T870 Lift Cylinder Removal Tips?

[FLAKMAN_5000]

As the title states, anyone have pointers on how to remove the lift cylinders on a T870?

Recently bought my first (personal use) CTL. One of the lift cylinders blew out the seals and pushed a good amount of hydro fluid out, to the point where it needs to be refilled. I have new seal kits for all the cylinders and am attacking the lift cylinders first since the one cylinder puts the machine out of commission. It would barely chirp the boom up when it was full. Took a good amount of the fluid to get it loaded back on the trailer and I'de rather not dump a bunch of fluid out again booming back up if I were to refill with sacrificial fluid now.

I'm slowly jacking up the lift arm with a bottle jack. Unless I'm missing something, I'm going to have to jack the arm pretty much all the way up to snake the cylinders out. Everything around the cylinder is box welded.

Unfortunately I dont have a way to lift it with another piece of equipment or anything. Am I missing something or is slow and steady with the bottle jack and plenty of dunnage the way to do it?

 

[brdgbldr]

As the title states, anyone have pointers on how to remove the lift cylinders on a T870?

Recently bought my first (personal use) CTL. One of the lift cylinders blew out the seals and pushed a good amount of hydro fluid out, to the point where it needs to be refilled. I have new seal kits for all the cylinders and am attacking the lift cylinders first since the one cylinder puts the machine out of commission. It would barely chirp the boom up when it was full. Took a good amount of the fluid to get it loaded back on the trailer and I'de rather not dump a bunch of fluid out again booming back up if I were to refill with sacrificial fluid now.

I'm slowly jacking up the lift arm with a bottle jack. Unless I'm missing something, I'm going to have to jack the arm pretty much all the way up to snake the cylinders out. Everything around the cylinder is box welded.

Unfortunately I dont have a way to lift it with another piece of equipment or anything. Am I missing something or is slow and steady with the bottle jack and plenty of dunnage the way to do it?

You don't need to remove the entire cylinder to replace the seals. You will need to get the lift arms all the way up and lock them out. Be careful, if the arms come down unexpectedly they can kill you.

Here is a good video to watch:

 

[FLAKMAN_5000]

I have seen that video and it is definitely a wealth of knowledge. It looks like my options are a) keep bottle jacking it ALL the way up so i can follow the video or b) get it high enough to pull the entire cylinder.

The length of the cylinder collapsed is going to require less clearance than if I were to pull just the rod.

I guess ill keep chipping away with the jack until im clear. Ran out of dunnage for the night, i'll need to grab some more tomorrow.

 

[Jyuma1]

I'm never a fan of working on my loader with several hundred pounds of metal suspended over my head. The guy in the video got one thing spot on, we don't all have cranes to add a second layer of protection. Fortunately, my loader has horizontal lift cylinders which can be removed with the boom down.

Good luck with your repair, just never become complacent about the guillotine suspended over your head.

 

[FLAKMAN_5000]

I have a 19 month old running around.... last thing I'm gonna do is put myself at risk.

I had a pile of heavy duty pallets made of 4x4s from a large siding package I ordered. I ended cutting them into 2ft x 2ft "blocks" and have been stacking them under the bucket/bobtach while I bottle jack it up one "pallet" at a time.

I ran out though.... need to get some more lumber today to get it the rest of the way up. After its up I'll fashion a few 2x10 vertical braces for safe measure.

Lots of work.... but it'll get the job done.

I guess i need to add a second piece of equipment to my collection to help with this crap.

 

[Jyuma1]

A second piece of equipment is a very good idea. How about an excavator? Pricy I know, but well worth it.

Good luck.

 

[FLAKMAN_5000]

Slow and steady.... got the arm about 8ft up with the lumber I had on hand. I built a couple of boxes of varying heights to support the lift arm safely while I jack it up.

Probably need to build one more 8ft tall box and should be able to get it high enough to get out.

Newbie question - I need to have the cylinders retracted (lift arms on ground) before I refill the hydro tank right? otherwise im going to overflow the system when the rods retract?

 

[brdgbldr]

Slow and steady.... got the arm about 8ft up with the lumber I had on hand. I built a couple of boxes of varying heights to support the lift arm safely while I jack it up.

Probably need to build one more 8ft tall box and should be able to get it high enough to get out.

Newbie question - I need to have the cylinders retracted (lift arms on ground) before I refill the hydro tank right? otherwise im going to overflow the system when the rods retract?

You do not need to have the arms down before refilling the tank.
When the cylinders go down the fluid below the cylinder piston leaves the piston but fluid above the cylinder piston fills the cylinder so it equals out.

However, you will end up with some air in the system that will self bleed out. So you need to slowly work the controls to get the air out a little at a time while keeping an eye on the fluid level in the tank. You may need to add some fluid after the air is removed.