bunch of elm and hackberry, and the machine did well. It groaned and moaned through some of them, using the second stage of the pump. So far, so good. Here's a pic of today......

 

[dave_376]

FYI they are on sale for 699 with a coupon

 

[Montana Squatch]

How's the splitter holding up? Thinkin of getting one.

 

[chuckwood]

How's the splitter holding up? Thinkin of getting one.

With mine, so far, so good. A few days back I split some tough, stringy hickory with it, and it did just fine. Every now and then I got a knotty round stuck on the splitter, one that I should have noodled instead of trying to split. Since the splitting wedge travels in both directions, all I have to do is reverse it and it will push itself back off the wedge. On a conventional design, I have to stop and get a sledge hammer and beat the stuck round off the wedge. As soon as the two year warranty expires, I plan on welding some more steel plate here and there on the unit to beef it up some. I also plan on installing some metal shields around the motor and hydraulic hoses to prevent rounds from falling off there and smacking into em. I'm really impressed with the predator engine, it starts on the first pull, even in cold weather. I run pure gasoline in all my small engines.

 

[Montana Squatch]

How much was the 2 year coverage? 10%?

 

[chuckwood]

How much was the 2 year coverage? 10%?

As I recall, the 2 year extended warranty was 129 dollars. That's about 10% of the regular non sale price of this splitter. It was worth it for me because I plan on using this machine pretty hard, I'm clearing woods right now and firewood is a useful byproduct. I heat with wood and so do some friends and relatives. I'm gonna be the wood Santa for a while. I've heard that HF is pretty good about honoring extended warranties, so if I break it, they'll buy me another one. We'll see what happens.

 

[KMatt]

I read this whole thread. Pathetic I know. From the comments you'd think that Briggs engines are complete garbage, and Honda engines must be assembled by Jesus, in Germany, with Swedish components. I only have experience with one Honda GX engine. I'm sure most are excellent, this one isn't. It's on an I/R air compressor. Sometimes it's one pull and it's running, then it's one pull and running and dies after 30 sec. And then some days it won't start, at all, no matter how much I cuss. The only positive about this engine is once it has ran for 2 minutes or so, you know it's in a good mood. I cannot figure it out.

Then the Briggs engines. Maybe I'm lucky, idk. But, I've never owned one that gave me problems. Can't remember ever using someone else's that wasn't dead reliable. Currently I think I own the most reliable sub 6 hp engine in existence. It's a Briggs on a push mower of all things. I'd bet a 100 dollar bill it could set for a month, prime it twice and it's going to run on the first pull, no choke. I have not used the choke on this engine in years.

 

[chuckwood]

I read this whole thread. Pathetic I know. From the comments you'd think that Briggs engines are complete garbage, and Honda engines must be assembled by Jesus, in Germany, with Swedish components. I only have experience with one Honda GX engine. I'm sure most are excellent, this one isn't. It's on an I/R air compressor. Sometimes it's one pull and it's running, then it's one pull and running and dies after 30 sec. And then some days it won't start, at all, no matter how much I cuss. The only positive about this engine is once it has ran for 2 minutes or so, you know it's in a good mood. I cannot figure it out.

Then the Briggs engines. Maybe I'm lucky, idk. But, I've never owned one that gave me problems. Can't remember ever using someone else's that wasn't dead reliable. Currently I think I own the most reliable sub 6 hp engine in existence. It's a Briggs on a push mower of all things. I'd bet a 100 dollar bill it could set for a month, prime it twice and it's going to run on the first pull, no choke. I have not used the choke on this engine in years.

I have a big bunch of small engines on all sorts of machines, 2 cycle and 4 cycle, and by hard experience I've found that a major factor in engine performance is using pure gasoline instead of alcohol gas. I've become quite experienced in rebuilding carburetors that were clogged up by using ethanol gas. It takes less time to find and use pure gas than it does to rebuild carbs. I've got Briggs engines, and found that most are good engines, but not as good as Honda. The worst is Tecumseh, which is now out of business. I had an almost new rototiller some years back with a Tecumseh engine that blew up on me. The coil assembly vibrated off and hit the flywheel, tearing them both up and the tiller sat in the garage for three or four years. I replaced the T engine with an easy bolt on Harbor Freight predator motor I bought new for around a $100. It works great and starts on the first pull.

 

[Philbert]

The worst is Tecumseh, which is now out of business.

Tecumseh made a lot of good snowblower engines, used on Toros and a bunch of other models. Mine always started on the 1st or 2nd pull, even after 8 months of storage.
(No, we don't use snowblowers year round in Minnesota!).

Philbert