Harbor Freight Wood Splitter - anyone own one?

mahlers · Nov 17, 2005

I'm in the market for a new wood splitter, and the ones at Harbor Freight seem too good to be true. They have a 30 ton unit with a Robin engine for about a grand. Spec for spec, the unit compares with offerings from other manufacturers that cost in the neighborhood of two grand. Has anyone out there ever bought one of these (any of them) units, and was it worth the money? So far, everything I've bought from Harbor Freight has been so so on the quality - but it got the job done. If I can save a grand and still get the job done, I might just do it.

woodlot · Nov 18, 2005

I THINK those are Speedco (sp?) brand. The local co-op sells those too. I've checked them out and they look nice.

PS - A few years back I bought one from Northern Tools. I think is was their cheepest one, like 849 on sale. It has a honda engine. I've put about 35 cords through it and it works great. The bracket that holds the gas tank did break, but it was inexpensive and easy to fix. good luck.

stevenf · Nov 18, 2005

mahlers, I have a post going under attachments so you may not read it but I was determined to get a 3pt logsplitter for my tractor until I wandered into Lowe's yesterday. In our area they are getting out of the Troy Bilt/MTD splitters they only had the demo 27 ton left it was original $1499 on sale for $1199 on clearance for $999 and when I showed an interest in it the gal marked it down to $800. It is on a trailer with lights and the whole bit and looks pretty well built although replacing the wedge looks like maybe an issue it is bolted to the ram and is made out of forged metal as a one piece slider and wedge but I'd expect parts will be available for a long time it is identical to the ones that Home Depot sells with the MTD label. I took it home and split a cord or so with it last night and I really like it especially for $800. I don't know if you have a Lowe's in your area or if they are clearing them out there but it might be worth checking into.
Steve

mahlers · Nov 18, 2005

Thanks Steve, I'll check them out!

KubotaSteve · Nov 18, 2005

My dad bought one several years ago from Harbor Freight. For the price, it was a decent unit. However my dad used it, then let my uncle use it, and then his friend. This has went on every year for several years. If you are going to use it for yourself, it should last quite a while. But after 8 to 10 years of the above, the cylinder went bad, the valve assembly went out, the coupler from the engine to the pump went out and the return line broke where it goes back into the tank and had to be welded. Not to mention the many bolts that have been snapped off. The good news is all of the problems were easily fixed. If he had it to do all over again, he would still have went with the Harbor Freight. Needless to say, it may have been abused a little bit here and there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Good luck!

Logan · Nov 18, 2005

I have had a 30 ton 8 hp Briggs engine splitter for a couple of years. It is very heavily built and performs perfectly. I had considered building one, but for the difference I decided to take a chance and buy this one from Harbor Freight. I'm glad that I did. It will probably outlast me. I have no complaints at all. I paid $1,000 and shipping was free. I think that you can still get them for that price if you catch them on sale.

mahlers · Nov 21, 2005

Thanks everyone for the input! I checked out the units at Lowes, and unfortunately they are selling at retail - no closeout around here. The splitters at Harbor Freight are looking pretty good - the OHC Robin engine is a winner, and even though the Haldex pump isn't quite the best (it's very good, though), a grand is a good price for a 30 ton unit. Given the resources, I'd rather go with a Split-Fire splitter, but those are way out of my price range. And, if Amazon didn't just change it's shipping policy to charge extra for oversize items, I'd get one of their Swisher units - but the shipping pretty much kills the good price. I think it's going to be the HF splitter at this point... If I go through with it, I'll post my impressions after putting it to use.

1962 · Nov 22, 2005

i have never checked out the harbor freight splitters, but those robin gas engines are good quality. i built my own splitter 6 years ago and put a new 11 hp robin engine on it. at just over 200 hours the only thing i had to repair was the pull starter rope, which cost .85 cents.

CTyler · Nov 22, 2005

I have the same one....had mine for two years now. Have split 12-13 cord of wood so far. The Briggs always starts good and runs well and has plenty of power. There hasn't been a single knotted, twisted nasty piece of wood it won't split. Most of the time it just breezes along.