Flatface connector problems

[bobbie-g]

I have had three flatface connectors go bad in the past few months. The failure mode seems to be O-rings getting a chunk taken out of them when the connectors are being mated or unmated. It has always happened when the connections were difficult to make (still a little pressure on the lines). The two females that went bad were from Skidsteer Solutions, only a few months old (my next email is to them), and the male that went bad is about two years old, from Bobcat. None of the connectors have more than maybe 20 or 30 mate-unmate cycles on them, and have not been abused in any way (no heat, very little dust, no sideways force, no mechanical abuse, didn't pry on the connectors with a screwdriver, etc). The hydrostatic fluid was changed 18 months ago and I used Bobcat Hydrostatic fluid. Anyone else have this problem, or have an idea what I'm doing wrong? Tnx, ---Bob

 

[Tazza]

The female ones, did you replace the male fitting that went into it?
I have had problems like this on *normal* fittings when the male connector ate the female ones quite often. You would be working away and then it would start to leak, then keep going and it would get worse, then it would gush out. Time to replace the O ring and all was well for a while. This was a worst case situation as i could see the fittings were damaged, O rings were a quick fix.
I can't see the fact that the lines still had pressure in them could cause the O rings to be damaged as they aren't close enough to the locking lugs to be damaged as far as i'm aware.
Any other ideas?