New splitter or engine replacement

[ChoppyChoppy]

If the lovejoy has been ran without the rubber insert, I would replace. Metal to metal wears the little forked pieces down and even using a new rubber insert, it might not last long. Replacing the whole coupling might cost a little now, but it is just money you will have to spend sooner or later anyway. Why do the job twice.

Yup. They are not all that expensive.

McMaster Carr has them.

It must have been loud with the insert blown out. I've fixed several that came in with "blown engine" complaints. That's how loud it rattled.

 

[memory]

Yup. They are not all that expensive.

McMaster Carr has them.

It must have been loud with the insert blown out. I've fixed several that came in with "blown engine" complaints. That's how loud it rattled.

It was not loud at all, there was no rattle.

With this new engine, it does not bog down anymore, the cylinder just stops moving. Now the pump is the weak point. How do I know what size pump I have on now?

 

[muddstopper]

You can probably adjust your relief pressure to get more splitting power. If you are stalling the cyl without stalling the engine, your pressure is either set to low, or your pump is worn enough that it isnt capable of makeing a lot of pressure. If you are just stalling the cyl, you should be able to hear a whine as the oil is bypassing over the relief. Using a guage will let you know how much pressure your pump is producing, but I usually just adjust by ear. You can run the cyl all the way out, without any wood and adjust the relief until it stalls the engine and then just back the relief off until the engine doesnt die. This will be the maximum amount of pressure your engine can produce. Warning, bad or low pressure hoses can burst using my relief adjustment methods. Also if your engine is over powered for the pump, it would be possible to bottom out the relief without stalling the engine. This could bust the pump. In other words, to much pressure and something is going to break. I suspect the mtd machine has a 11gpm two stage pump and at 20years old, the pump might be a little tired, so I would just adjust the relief and see what happens.