New SpeedPro Kinetic Log Splitter from TSC...

[D&B Mack]

Taking a rotating gear and forcing it into a stationary rack. No clutch to help with engagement. Makes me wonder how any of these last long term, but apparently they do ? (Some models ?)

I don't think you could really have one beyond the belt. This would reduce the force placed on the round when contacted and limit your splitting ability. Just like anything else it is a wear part. The question is, how long of wear will it take?

 

[Jester3775]

I don't think you could really have one beyond the belt. This would reduce the force placed on the round when contacted and limit your splitting ability. Just like anything else it is a wear part. The question is, how long of wear will it take?

I take it you mean the belt as the clutch ?
Yeah not sure there is anything to do about it, Its just when I was thinking about how it actually works it kind of blows my mind. (jamming gears together)
I wonder if an electric clutch like on air conditioning in a car and or on commercial mowers for blades.....................

and curious

 

[Cmccul8146]

Jester, there is a clutch on the engine for driving the flywheels. There is very little
"grinding the gears" if the backlsah is set correctly. The reason they don't grind, is that the rotating pinion gear is mounted in bearings & does not move, only rotates. When you engage the gears, the movable rack gear, starts moving the instant the teeth engage enough for contact with the pinion teeth. As you fully push or pull the lever you get full tooth contact & complete the cycle. One quick push or pull & it's engaged. You might get some gear grinding if you're too slow on the handle. By the way, you surely don't want to put an electric clutch on these machines. They are not designed to slip easily like centrifugal clutches, & you'll break teeth every time you hit a knotty, gnarly round.

 

[pops21]

Well I just got back from tractor supply and found out the speedpro has a RECALL. They pulled the display to the back and were told not to sell another one till further notice. I read the recall paper they had printed off and it had something to do with the teeth being to small on the ram. It said right on the paper to offer FULL refund on ALL speedpro's sold. The manager said he saw this comming. He said too many customers mentioned after seeing the video that it could really hurt someone with the speed and got a hydro instead.

We ended up getting a 22T huskee.:msp_biggrin:

 

[D&B Mack]

I take it you mean the belt as the clutch ?
Yeah not sure there is anything to do about it, Its just when I was thinking about how it actually works it kind of blows my mind. (jamming gears together)
I wonder if an electric clutch like on air conditioning in a car and or on commercial mowers for blades.....................

and curious

What I meant was: the clutch is between the motor and the belt. Couldn't have one in the series of mechanics beyond the belt because you would lose too much force instantly upon impact. The belt, rack and pinion are all made to take this abuse, motor is not so the clutch will protect it. But if you put some sort of clutch beyond that point, it would slip too soon.

 

[KiwiBro]

Well I just got back from tractor supply and found out the speedpro has a RECALL.

Wow. Someone's backside will be taking some heat over this.

 

[ultrahd2000]

just checked our store and they didnt know anything about a recall and speed pro website has no info. Be nice to get to bottom of this.

 

[Dozer Man]

recall

Called 2 tsc stores, one had sold no speedpros and the other had only sold mine. Both said they had a stop sale on new units until further notice. They told me it was a gear/teeth issue or something of that sorts. They were to offer a full refund for all units experiencing this problem. I'll call speeco tomorrow for more insight...

 

[Circle B MN]

opcorn:

 

[TFPace]

To return or not to return

This saga keeps getting better and better.

With my handle modification I doubt they'll take it back. An hour or three and I'd it looking factory.The problem with mine is that I have had zero problems. The recall that SpeeCo has implemented is a smart one albeit a pricey one too.
I registered my machine online and haven't heard from them. I probably will not hear unless I complain of problems?

What sucks is that this is a great machine. Sadly, it's was one of the few that left the factory properly assembled.

 

[Mntn Man]

This saga keeps getting better and better.

With my handle modification I doubt they'll take it back. An hour or three and I'd it looking factory.The problem with mine is that I have had zero problems. The recall that SpeeCo has implemented is a smart one albeit a pricey one too.
I registered my machine online and haven't heard from them. I probably will not hear unless I complain of problems?

What sucks is that this is a great machine. Sadly, it's was one of the few that left the factory properly assembled.

They will take it back. They don't want the liability out there. I saw today that the one at our local store is still sitting out front. I should go buy it.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Dozer Man]

I hear ya...

This saga keeps getting better and better.

With my handle modification I doubt they'll take it back. An hour or three and I'd it looking factory.The problem with mine is that I have had zero problems. The recall that SpeeCo has implemented is a smart one albeit a pricey one too.
I registered my machine online and haven't heard from them. I probably will not hear unless I complain of problems?

What sucks is that this is a great machine. Sadly, it's was one of the few that left the factory properly assembled.

Curious to what they will change or replace (drive pulley?? throttle reduction?? rack/pinion?? linkage?? whole thing??). Hopefully they had a plan in mind before they made it official (and get it right the 1st time). I've only got 3+ cord so far. Been to busy to use it. Except in short spurts, can't split after dark and don't want to in the rain.

:eek2::msp_confused::eek2:

(make that 4+cord...just measured my ricks/stacks)

 

[fox2]

Recall

I have been using my splitter (and breaking it apparently) and thus have delveloped a contact at Speeco. My splitter is at the shop now being repaired. For all those interested, this is offically a stop sale, not arecall. Speeco has seemingly discovered the issue causing the broken teeth. They are having each splitter repaired individually. The 'recall' seems to be an internal correspondence from TSC to cover their butts for liability. Each store should be (once the ball gets rolliing) sending each unit to a repair facility locally on Speeco's dime, then they SHOULD get all the units back and begin selling them again. Mine is at the shop now sort of 'overriding' the store safety measure so when I get it back in a week or two (hopefully) I can post their 'fix' for the teeth issue. Mine had a couple of other issues that need fixing as well.
I did confirm with Speeco, however, that this is a stop sale not a recall and any refund being given is at the discression of TSC. If you like your Speedpro, call Speeco and see if you can keep it and have it fixed. They should just tell you to drop it off at a local facility for it to be fixed.
I know for sure I CAN NOT go back to splitting with a hydraulic splitter so I am just going to wait it out and hope for the best. If this does not work out I may just upgrade to a DR Rapid Fire or Super Splitter but for the price I hope Speeco can rectify the situation.

 

[salto_jorge]

Due to the higher kinetic energy, one would assume that the rack plus any of its small parts are taking a lot of abuse.

I have tightned the bold holding the front spring steel strap a few times on the front of the rack.

I wonder if modifications would void any of the warranties ?

I tweaked mine and added some extra nuts/bolts to hold the cover together better, so it would not have an issue towing at down the highway at 55+. Another note is that you may want to use a bungee cord to hold the rack handle down when towing so the rack is not bouncing and hitting the pinion, noticed that at 45mph on a dirt road.

PS: Running the engine at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle slows down the kinetic energy thus the speed that the rack lunges out of the clamshell at.

 

[TFPace]

Type of repair

Fox2,

Did your contact tell you what exactly the repair consists of?

I am all about them making the improvement my keeping the splitter.

I just returned from TSC that I bought my machine from and the manager was a little vague. He opened up the page for the "stop-sale" bulletin on the splitter and did mention that it was not recall too.

He said for me to keep using it and I would hear from TSC about what to do.

 

[Dozer Man]

I feel better...

Fox2,

Did your contact tell you what exactly the repair consists of?

I am all about them making the improvement my keeping the splitter.

I just returned from TSC that I bought my machine from and the manager was a little vague. He opened up the page for the "stop-sale" bulletin on the splitter and did mention that it was not recall too.

He said for me to keep using it and I would hear from TSC about what to do.

Talked to the tech. serv. rep. from speeco today. He said that speeco has only issued a stop sale for now. Not a recall. Any recall or refund offer is strictly through TSC. The rack is the issue. More than likely they are gonna replace all the racks (poor heat treat issues...where have we heard that). He said they will probly replace the ones on unsold machines and then either replace, or hopefully just send a replacement, for all sold units. He assured me that speeco wants to rectify this issue in a timely manner and keep all of us happy. Speeco sells a lot of splitters, they don't want to tarnish their name. He made me feel pretty good about it.

 

[TFPace]

Great news

DozerMan,

Thank you sir for the update. I couldn't agree more that SpeeCo understands the seriousness of getting this issue resolved not to mention that TSC is most likely their #1 retail partner too.

Heat treat issues don't surprise me either. The TSC manager mentioned the "repair center" in my area would make the mod. This is a local two man shop that does warranty work for Lowes & Home Depot I would just assume do my own R/R but I bet that will not happen.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Dozer Man]

Heat treat issues don't surprise me either. The TSC manager mentioned the "repair center" in my area would make the mod. This is a local two man shop that does warranty work for Lowes & Home Depot I would just assume do my own R/R but I bet that will not happen.

Thanks,

Tom

Ya I agree, the "repair center" closest to me is just a little lawm mower repair shop. Nothing against them at all, but I'm sure they have never seen a kinetic splitter, let alone worked on one. We have more experience with them than they do. But, they need to learn too, there's not much to these machines. It would be nice to just have the part in hand and fix it myself (i'd enjoy it as i'm sure you would too). We can hope for it though.

 

[fox2]

Repair

As mentioned/suspected, it is a heat treating issue, which I confirmed with Speeco this morning. Basically the repair consists of replacing the rack with a better one which means basically taking out a bolt so even if a shop has never seen a kinetic splitter they should be able to handle the repair. On a side note, I was told none of the new racks were available yet so Speeco does not know what time frame the reapir will be completed in.
Hint of advice for all those owners, I recommend taking the pusher off the beam and adding some loc-tite to the 4 little screws that hold the brass wear-strip on. Mine came loose and one cycle sheared 3 off and dug one into the wear-strip on the beam and seized the unit (took a sledge to get it unlocked). It was replaced quickly by speeco, but I added loc-tite to the new one and actually drilled/tapped some new, bigger holes in the old one.
I will let all know when my rack arrives so people have an idea as to when the repairs will begin.
On a side note, I have obtained parts directly from speeco to do work myself although this will not be the case for this problem because they are going to, through the repair shops, keep track of which units are repaired.

 

[Dozer Man]

Good to hear...

As mentioned/suspected, it is a heat treating issue, which I confirmed with Speeco this morning. Basically the repair consists of replacing the rack with a better one which means basically taking out a bolt so even if a shop has never seen a kinetic splitter they should be able to handle the repair. On a side note, I was told none of the new racks were available yet so Speeco does not know what time frame the reapir will be completed in.
Hint of advice for all those owners, I recommend taking the pusher off the beam and adding some loc-tite to the 4 little screws that hold the brass wear-strip on. Mine came loose and one cycle sheared 3 off and dug one into the wear-strip on the beam and seized the unit (took a sledge to get it unlocked). It was replaced quickly by speeco, but I added loc-tite to the new one and actually drilled/tapped some new, bigger holes in the old one.
I will let all know when my rack arrives so people have an idea as to when the repairs will begin.
On a side note, I have obtained parts directly from speeco to do work myself although this will not be the case for this problem because they are going to, through the repair shops, keep track of which units are repaired.

Ya no biggy on the part replacement, the way I look at it is if I can do it anybody can (although I could save them som expence). Thanks for the heads up on the screws also. I'll check mine before I use again.

Once again, Speeco is very big in the splitter sales and it's good to hear they are taking care of the problem.

Sorry, I have to say it, I saved over $1000 dollars, I'm still way ahead of the game. Still not disappointed with my purchase at all.