YARDMAX YS2565 25 Ton Half Beam Gas Log Splitter, 4-way wedge, Briggs & Stratton, CR950, 6.5HP, 208cc

Works like a champ.Update, after splitting several cords of wood I'm very impressed. Handled 30inch fir butt cuts easily.I would not hesitate to purchase this again. The Briggs and Stratton runs flawlessly and is much quieter than Honda. It comes with a big muffler and has plenty of power to split at half throttle without compromising speed, with no hearing protection required.The Briggs is US made, not Chinese as some have stated.The last two Hondas I've owned were not that great. One lost compression due to carbon build up on the valves due to bad valve guides, a very common issue on Hondas. The other blew the timing belt twice.The packaging was ingenious and assembly was a breeze. Don't throw away the green shipping brackets, bolt one on at the real engine bracket to hold the 4 in 1 splitter head. (See picture)The quality of this Yardmax is far superior to the junk ones I looked at in the big box stores...most had been returned for repair at a slight discount, no thanks.I am a retired heavy equipment and hydraulic mechanic, so I have pretty high standards. Honestly I wasn't expecting this kind of quality.All the threads for assembly were pre lubricated and the fasteners were decent quality. All the JIC to pipe fittings were nicely sealed with Teflon tape and nothing leaked. Don't let the half beam scare you, this thing splits with ease.

I do not rate many things but I felt I should rate this. Yes it has faults that I will address but for the money spent you cannot go wrong.Cons: Stupid 4 way splitter head. If you are only splitting say smaller logs in the 12 inch or so range then it works great. I bought a 35 ton splitter because I split much larger wood. Not worth taking a star though because I will use it for the smaller stuff.Another con would be the stand leg. This splitter is dang heavy and I am putting on a jack instead of the pivot leg. You have to tip the splitter all the way up so it rests on the back of the beam in order to pivot the leg up or down. Maybe some of you young bucks could hold it with one arm and pivot it but not meCon #3 Silly log rest tables may look good but not much help holding larger pieces to one side while splitting others. Simple fix was a larger piece of plywood bolted to the table on the engine side.Pro: I cannot state how important customer service is to me and I believe it is important to yardmax as well. They have gone far beyond what a company needs to do to keep me happy. Suffice it to say I am looking for a roto tiller and I am going to look hard at yardmax.Pro: Goofy looking spinner plate. Believe me it works. Splitting some knarly twisted poplar and dang but the wedge was following the grain of the wood instead of trying to cut through the grain. If you have ever tried to split green wood with twisted grain you know how bad it is. This spinner dodad really helps.Pro: Not sure if this should be a pro since I bought a 35 ton splitter but dang it has some mojo power and goes at it fast. My old splitter was a 22 ton that worked fine for what it was but this thing does not slow down and the ram travel speed it pretty fast.Hope this helps some folks.

This splitter is extremely well made. Even the box it was packed in was made very well. The assembly instructions were a bit confusing but not bad overall. I might argue as to it being a one person assembly job but I guess it depends on how strong you are. I have not used the splitter enough yet to comment on how well it functions. But is seems like it will certainly do the trick. I do agree with other comments I have seen that it is too bad the support leg is not an adjustable crank down type as opposed to the drop leg. It takes two people to do this process. One strong person to lift the trailer tongue and another to put the support leg up or down.

Normally I don't write negative reviews but I was really disappointed in this machine. I think the actual log splitter is well built but the Briggs engine would not start. When I finally got it to run it was very slow and had no power. The manual said this engine came from the factory ready to run with no adjustments necessary. The manual shows no carb adjustments at all. I took a chance and tried the screw adjustment on the side of the carb and screwed it all the way in to light resistance and then backed it off 1.5 turns. This did the trick and it fired up. When I was turning the set screw, I counted the number of turns in case I had to turn it back to the original setting. It turned a full 6 times until it seated! The engine is really not powerful to handle logs greater than 12 inches. I put an 18 inch log in the machine and the engine stalled out. I have not contacted the company yet so the problem could be with the engine governor speed. The throttle indicates a rabbit for full speed and a turtle for slow. It doesn't make any difference where you place the throttle it runs the same speed. Maybe this is the way it is suppose to run, but I could not find any notes in the manual on this. I am thinking of returning this item as I can just about split logs by hand vs using this splitter. I will contact the Yardmax to see if they have any solutions.This is an update to my previous review. After contacting Yardmax, they determined it was a carburetor problem and sent me a new carburetor. This machine now runs great and can split anything you can put on the stand. The only issue I had after the carburetor was the support stand. It was very difficult to extend it down while trying to hold up the tongue. I purchased a 1000 lb boat trailer jack that folds up from Harbor Freight. I can now raise and lower the machine to extend the support leg and hitch it to my garden tractor with no problems. This is a well built machine and sure makes splitting wood easy.

Assembled easily very powerful splits 24” oak rounds into quarters like butter. Great customer service had an issue with engine vibration they offered to replace the entire engine rather than repair.

I have used the log beam in the past and this 1/2 beam unit is easier to maneuver in the shed and the yard.The splitting of this 30 ton unit is excellent and the shipper was very accommodating with a delivery of something this size.I would highly recommend this product to any woodsman.