Removing motor from Hydraulic Pump on Electric log- splitter

[DoHomerSimpson]

Hi All,

This is my first post here, although I've been lurking for a while! As I'm posting from Ireland, please excuse the non US spellings that I will use from time to time.

I have an electric hydraulic log- splitter that I bought in a German low- cost supermarket that is here in Ireland (Lidl) with a 3 year warranty around 6 or 7 years ago. It has been a brilliant piece of kit that works very well. However, there are no parts available as it is probably a Chinese jobbie that was meant to last not much longer than the 3 years to which the original warranty applied. As a hydraulic valve mechanism broke on it after it was out of warranty, I bought a spare that had other problems and I harvested the mechanism already a few years ago.

My original one got flooded last year and I'd left it aside when it wouldn't work afterwards. I have now established that the electric motor is toast- full of water and rustier than the Titanic. I have a good motor on the spare that I want to transfer. When I was checking out the bad one, it was held on to the housing for the hydraulic pump by three 8mm screw-bolts that removed easily. However, removing the actual motor from the hydraulic housing was an absolute nightmare! I got it removed eventually using a lot of brute force and ignorance, but bent the shaft to the hydraulic pump in the process. That didn't bother me as the motor is scrap anyway.

However, when I went to the spare, while the 3 holding screw-bolts removed easily, I was only able to move the motor about 1-2 mm out from the housing. I don't want to use the same level of brute force and ignorance on this motor as I am afraid that I will damage it.

Is there a trick to removing these type of motors that I might use? I suspect a steady pull, with slowly increasing force would split it, but setting that up would be a bit tricky.

While my unit is not the same as this one, it is fairly close in terms of design:

http://logsplitterplans.com/manuals/owners/wel-bilt-log-splitter-6ton-141258.pdf

Any help/advice appreciated.

 

[DoHomerSimpson]

As it was awaiting moderation, this post was not published until now and is kinda buried down the stack. I hope the mods will forgive me for bumping it with this message.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Can you swap the hydraulics and all of the spare onto the splitter? Or is the "spare" completely different?

 

[DoHomerSimpson]

They're both identical make and model units. I'll name them to avoid confusion. The original splitter is S1 and the 'spare' is S2.

The hydraulic pump and its housing on S2 are cracked/ leaking so they are of no further use. I've already 'harvested' its spool valve to repair S1. Now that S1's motor is no longer usable, I want to transfer S2's motor (which I believe to be in excellent condition) onto S1. I've removed S1's motor using 'brute force and ignorance' so the hydraulic pump is prepped and ready for a transplant. The problem is that S2 doesn't want to easily give its motor up for the transplant and I want to be much more 'surgical' in its removal than I was with S1.

In summary, one way or another, the motor has to be removed from S2 and then refitted onto S1.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

If the pump is junk and made of aluminum, you could destroy it with a steel chisel and get down to the coupling itself, and then heat the coupling and cool the shaft with freeze spray... Cut the coupling, deep on both sides with a cutting disc and then split it with a chisel. Pics would help though if you can upload them.

 

[DoHomerSimpson]

If the pump is junk and made of aluminum, you could destroy it with a steel chisel and get down to the coupling itself, and then heat the coupling and cool the shaft with freeze spray... Cut the coupling, deep on both sides with a cutting disc and then split it with a chisel. Pics would help though if you can upload them.

Thanks for that. I hadn't thought of that approach. I'll take a look and see if that's a viable option, and hopefully take some photos also next time I'm at the workshop.