[sledman8002002]

I need an upgrade splitter wise, for the past 3 or 4 years I've been searching for splitter with a cuffed motor but to no avail. So I'm kind of excited with the purchase of a Yardworks 25 Ton splitter on Thursday morning. We had a storm approaching that evening and into Friday, the CT store only had a few and the sale price is the best they've offered in over a year. (I'd been keeping a close eye on this model). They tend to sell quick and I wanted to get in there and snag one while I could.
It's still in the crate in the box of my truck but I plan on opening it up tomorrow after I've completed all my snow clean up.
Pics of the unit from retail page...

Just to note, pretty sure the unit is a Champion (100326) 25 ton rebadged for CT with a few differences and at a much more reasonable price.

I'll be sure to post more over the next few days.

 

[sledman8002002]

Being a balmy -10F yesterday morning at 6 am I was in no big hurry to open and unpack the splitters crate. The clear sky and bright sun helped bring the temp up considerably by 10, so I pulled the truck out and around to garage to begin my day.

Cut the straps and pried off the lid to find a well laid and packed assortment. I knew from previously helping a buddy that the I beam would be my biggest challenge for crate removal and assembly.
Not overly worried as I have a 2000lb winch mounted in my shops rafters if needed.

 

[sledman8002002]

Seeing the frost on that steel I beam I surely wasnt going to be bare-handing it. Now I was a little dis-appointed in finding accumualted ice in the belly of the beam and one bubble wrapped wheel...The crates lid does have 2 vents/visual holes in the top. Excusable tho, my local CT store is not near as large as the more modern ones in the city when it comes to warehousing, most all of their large item storage is outside which explains the melted snow/rain water/turned to ice on the beam and wheel. No real concern other than the additional weight, the engine was tightly wrapped and unaffected.

The ice was close to being 2" thick in one section.

So, my day had an unforecasted change, my quick assembly thoughts dis-appeared due to ice. I hauled everything into the shop for approx 4 hours of thaw time.

 

[sledman8002002]

Once everything had thawed and melted I proceeded with assembly. Champion really makes splitter assembly straight forward, I imagine other brands on the market prove to be similiar. Taking my time along with a coupla smoke breaks, I'd say I spent approx 1 1/2 hours to complete.
Being just after 4PM at that point, I elected to add all the fluids and run it the next day, (today).
I did manage to take a few pics in failing light...

Today is another cold,clear 0F morning with temp forecasted to 30F, it should be a nice one.

 

[sledman8002002]

Happy to report splitter is up, running and fully operational.
Hydraulic oil capacity of AW32 is just a hair less than 19 liters once cycled and purged, (Imperial measurement makes that at 4 gallons and part of a quart). Pretty much the full pail of oil.

I'm really liking the 224cc engine CPE (Champion) puts out. I have the same engine on 2 snowblowers and I run them a bit above the 3600 mark, (3800 to be exact). Both are of 2017 build date and are excellent performers to date (knock on wood...)
As expected, this one immediately fired right up. Unlike some of the earlier models, it's a fixed throttle. Too bad, I find/prefer to throttle down for start up as well as a short cool down before tappping the kill switch.
Regardless, using my 'quick attach tach' it smoothly stepped into a 3610 rpm with no load. Working the ram (again no load) it fell to 3550. I've no large rounds handy to really put a load on it as yet, but soon enough, Spring is coming. I'll throw the tach back on it at that time.
Ran it for a half hour or so, drained the conventional oil (bout half a quart) and continued running some more. Will do so again for an hour or 2 more then switch over to Quaker 5w-30 synthetic.

Anyway, all is well and good so far. This is a huge step up from my now old (2018) 6 ton foot operated electric. Not just in power ability, the difference in cycle time alone doesnt even compare.
11 seconds for the 25 vs 17/18 for the 6 ton. That may not sound like much, trust me when I say it is.
The electric has fared extremely well for me, but the 2 big storms we had in the spring and early summer of '22 has left me with 30-35 felled trees to deal with...

But for a few little protective mods I'll be fabbing up in the near future, it's already to go now with zero leaks or drips of hydraulic fluid.

As you can see, it also has a spring loaded pin on the tongue jack. It has a good sized foot and easily swings up out of out way. Works just as it should.

I have a bit more info to add but will wait until I have a coupla more pics to go with it...

 

[sledman8002002]

I wanted to touch on the tilt and split feature, the tilt option on splitters has been around for a lotta years now but Champion has improved and upgraded tilting on this model to be a much quicker and easier process.

Pic is showing the ram extended.

No more removing the retaining clip and pulling out the pin. The upgrade is to a boat trailer style spring loaded pin, much, much quicker and nicer without the worry of dropped parts when out in the field...

To lock it into the tilt position, another improvement with yet another spring loaded pin.

Champion has also provided the unit with a tilt assist shock. I cant give you an accurate weight of the I beam assembly, I'm estimating it at 250-300 lb, (it's heavy!). IMO the shock really helps with the ease in smoothly raising and lowering the beam.

So there you have it. I ran it a bit more yesterday to quicken the break in. When I next change the oil to synthetic I'll also be replacing the Torch to an NGK.
I'll be able to provide a usage review once the snow melt happens come April.

 

[sledman8002002]

Recieved a token gift from Champion yesterday...👍

Promotional item of course (for registering/review), but I appreciate their gesture. Always nice to have another T in the drawer.

 

[iowagold]

nice to have the vertical flip style.
do you have a wench on the atv for dragging the LARGE coins in to range of the wedge?

i have seen the hyd lifters for the horizontal modes.
we chunk the super large coins to under 300 lbs.
but that will still make an old man out of you after 3-5 hours of splitting and toss loading.

 

[sledman8002002]

do you have a wench on the atv

A winch yes, but I plan on pulling the splitter into the area as needed. From what I can tell/see I wont have any of those 300 lb'ers(!). If so they may get left behind or cut into shorter lengths.

that will still make an old man out of you after 3-5 hours of splitting and toss loading.

I know exactly what you mean, I may still be spry mind wise, physically I'm already there! I foresee many breaks in the future to help counter act...