I had a gate cylinder leaking badly on my Hesston 5530. I purchased a pair of rebuild packing kits a while back but didn't understand at the time why it included a square rod in the kit. No instructions were included and no mention in the owners manual. Looking at the cylinder I wasn't sure as to how it came apart and went to Google it. Well that wasn't very helpful, couldn't find anything on the cylinder. Looking at repairing cylinders on YouTube did find similar cylinders that had the square stock used as the gland cap retainer. Sounded simple enough, turn the gland and the square stock just comes right out, NOT. I soaked it with WD-40 over night and throughout the process. I put the cylinder in a vice taking my OTC Gland Nut Wrench with a good sized breaker bar, not even a budge. Several attempts and all I managed to do was damage the slots in the gland. Gave it some heat but no help there ether, I was afraid to heat it too much. Back to the internet. I came across a site that had made and was selling a bit for a impact hammer that fit into the slot of the gland. I took one of the bits that came with my impact hammer and cut it with a cut-off wheel to about the shape they had and gave it a try. I went easy with the air and it started to budge. Now looking at the key stock it was recessed in the cylinder slot. Taking the lead for one of the many videos I scanned through I ground down a chisel to fit into the slot and bend the stock end up to clear the lip. A little with the impact and the key started to work out. I could only hammer a little bit and then bend the stock up and repeat until the key was out.
After that it didn't take much to pull the gland. Cleaned up the corrosion and removed the old packing's. When installing the new seals, the smaller one goes on the outside with the thicker one inside. When I assembled the cylinder I used anti-seize above the o-ring. I also bent the key rod a bit more and then trimmed it so that it laid flat in the gland's grove. Assemble went easy, insert gland, place end of key into gland's hole through slot in cylinder and turn gland with wrench. Trim off end of key when finished.
After that it didn't take much to pull the gland. Cleaned up the corrosion and removed the old packing's. When installing the new seals, the smaller one goes on the outside with the thicker one inside. When I assembled the cylinder I used anti-seize above the o-ring. I also bent the key rod a bit more and then trimmed it so that it laid flat in the gland's grove. Assemble went easy, insert gland, place end of key into gland's hole through slot in cylinder and turn gland with wrench. Trim off end of key when finished.
