As promised, I am going to give a review of my impressions of the shoot out between the troybilt 27 ton against the speeco 35 ton, given that my situation is muck like of the OP's.
First off, I know comparing the troybilt to the speeco is hardly comparing apples to apples.The tonnage is higher on the speeco, and the build of the splitters is hardly comparable. But I think that if you are using a mid range consumer model, its important to realize the vast difference between a true commercial grade splitter to a homeowner's version.
Here goes.
After my Troybilt splitter suffered a tragic end by tearing the trunnions from the ram, I made the repairs to the splitter and sold it on Craigslist for $700. It sold within the first two days, and I had no problems getting my asking price.I found a splitter on Craigslist earlier that had a good cylinder, but the engine was blown.I swapped the good cylinder to my splitter, sold the unit, then sold the remainder of the purchased splitter for scrap and actually came out ahead.I then purchased the speeco splitter for $1900 delivered, and used it for almost 19 hours this weekend.
My first impression of the speeco was, "oh ####, this thing is heavy". My garden tractor actually had a problem towing the thing up our gravel hill to my wood processing area, the tires spun most of the way up and I was pretty sure I wasnt going to make it up there.Creeping the last ten feet, I made it to the top.My tractor never had a problem towing the troybilt up that hill.
A total of eight cords of pecan lay up there, a species that had destroyed my troybilt, and I was anxious to see if the speeco would live up to its name and bust the wood without any complaining.
The speeco is faster in cycle time by a mere three seconds, but the difference in splitting time was astounding.Rarely did the speeco slow by dropping into the low gear, and when it did it did for a few seconds until the split began, then it plowed right through it in high gear.With the troybilt, I normally could split a cord in about two hours unless I was dealing with knarly wood, and with the pecan I was averaging about three hours plus per cord. After two hours of steady splitting, I stopped and stacked my pile, and discovered that I had indeed split almost 1.5 cords of pecan.
The height of the speeco seemed to be about six inches taller than the troybilt, making it much more comfortable to split on. With the troybilt, I had to lean over most of the time, and it was tiring on my back.I am not overly tall, I stand right at six feet, but the height of the speeco was just right for me.By days end I had sore wrists and shoulders, but my back was still in good shape.
The speeco has a much better wedge shape than the troybilt. The TB has a very short and broad shape to its wedge, and although it provides good pop for easy to split wood like red oak, it makes the splitter work for every inch in hard to split species like pecan. The speeco has a very long wedge, and is very narrow and sharp to begin with, and flares out as it approaches the point where it joins the ram.Very efficient, and very well designed.
The speeco's beam incorporates a built in log cradle by the shape of the tunnel that the ram travels in, and it provides a neat area to throw up a round and holds it until you run the ram forward.With the TB, you had to throw the round up and hold it there while you walked around the beam if you were loading from the opposite side. With the flat beam of the TB, rounds would not stay in place, and any uneven ground would make the round slide right off.Not with the speeco. Chunk a round up, and it stays centered right where you need it.
The jack stand on the TB has always been a joke.Its nothing more than a wobbly leg that falls down, and is held in place with a pin.On uneven ground, it can be a real pain to lower the leg and have it stay, and on steep ground I have often bent the pin making it impossible to pull back out when it is time to head to the house. The speeco has a real crank jack stand, and makes leveling the splitter painless.With the TB, I have always left the splitter hooked up to the the tractor for several reasons.It worked better than the jack stand, was quicker to set up, and above all it held the splitter down when dropping large 24 inch plus rounds on the beam.With a heavy round,it was nothing unusual for the round to topple the splitter right on over, and the weight of the tractor held it in place.On Saturday, I hefted a 28 inch round of heavy pecan on the splitter, and the speeco stayed right where it was supposed to.A big plus for me as most stuff I haul back is big stuff.On really heave rounds, I often will drop a plank and roll the rounds right out of the trailer on to the splitter.
The log retractor on the TB has always been a source of aggravation for me.Its made of thin material, and if the round is slightly off centered, will bend the extractor if you are forced to pull the ram back after its stuck.After pounding the extractor back into shape several times, I have found that is easier and faster to beat the round back off the stuck wedge with a maul rather than count on the extractor to do its job. The speeco has very sturdy built extractor welded to the beam, but in all honesty I never had to use it this weekend.No matter what i threw up there, I was never able to stop the wedge in anything, but there is little doubt that if I did need it, it would hold up fine.
Now, for the things I did not like about the speeco.
First off, the Briggs engine has a metal mesh screen over the muffler, just perfect to trap small scraps of wood. Three times I had to stop and extract burning pieces of wood from the muffler, so I will be taking a grinder to the screen and opening up the sides so that stuff can pass right on down instead of hanging out on the muffler.
The muffler also points straight to the ground, and I actually managed to catch a good bit of noodles on the ground on fire.I dont know if was just the intense heat from the muffler over long periods of time, or if a spark actually made it past the spark arrestor, but the fact remains I had a nice little fire going on the ground.Not good.
Fuel consumption.The speeco gobbled up a full six gallons of fuel this weekend, where as for the same amount of wood split I would have burned a little over 2 with the TB.Was it worth it?You bet. But still, if you are watching your pennies, its something that some folks may consider but I felt it was well worth the extra bucks.
Location of the hydraulic fluid filter. Where it is at, its begging to get busted off the tank by a heavy piece of wood. Located on the operators side on the front of the tank,it has no guard over it, and twice I managed to drop a chunk on it. I will be welding a guard over it to help protect it.
The channel where the ram travels in loads up with bark and debris.Occasionally you need to clean it out.Not a big deal, but something you have to watch out for.
Other than that, I liked the Speeco, and considering that I spent only $1200 after selling my TB I consider it one of my best investments.Its a very strong splitter, well made, pretty fast, and Speeco has an excellent reputation for standing behind their products.
It's over 100 ft. tall and 90 plus years old. I hate to see it go, but they don't last forever. Anyone up for a climbing/topping job ?:msp_biggrin:
