How many guys on here re-pack their own hydraulic cylinders??

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mmsllc

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Dec 29, 2015
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I've re-packed about (5) hydraulic cylinders in my time so far. I was wondering how many other guys do the same or if they get sent out to the professionals? I was also wondering if you have any tricks for successfully removing the aluminum cylinder heads without killing them when they do not seem to want to come out! I just bought a new cylinder head for the bucket tilt cylinder on my # 753. It was $147 = OUCH!!
 

Tazza

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I do my own, most shops don't like working on them because they get stuck too.
I worked on a cylinder from hell, about a year ago now. I had to drill the old gland out, it took me hours to do.
Most of the time, i get away with a pipe wrench.
Heat can help, but doesn't always free it up.
 
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mmsllc

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I do my own, most shops don't like working on them because they get stuck too.
I worked on a cylinder from hell, about a year ago now. I had to drill the old gland out, it took me hours to do.
Most of the time, i get away with a pipe wrench.
Heat can help, but doesn't always free it up.
Yeah. Tell me about it. When we tried to remove the "head" (that is what BOCAT calls it), we caught hell. We tried heat, it barely helped at all. We heated the barrel to red-hot to try to loosen the rubber seals & rust. We ended up beating the hell of it with a punch & hammer. That thing fought us tooth & nail. Luckily, it went back together smoothly. We had to replace the head at $147. However, it no longer leaks & that was the long term goal for us. It feels so good when it works out good. I was asking if a lot of other guys tried to do these because they are so simple once they are apart & cleaned up. CARTER MACHINERY (our local CATERPILLAR dealership) charges around $600 for just a true re-pack. They almost always say that they had to do something else, but it never shows.
 

7LBSSMALLIE

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Yeah. Tell me about it. When we tried to remove the "head" (that is what BOCAT calls it), we caught hell. We tried heat, it barely helped at all. We heated the barrel to red-hot to try to loosen the rubber seals & rust. We ended up beating the hell of it with a punch & hammer. That thing fought us tooth & nail. Luckily, it went back together smoothly. We had to replace the head at $147. However, it no longer leaks & that was the long term goal for us. It feels so good when it works out good. I was asking if a lot of other guys tried to do these because they are so simple once they are apart & cleaned up. CARTER MACHINERY (our local CATERPILLAR dealership) charges around $600 for just a true re-pack. They almost always say that they had to do something else, but it never shows.
bobcat .hyd cyl. easiest cyl out there. requires simple tools. A gland wrech. 3/4 ratchet piece o pipe. secure holding device. proper tools being first and foremost. once a pipe wrench hits it its done.
 

Bobcatdan

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bobcat .hyd cyl. easiest cyl out there. requires simple tools. A gland wrech. 3/4 ratchet piece o pipe. secure holding device. proper tools being first and foremost. once a pipe wrench hits it its done.
Rebuild many cylinders. Stubborn gland nuts, heat with a torch uselly does it. The few that didn't budge, I lucked out with the rod having damage that the upsell to a complete cylinder wasn't hard. When I had that the rod was beat up, I'd still try taking it apart to see if the rest of the cylinder is savable.
 

Fefanatic

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Rebuild many cylinders. Stubborn gland nuts, heat with a torch uselly does it. The few that didn't budge, I lucked out with the rod having damage that the upsell to a complete cylinder wasn't hard. When I had that the rod was beat up, I'd still try taking it apart to see if the rest of the cylinder is savable.
When I rebuilt the lift cylinders on my 743 the right side head came loose with a strap wrench and unscrewed by hand. The other side was destroyed because I to heat it with a torch. I also had to replace the head (or gland nut) as some call it. They are easy once apart but I have had extremes in both directions. What I found was the cylinders were damaged (dented) at the very end causing the tough removal.
 

Tazza

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When I rebuilt the lift cylinders on my 743 the right side head came loose with a strap wrench and unscrewed by hand. The other side was destroyed because I to heat it with a torch. I also had to replace the head (or gland nut) as some call it. They are easy once apart but I have had extremes in both directions. What I found was the cylinders were damaged (dented) at the very end causing the tough removal.
I agree that when apart, they are very simple, yet some are murder to get open.
The last one that i did battle with, i had to drill around the rod down into the bore of the cylinder, i went all the way around and used a chisel to bend the outer threded part into the void made from drilling. Thankfully it did collapse enough for me to use an air chisel to beat it so it would turn.
They sure can put up a fight, but if you have the time and patience, you can generally win. The thing is, for commercial people, time vs cash does not always make sense. To pay a dealer to do the job would exceed the value of a new cylinder.
 
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mmsllc

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When I rebuilt the lift cylinders on my 743 the right side head came loose with a strap wrench and unscrewed by hand. The other side was destroyed because I to heat it with a torch. I also had to replace the head (or gland nut) as some call it. They are easy once apart but I have had extremes in both directions. What I found was the cylinders were damaged (dented) at the very end causing the tough removal.
Yeah, they are easy at times & hard at times, too. I've got a boom cylinder to do on a # 328, another boom cylinder on a #323 & a lift cylinder on a # 753, left to do. I just bought a "X" wrench from SNAP-ON for $70 = DAMN I hate paying those high prices. I am hoping that they help tear down those other (3) cylinders, without killing the head / gland nut.
 

Tazza

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Yeah, they are easy at times & hard at times, too. I've got a boom cylinder to do on a # 328, another boom cylinder on a #323 & a lift cylinder on a # 753, left to do. I just bought a "X" wrench from SNAP-ON for $70 = DAMN I hate paying those high prices. I am hoping that they help tear down those other (3) cylinders, without killing the head / gland nut.
I guess the better way of looking at it is, if it saves one glad nut from damage, it has paid it's self off.
 
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mmsllc

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heating the barrel can work but if you get it too hot the alum galls and then its a mess.
Tazza, you are right about it hopefully saving on the gland nuts. I bought another gland nut for when we re-pack a lift arm cylinder on the 753. That was $130+, so I guess you have a good point there. I'm still looking for other spanners that will help speed up the process. I'll have two other cylinders to do after that one, too. In regards to heating it up, it was hard to say what happened, but when we finally spun the nut about (3) times, it freed up completely. So, I guess the gland seal was so dry that it did not want to spin out of the barrel. The other cylinders I have done were on DITCH WITCH machines. They were difficult to even turn them at all. But as soon as they spun, they were easy peezy to pull them apart.
 
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mmsllc

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Tazza, you are right about it hopefully saving on the gland nuts. I bought another gland nut for when we re-pack a lift arm cylinder on the 753. That was $130+, so I guess you have a good point there. I'm still looking for other spanners that will help speed up the process. I'll have two other cylinders to do after that one, too. In regards to heating it up, it was hard to say what happened, but when we finally spun the nut about (3) times, it freed up completely. So, I guess the gland seal was so dry that it did not want to spin out of the barrel. The other cylinders I have done were on DITCH WITCH machines. They were difficult to even turn them at all. But as soon as they spun, they were easy peezy to pull them apart.
Just re-packed a boom cylinder on a #323 & on a #753 today. I'm liking the savings versus paying a shop for what I have learned I can do myself. Both of these cylinders came apart with no problems & neither on leak now.
 

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