Speeco speed pro log splitter

[Greysonvalleyrr]

Came across this log splitter on marketplace, he posted it for 300.00 . He said he was afraid of it. Picked it up and it was hardly used at all. I could see why he was afraid of it. It says it takes 3 seconds from start to split to return.  It's more like 1.5 seconds. I can see why the start handle is in the back, it keeps your hands away from anywhere near the log. 

 

  

[John Mc]

That's one of the kinetic (flywheel) splitters that came on the market back when SuperSplit's patent ran out. They sold it for a couple years, then pulled it off the market. They had some quality problems. If you got one of the good ones,they hold up OK, but there were a lot of bad ones. One of the problems I recall was either the rack or the pinion gear. The had premature wear on some. I think others had problems with the gear teeth breaking.

[47sawdust]

As John said,this is a low quality copy of a SS.
I read in a recent review of the SS that Paul gets a lot of calls to provide parts for these knock offs.
If you run into problems he may be able to help.I really enjoyed using my SS,only sold it to purchase a Timber Devil with a hyd.log loader.There are pictures in my gallery of both splitters.
You do want to operate with a clear head and no distractions

[hedgerow]

The old speed pro. There seems to be a few around yet. Back after the recall and Speeco bought them back form folks and junked some new ones. I bought two for scrap price from a small engine place that was doing the first recalls for Speeco. One had the new up dated rack and pinion and the other still had the old style and neither one had ever been used. The one with the old style rack I made into a hyd cylinder splitter for a buddy and he still has it today. The one with the updated parts I put a jack shaft on it and slowed the pinion speed down so the rack engaged a lot better and I ran it for a few years as at that time we were doing a lot of ash and it would fly threw it. Over time I reworked the engagement system also to make the rack engagement smoother. I ran it probably for close to five years and it was ok and I never broke the pinion or rack. Our operation changed and it set in the shed a couple of years so I sold it. It left the area so I don't know if its still going or not. Do a little internet search there is a whole lot of information about them on another forum.   

[John Mc]

Hedgerow -

Is there an easy way to tell if you have the updated rack & pinion, or the old style?

[hedgerow]

John
I can't remember if there were different part numbers on the two different racks or not. The guy I bought them from was a service center for Speeco at the time he was a friend of a friend is the only way I even got to buy them. When the racks and pinions first started failing he changed a few and then they sent him these two new splitters from a local TSC to have the pinions and racks changed he got one done then they stopped selling them totally and told him to scrap them. The only thing I remember when I picked them up was the one that had the rack and pinion changed the parts weren't painted. We figured the one that hadn't had the up grade wouldn't last so I made it a hyd cylinder splitter for my buddy that got this dealing going. 

[Downstream]

You don't see many of those still operating today.  The speed was very fast as you noted which would lead to a tenative pull on the handle, which could resulted in a kickback as the rack and pinion did not fully engage and skipped a tooth or three.  Based on the ergonomics of how the handle actuated the kick back could be rather painful and ultimately lead to failed gear teeth.  I have pretty good background with kinetic splitters and this is one I would not use even if it was free.

[John Mc]

You don't see many of those still operating today.  The speed was very fast as you noted which would lead to a tenative pull on the handle, which could resulted in a kickback as the rack and pinion did not fully engage and skipped a tooth or three.  Based on the ergonomics of how the handle actuated the kick back could be rather painful and ultimately lead to failed gear teeth.  I have pretty good background with kinetic splitters and this is one I would not use even if it was free.

Downstream - How does this engagement mechanism differ from the SuperSplit?  The problems I had heard about it were mainly about premature wear on the pinion gear and teeth breaking on the rack or the pinion (I forget which).
I've not heard anyone complain about kickback on the handle, but then I've only known (in-person) one guy who owned one of the Speeco kinetic splitters. (I've know a few SuperSplit and DR products splitter owners.)

[Downstream]

The ergonomics of the handle for the speedpro put you in a position to have to push down on the actuation arm to cycle the machine.  Unfortunately when you don't get good engagement or it slips a tooth the the kickback forces the handle upward directly into your hand that you are pushing down.  You cannot react fast enough to get your hand out of the way.  Trust me once this happens you dont forget it.  From then on it is natural to become tenative actuating the arm which makes a kickback more likely.  On units like super split or split second they acuate by pulling up on the handle.  Any kickback in those 2 designs actually pulls the handle away from your hand minimizing the issue. I know that the split second machine was specifically designed this way and I assume supersplit was too or they just were lucky.  Also both of them use fiber stick material for the handle which also helps soften any force.  As far a rack and pinion wear I also know that there used to be one very good domestic supplier (maybe others today) of rack and pinions for this type of application but not everyone used them.  There also can be significant engineering effort to get the right set of gear parameters.  Finally all of the forces involved are speed dependent so you will notice that most good ones run slightly slower if they use a similar gear and acuation method.

[John Mc]

Thanks, Downstream. That's interesting info. I had never operated the Speeco myself, and the person I knew who had one no longer owns it.

DR Power's initial kinetic splitter offering came out when SuperSplit's patent ran out. It looked so much like the SuperSplit that I emailed both of them and SuperSplit to ask if it was just a rebadged SuperSplit (no, it wasn't). Their subsequent models have been changed, and actuation is now by moving a lever forward to split and releasing or moving it back to return. The new designs also take two hands to actuate, which has both positive and negative aspects.

[stavebuyer]

Thanks, Downstream. That's interesting info. I had never operated the Speeco myself, and the person I knew who had one no longer owns it.

DR Power's initial kinetic splitter offering came out when SuperSplit's patent ran out. It looked so much like the SuperSplit that I emailed both of them and SuperSplit to ask if it was just a rebadged SuperSplit (no, it wasn't). Their subsequent models have been changed, and actuation is now by moving a lever forward to split and releasing or moving it back to return. The new designs also take two hands to actuate, which has both positive and negative aspects.

To me the production gain on the SuperSplit over a hydraulic is equally divided between the faster cycle speed and the auto-cycle....pull up on the actuation handle and reach for the next piece to split while it cycles. Leaving body parts between the front of the wedge and the log to be split would not be pretty. 

[Downstream]

I agree on the speed factor VS hydraulic.  Once you split on a good kinetic and you get a feel for it there is no going back to hydraulic ever again.  On the auto cycle feature you could argue that once you get the hang of the different kinds of woods you are splitting then you can short cycle it on dry hardwoods and smaller splits so the as soon as the wood is driven into the wedge and it pops you let up on the handle of a unit like the Split Second and the ram returns instantly and you are ready for another split.  As far as 2 hand operation goes in todays world if you want to sell your machine in different countries VS just the US you run into a number of EU markets that require it.  There is also a potential increased liability exposure if there is a safer method in the market and you choose to not use it so larger companies will generally be more conservative and put in the safety feature.  Finally you are correct hydraulic or kinetic it is never pretty when you get in the way of the wedge/ram. 

[John Mc]

you are correct hydraulic or kinetic it is never pretty when you get in the way of the wedge/ram.

I found that out the hard way a few years ago. I was beat, ready to quit for the day after having split and filled a few trailer loads of firewood. I saw that I only needed one more row of splits stacked in the trailer to fill it. I decided to stick it out and finish up to get a full load. Big mistake. I was almost done when a log started to roll off the splitter. I grabbed it to pull it back on. I made two errors: I grabbed the end of the log, rather than the middle (at that point, I was just happy to catch it at all, rather than have to go around the splitter and get it off the ground), and I did not let go of the control lever.

I crushed my left index finger between the log and the anvil. I looked at the finger, and didn't see much damage. I remember thinking, "oh, that's going to be sore tomorrow". It wasn't until I stick my finger in my mouth that I felt something strange: I had crushed my finger until it burst across the top and down the side away from my thumb, to down past the knuckle. A trip to the ER got me stitched up. The ER Doc told me that another 1/8" of travel on the splitter and I'd have lost the last knuckle of that finger and/or been facing reconstructive hand surgery. It healed up well - the ER doc as surprised when he looked at it weeks later. I have most of the range of motion, and you have to look closely to see anything off about it. Two lasting adverse effects: the finger gets cold very easily (and I often can't feel that it's cold), and my handwriting is significantly worse (though I was never a model of good penmanship). The one upside: sometimes the finger is a good predictor of impending bad weather (my wife says soon my whole body will ache that way anyway, so no big deal).