Log splitter problem.

[dodge man]

Kind of a minor issue with the auto return on my splitter. In the horizontal position the auto return works fine. In the vertical position it doesn’t. It might return a few inches or most the way but hardly ever all the way. It goes into the detent but then pops out. I think it’s because when my splitter is vertical it shakes a lot. The hydraulic cylinder is pinned at the top but it has some play. I think it’s suppose to be this way but when vertical the hydraulic cylinder shakes a little and I think this just shakes it out of detent. I’m not sure about this.

A couple of pictures. One close up shows the valve, which has a cap on top. With the cap off there is an adjustment, which shows in the last picture. I assume this controls the pressure but am not sure. Either way not a big deal, I’m just wondering if there is an easy fix.

 

[sea2summit]

That should be your detent adjustment. Loosen the locking nut (big) then tighten the detent adjustment (allen), righty tighty...to tighten your detent. 1/4 turn at a time and don't loosen it while the system has pressure/flow.

 

[dodge man]

So that adjustment on top is for the detent? That’s what I was hoping to hear.

 

[Oz_Kioti]

My woodchipper (WC88 - Woodland Mills) uses a directional valve which features the same sort of arrangement to adjust the force required to move the infeed roller selector valve from one detent to another - ie Forward - Centre (neutral) - Reverse

How it works, and I discovered this only last weekend when I was tracking an oil leak: When the threaded bolt (with the Allen key head) is completely unscrewed from the sliding spool, the threaded bore in the end of the spool is only a couple inches deep. At the bottom of the bore is a reasonably close-fitting large ball bearing, with a spring up against it, and the Allen-key "bolt" applies pressure to that spring.

Now where that ball bearing sits inside the spool, there are four holes in which sit four smaller ball bearings, and if it weren't for the contact with the big ball bearing inside, they'd all fall into the bore of the spool, but the big ball bearing pushes against them and forces them outwards. What contains them is a collar with three grooves around the inside circumference. This collar is fixed relative to the body of the main valve.

Then when the operator wants to slide the spool (to re-direct the oil flow), he has to overcome the outward force being applied to one of the grooves by the four smaller ball bearings which are being pressured by the big one inside. And this is where the allen-key bolt comes in. The further in it's screwed, the more spring pressure is applied to the big ball acting on the four smaller ones, and the more force must be applied to the spool to move it from one detent to the next.

Then when you reckon you've got the tension of the spring where it needs to be, you just tighten the jam nut to lock it in place.

Clear as mud? Yeah, I thought so. Much easier to grasp when you can actually see the bits!

EDIT: And the oil leak? The o-rings sealing either end of the spool had hardened with age (three years) and needed replacing.

 

[etpm]

My woodchipper (WC88 - Woodland Mills) uses a directional valve which features the same sort of arrangement to adjust the force required to move the infeed roller selector valve from one detent to another - ie Forward - Centre (neutral) - Reverse

How it works, and I discovered this only last weekend when I was tracking an oil leak: When the threaded bolt (with the Allen key head) is completely unscrewed from the sliding spool, the threaded bore in the end of the spool is only a couple inches deep. At the bottom of the bore is a reasonably close-fitting large ball bearing, with a spring up against it, and the Allen-key "bolt" applies pressure to that spring.

Now where that ball bearing sits inside the spool, there are four holes in which sit four smaller ball bearings, and if it weren't for the contact with the big ball bearing inside, they'd all fall into the bore of the spool, but the big ball bearing pushes against them and forces them outwards. What contains them is a collar with three grooves around the inside circumference. This collar is fixed relative to the body of the main valve.

Then when the operator wants to slide the spool (to re-direct the oil flow), he has to overcome the outward force being applied to one of the grooves by the four smaller ball bearings which are being pressured by the big one inside. And this is where the allen-key bolt comes in. The further in it's screwed, the more spring pressure is applied to the big ball acting on the four smaller ones, and the more force must be applied to the spool to move it from one detent to the next.

Then when you reckon you've got the tension of the spring where it needs to be, you just tighten the jam nut to lock it in place.

Clear as mud? Yeah, I thought so. Much easier to grasp when you can actually see the bits!

EDIT: And the oil leak? The o-rings sealing either end of the spool had hardened with age (three years) and needed replacing.

Thanks for the clear description of how the detent mechanism works. I can easily picture it in my head. On my splitter the detent is a little too positive. So, after your description and the post previous to yours I will be backing off the screw to lessen the detent force.
Eric

 

[dodge man]

That should be your detent adjustment. Loosen the locking nut (big) then tighten the detent adjustment (allen), righty tighty...to tighten your detent. 1/4 turn at a time and don't loosen it while the system has pressure/flow.

I got back to using it today and this fixed it, one quarter turn.