Heating a tempered keeper key

DSMITH15

New User
I have a 2 1/2inch diameter hydraulic cylinder off of my 3414 international tractor that's leaking. The cylinder has a curved tempered keeper 3/32" wide x 3/32"deep x 8" long+- with a 1/4" 90 degree hook bent on the end that secures the cyl. head. It is inserted through a short slot at the top of the cyl. tube and by turning the cyl. head it is fed into a grove under the tube to secure the head. The hook to hold in place while turning the head is bent and is not holding. Can I heat the front half inch of the keeper to bend it up so I can get hold of it with a small vice grip and not break the end off? Maybe someone has a better way to do it. Any help will be appreciated.
Darold
 

I was afraid I would break it off as there is about a 5/8" slot to work with. I put some heat on it and got a small vise grips on it and with light tapping got it out ok. the 1/4'' bend on the end was broke and I got it out also. Thanks for your interest.

Darold
 
Some cylinders made in that fashion have a couple of holes drilled in the "gland" for a spanner wrench. You insert the wrench and rotate the "gland" in the direction needed to help the ring "back out" through the access slot.

Any chance yours is made that way?
 
Darold I have rebuilt several of those cylinders over the years and in fact just finished one about 3 weeks ago. Its still hangin gup where I painted it.

*If you are taking the cylinder apart and the retainer wire is not catching in the hole to allow it to be removed, then first please soak the slot with WD40 or something similar to help remove dirt, grime and rust. Sometimes dirt and rust sticks them in place that's why they bend the end

Very carefully rotate the cylinder head so you can see the hole where the end of the retainer wire is to fit. Then using a small punch push the wire down into the hole holding it place and slowly turn the cylinder head until the wire is removed.

*If you are installing the retainer wire for final assembly and the end of the wire is broken or needs to be re-bent, then you can heat the end of the wire with a propane torch and bend the end as needed.

I had to do this on the last cylinder I rebuilt. I have used this stunt on several old cylinders. The punch trick works.

most "NEW" retainer wires will break if you try to cold bend them. I think they are made from a music wire and are more brittle than the original wires.

The last cylinder I rebuilt had the new wire break. it would not cold bend but worked fine after I heated/tempered it so it would bend
 
I have these type of cylinders on my Dig-It brand
back hoe. all the square keeper wires were so
jammed into the groove that the end gland would
not turn, plus some rust/corrosion had them
seized. Local hydraulic shop tried the heat
thing and that only made the o-ring and gland seal
stick that much tighter. They advised junking it
and they would order me a replacement for $350.00.
I decided I had nothing to lose.
I put it in the vise and scribed a line around the outside
of the cylinder right on top of the wire keeper
groove and using a hand held portable band saw
with a very narrow blade gently sawed just deep
enough to touch the wire and not get into the
cylinder end gland.. Took the cylinder back to
the rebuilder and had them repack it. I then
smoothed the cut ends of the cylinder barrel and
the small piece holding the end gland. I took 2
pieces of 1" aluminum angle and clamped the 2
parts together, lining up the match marks I had
made before cutting it and used a small piece of
stiff paper the thickness of the saw blade to keep
the groove width correct. I degreaded the metal
once more with spray carburetor cleaner and using
my MIG welder with .023 wire and 25/75 CO-2 gas
mix for smooth welding proceeded to tack a spot no
more than 1/4" long in several places around it.
I let it cool for 30 minutes between welding
rounds until I had it fully welded back. I let it
cool again for overnight, ground it smooth with a
sanding disk in little short spurts, replaced the
wire since the rebuilder did not have one and then
primed and painted it before reinstalling it. I
did this on both outrigger cylinders and the
cylinder for the digging stick. Think $350.00 for
2 of them and $400.00 fore one and that is a
pretty good incentive for trying this. Oh yes, I
did put anti-seize on the end glands this time
where the factory did not.
 
(quoted from post at 21:55:04 06/18/14) Some cylinders made in that fashion have a couple of holes drilled in the "gland" for a spanner wrench. You insert the wrench and rotate the "gland" in the direction needed to help the ring "back out" through the access slot.

Any chance yours is made that way?

Yes that is how it is made. The hook was broke off of mine so I bent the end up enough by putting a little heat to it and than used a small vice grip to grip it. I was able to move it on around and out by tapping the vice grip with a small hammer. It is a ok way to build a clean looking cylinder but a guy should put a little
wd-40 in the slot once and awhile.
 

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