Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Great splitter for the price October 1, 2008
W. Mark Tschirgi (S Lake Tahoe, CA)
I purchased this splitter at Lowes, last week, and so far have nothing but positive results.I did my homework before buying, and found the reviews on Amazon, to be right on. Yes, it does have tiny wheels, I was told not to go over 45mph. The gas tank is not very big at all, but a full tank lasts me a couple hours, and by then it`s time to start stacking. The Honda motor is quiet, and has more than enough power for me.I have not found anything that I cut, that it won`t split. I burn mostly lodgepole pine, but I have split wet Jeffery pine, fir, and green lodgepole, with it, and it just cruises along. I have split about 3 cords so far, and I`m very happy with my purchase. Be sure to change the oil, after the 1st 5hrs, putting the unit in the vertical position, makes getting to the drain plug a lot easier. I also agree with one of the other reviews, the stand is pretty flimsy, I put a round under the hitch, or chaulk the wheels, and it`s more stable, but overall this splitter rocks.
Excellent splitter, so far April 22, 2008
M. Castles (CT, USA)
I split and burn about 4 chords per year in 2 stoves, and with fuel prices approaching $4/gal, I may burn more, so I needed a splitter that was more robust and powerful than my little electric. After multiple searches and phone calls, I settled on the 27 ton unit. It seemed to be a nice compromise between quality, price, power and weight (this unit is about 600 lbs). There are clearly better splitters on the market, but expect to pay $2000 plus for a Timberwolf, etc. For me, the basic homeowner, the Troy Bilt seems to fit my needs.
I purchased this splitter a week ago from a local dealer. It was the last one in stock so I got a reasonable deal, plus it was ready to go. I loaded it on my trailer for transport. Don't try to tow this unit, unless you are very close; the tires are way too small for the highway.
As the other reviewers have said, the Honda started right up and I was splitting wood. The 160cc Honda runs at a constant speed; there is no throttle, but it is relatively quite and smooth. When encountering a knot, the ram slows and the engine governor kicks in for more power. I have split 30 inch wet oak with no problem. The vertical position is a back saver.
I have split about a chord of wood so far with no problems. One observation is that the unit must be perfectly level or hydraulic fluid will escape through the vent hole in the plug when the fluid gets hot and expands. Other than that, no problems.
A couple of features I would like to see are a sturdier stand, the current fold down stand is kind of flimsy and the other feature would be an auto return of the ram. That would save some time. Other than that, I have no complaints about the unit, and I am quite critical of equipment quality and performance. It seems to be a good value for the homeowner, but I am sure it would not hold up to heavy use, as reflected by the price.
Bottom line, this is an excellent splitter and exceeds my expectations. As stated, I have split about a chord, so I will know more in a year.
 Don't consider anything less than this 27 ton for fir, oak, dry. April 10, 2008
Michael E. Wright (Silicon Valley, CA, USA, proud to be an American)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Other reviewers indicate that it has plenty of power. I find it just strong enough for green rounds. It is adequate, just barely so, for dry oak, madrone, douglas fir, etc, and even green knotty sections of douglas fir up to 2 foot diameter range. There will generally be a few pieces that I have to give up on. It will generally split these woods up to any size that I can manage to roll to the splitter when wet, it has split up to 1 meter/yard green rounds in redwood and madrone and douglas fir. It has no issues running 24x7. The faster cycle time of the 9HP did speed the jobs by 5 or 10%.
I've used a 9HP 33 ton splitter and have owned this 5.5 HP 27 ton splitter for most of a year. This 27 ton weighs much less than the 33 ton, so it is much easier to manually hitch to pickup on slight slope of my driveway. It costs much less and the 6.5HP lawn mower engine is is far quieter and easier to start, even grandma can start this.
Missing tail lights January 7, 2008
Charles Clausen (Grants Pass, OR USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The splitter that was shipped to me had no tail lights, though the photo accompanying the product description shows this splitter as being equipped with them. Other than this, the splitter has been excellent. Product delivery relayed through two different trucking companies was good, but info about how the product would be delivered was scanty, and I had to do some search engine detective work to figure out how to track the progress of the shipping.
Great log splitter October 30, 2007
Jerry Wiggins (Michigan, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
We shopped for a log splitter for more than a month. We looked online at Amazon.com, Sears.com, Northern.com and a few others. We also shopped locally at Lowes and Home Depot. We ended up purchasing the Troy-Bilt 160cc Honda OHC Logsplitter #24BF572B766 ONLINE directly from Troy-Bilt.com. The main reason for selecting the Troy-Bilt.com site is that they currently offer free shipping on this item. With the log splitter having a 600 pound shipping weight, this was a major cost savings. Troy-Bilt.com only paid for a shipping type that would deliver the log splitter in a truck that had no lift gate for unloading. If we needed a lift gate (and I can assure you we did) we would have to arrange for a special truck with the trucking company and pay extra for that service.
However, upon being notified that the log splitter had been shipped, I called the trucking company and learned that the truck delivering my log splitter would be equipped with a lift gate at no cost to us. Everything went fine on delivery. The unit comes pretty much assembled, including wheels. We uncrated it at the curb and pulled it manually up our 300 ft. driveway. Once in our shed, total time to complete the assembly was about an hour. After waiting a week due to weather, we finally had a chance to try it out. We (my wife and I) were able to split approximately two cords of very knotty hard pine in about 2.5 hours. Most logs were about 20" in lenth and 20" in diameter. As other reviewers have noted, the unit slows way down on very knotty logs but eventually pushes through. In a couple instances, a very knotty log did not completely split, and it was necessary to turn it around and spklit it again from the opposit side. The day after using the log splitter for about 2.5 hours, I checked the hydraulic fluid and found it down about a quart, which I added. You can destroy the hydraulic pump (which is very expensive) by using the splitter with low hydraulic fluid, and that is not covered by the warranty. So it is somthing to watch. We considered the 8HP commercial Troy-Bilt log splitter at the time we bought this one. However, after using this log splitter, I think we made the right choice. This log splitter is for home owner (not commercial) use, and that is pretty much how we will be using it. The extra cost of the commercial unit would not be justified for us. All told, we are very satisfied with our purchase, and would highly recommend this to anyone needing a log splitter.
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