I burn hedge an anyone that has split some knows it's about as knotted as wood gets. Bought a 27ton gravely with a 7hp Subaru engine. It's a two stage so when the going gets tuff it kicks into lower stage and grunts thru. Love it. It also has a cradle on both sides of the beam that work great to keep the opposite side of log from falling to the ground.

Fin my 27 ton splitter was around $1400.00 15-20 years ago. It is a vertical and horizontal splitter. Works great. Minimal problems (can't get family or friends to use it). The splitter works great, the log splitter that is, family and friends just drink my beer.

About 7 years ago my Dad bought one for us. We got it from our local John Deere dealership. It is a Wallenstein with a honda 160 for a motor (27 ton?). Not much that it couldn't split. The one thing that I do like about it is that we have not been the best at taking care of it. Meaning we have left it outside for the last seven years and it still starts in less than five pulls. It has split 10-15 cord a year since we got it.

Not sure on the cost as we are related to the owners, lots of history with our families.

Edit: It will split vertical also.

Dirty Hands 22 OK You need the light Hyd oil or hard starting when COLD .When you pull to start it is pumping oil .direct to pump .

Have a super spit, inertia, splitter with 70 pound fly wheels, they are made in Maine. Very fast cycling. . Look for them operating on u tube. . Would keep 3 guys busy. if you can find helpers. . Only draw back , table is about 2 feet high so you have to lift rounds up. I like it , honda motor. old243

We borrowed one from a friend about five years ago. It was made from the trailer and one-cylinder Diesel engine that once powered a highway light system for DOT. It just lugged along all day long probably at about 1200 rpms. Burned about a quart of fuel I think. It was the bomb.

My dirty hands tools 27 only starts on two pulls well to about 15 degrees , it takes a bit more at 10 to start it and at Zero i have gotten it started but you can wear yourself out pulling

but it works very well at 20

hands get might cold at 0 any way

it just requires a thinner hydraulic oil ,I am running AW-32 most splitters will suffer this as they are direct drive with a love-joy connector

you can use Dextron VI if you need to run below 32 all the time 10-60 is about my operating range any way




I also run 10w30 synthetic it also works for my operation temp range

Not sure if this will answer your questions, but this is what I use and am happy with it.
Troy Bilt, 27 ton, Vertical/horizontal. Works good. I enjoy using it.
Splits hardwoods from my area. Last week, split & stacked 2 Honey Locust trees, some Ash, Cherry, Maple & Hickory.

yep,go to T.S.,drop a grand and live happily ever after.

I have a 35 ton Huskee by Tractor supply. They have discontinued the name and now sell them as County Line. Mine starts second pull EVERY time and is stopped by nothing. They are a rebranded Speeco. The engine on mine is a Briggs and is the best Briggs I have ever used.

Depends on how much wood you split vertical or horizontal are you handy with a wrench how long you plan on using it how fast of a cycle time you looking for
Splitters are like traps lots of opinions out there
I have used quite a few even built one
Just purchased a wolf ridge similar to timber Wolfe
But cheaper log lift 4 way wedge it’s fast
I can’t say enough about it
I’m from pay your welcome to come see and try it
I put up about 15-18 cord a year
What ever you decide you get what you pay for

you are welcome to come out and test mine for a couple days.

I have a Super Split also. Mine is electric tho.

I used to use a Big POWERFUL hydraulic splitter. It was painfully slow and noisy. You had to use ear muffs cause after listening to it run for a couple of hours your ears would buzz. I wouldn't doubt it could split a log across the grain it had so much umph. Plus you had to mess with gas and oil changes etc.

The electric super split is much nicer to use, very fast, very quiet and always starts and runs when I flip the switch. Just like turning on a light bulb. Yea, it won't split the most gnarly crotchy stuff that a big hydraulic will. But in the time a hydraulic splits that gnarly crotchy thing once I can split a normal log 3-4 times. So I'm more picky about what I use for firewood. I don't even use large stuff, stuff over 16-18" round. Nothing thats not easy to lift or hold in one arm. I Don't want splitting to be a back braking exercise wrestling and rolling around chunks of wood. Thats Too much like work for me.

Now that you are this far along, take a second look at those videos and reviews. Do any of them need to haul their rounds on a skid steer? Are they splitting the same species?

For me, 35 tons, with a 30"stroke ain't too small. You might not need that much if your wood is shorter and /or straight grained.

How many of those monster rounds do you need to split? I know you don't want to try to get them onto a horizontal bed. But, maybe if it's just a few you could be better off noodling them with the chainsaw than converting the splitter between horizontal and vertical. There is a lot of bending and lifting that goes into splitting wood. I find horizontal is a lot more comfortable. I ended up putting a "lift kit" to get the bed to the right height for me, and adding a (an?) hydraulic lift arm to get the wood up to it.

For 20+ years used a splitter on back of our tractor but wanted a stand alone as the tractor gets tied up with other attachments. So 2 years ago after much research on cycle time, pump stages and pump GPM I bought this from TSC for $699 on a Black Friday deal.



The thing has split everything I have ran thru it which is 12-15 cord per year of 20" to 24" pieces. The toughest stuff it shears off more than split, this is usually fence line red elm full of limbs/knots. Kohler motor starts nice, cycle time is perfect and ability to go vertical is nice on larger pieces. No regrets getting it, especially at the sale price.

I still split the easy stuff by hand but this has been a great addition.

Dave

same here Dave,and i had one that was squeeked and put a 100 dollar predator motor on it and am honestly impressed.

i'd be surprised if my first one from TS for 1000 hasn't split that many face cord.-i sell a lot

One thing to look at when selecting a log splitter is how they are designed for you to work around...AND how they are balanced (front to back). Some have the wheels right in the way of your work space.

I went with the bigger one as well as I split quite abit of Elm and other big stuff with knots. Knots are tough.

I went with the 37 ton Northern Tool "NorthStar" brand. The wheels are square in the middle so they don't interfere with your feet, when splitting. It's also balanced perfectly, front to rear, so you can wheel it out and around by hand.

The bigger ones usually have upgraded Kohler or Honda engines instead of lawmower engines as well.

My log splitter is home made and at times tough to start when the temps drop and my tip to you is buy a magnetic block heater to attach to the engine to warm up the oil before pulling on the starter rope.
And if you ever ha v e to deal with cottonwood tree's wait until it's well below zero to try and split it can be a wreck at times.
Allan

Just an FYI - reading through these follow-on posts I realized mine is not a Toro, but a Troy-built like others have...

Thanks for all of the input guys. Weighing all of the comments and recommendations, I think I will probably go with the Champion 27 ton. If you think I shouldn't, please talk me out of it.