Replacement of hydraulic tilt cylinder

[mike7959]

I just bought a brand new double action tilt cylinder for my Gehl 4610, my question is when installing it do I need to bleed or somehow make sure it is full of fluid first somehow? The bucket is off so there is no load on the cylinders. I've also read on-line about the procedure of 'synchronizing cylinders' so that both sides operate in perfect unison, is anything like that necessary in this case? I read one thread here about gently running the cylinders back and forth a few times then letting the machine sit overnite to purge out air bubbles etc which seems like a good idea, anything else I need to do? Looking back I'm not sure what had happened with the old cylinder, I was moving tree trunks around and suddenly noticed hydro fluid behind me on the ground, then I couldn't tilt the bucket at all, I got out and looked and seen the left side tilt cylinder positioned at a odd angle and the ram piston itself was all the way out but literally bent at a 45 degree angle, I guess I had always thought those polished hydro piston were hardened steel so seeing one bent like that was bizarre, there must be a heck of a lot of force pushing those pistons. So to cause this maybe did the right side tilt cylinder freeze up and then this cylinder keep pushing and caused it to bend like that?, since this new cylinder cost me over $500 I'd sure like to not have it happen again. thanx for any idea's

 

[Tazza]

The system should self bleed over time. No need to baby it really, when it first moves, it will be full of oil and it would have been assembled with oil, so it will never run dry.
As for making them move together, they are plumbed to run in parallel, that is how they are synched up.
The reason your rod bent could be due to over extension, were you curling all the way forward? There should be stops on the tilting part or the lower arms to prevent the bucket tilting too far forward. If it goes past a point, you can push and it will bend the rod.
The rod is chrome plated steel, some are induction hardened, some are not. The induction hardened ones have a hard outer skin, but a gooey centre so they can handle being flexed somewhat. If they were super hard, they would not flex, only break.

 

[mike7959]

The system should self bleed over time. No need to baby it really, when it first moves, it will be full of oil and it would have been assembled with oil, so it will never run dry.
As for making them move together, they are plumbed to run in parallel, that is how they are synched up.
The reason your rod bent could be due to over extension, were you curling all the way forward? There should be stops on the tilting part or the lower arms to prevent the bucket tilting too far forward. If it goes past a point, you can push and it will bend the rod.
The rod is chrome plated steel, some are induction hardened, some are not. The induction hardened ones have a hard outer skin, but a gooey centre so they can handle being flexed somewhat. If they were super hard, they would not flex, only break.

Thanks for the information, appreciate it. I have another question now relating to the connection of the new hydraulic cylinder to what Gehl calls the 'LINK/UPPER ASS'Y'. Per the Gehl parts drawing '4610-lift-arms-and-hydrolock-mechanism-before-sn6901' there are (2) 'LOCKWIRES' that secure the cylinder to the link. Now when I removed the old lockwires from the damaged cylinder I had to pry the ends of them up a little bit so I could grab them with a vise-grip pliers and hammer them out which destroyed those lockwires. Now I have brand new lockwires ready to install but I don't see how the heck they would go into the grooved ring/slots on the hydro shaft and the link arm after putting those items together, the lockwires are not flexible, I tried to drive one in and it won't bend as it goes around the shaft, do they need to be heated up first? That would make them more flexible I spose but then how would I drive them in without bending them? The new lockwires right out of the box have each end with a little 'hook', I ground one end hook off not seeing any other way to at least attempt to get it started in the groove, didn't help much. any idea's? I'm sure it's not meant to be so complicated, i'm just not seeing how it's done, thanx

 

[Tazza]

Thanks for the information, appreciate it. I have another question now relating to the connection of the new hydraulic cylinder to what Gehl calls the 'LINK/UPPER ASS'Y'. Per the Gehl parts drawing '4610-lift-arms-and-hydrolock-mechanism-before-sn6901' there are (2) 'LOCKWIRES' that secure the cylinder to the link. Now when I removed the old lockwires from the damaged cylinder I had to pry the ends of them up a little bit so I could grab them with a vise-grip pliers and hammer them out which destroyed those lockwires. Now I have brand new lockwires ready to install but I don't see how the heck they would go into the grooved ring/slots on the hydro shaft and the link arm after putting those items together, the lockwires are not flexible, I tried to drive one in and it won't bend as it goes around the shaft, do they need to be heated up first? That would make them more flexible I spose but then how would I drive them in without bending them? The new lockwires right out of the box have each end with a little 'hook', I ground one end hook off not seeing any other way to at least attempt to get it started in the groove, didn't help much. any idea's? I'm sure it's not meant to be so complicated, i'm just not seeing how it's done, thanx

The lock wires you are talking about, they are to lock the gland into the end of metal tube right?
I haven't messed with many cylinders with wires to hold them in place, but i have done one or two. It took a bit of work to get it started, i think i even rotated the gland to help pull the wire into place.