Re-packing hydraulic cylinders, what do I need to know

Inno

Well-known Member
I have a MF 202 with a 220 backhoe on it. Many of the cylinders need to be rebuilt. Where do I find packing for the cylinders? How many different types of packing are there, are there certain standards?
Are there kits for certain cylinders or is it fairly generic. I have no doubt I can do the work myself I just need some direction and materials to work with.
 
I rebuild the cylinders on my skidloader . Not bad job . Some take little figuring how to take apart . Went to hyd shop and they matched up what I needed of parts . One seal required install tool , they put it on for me at the shop . Think I had 30 bucks per cylinder in parts .
 
never done my loader cyl's .
the hoe was not bad .
remove the cyl .
turn the outer nut off .
drive the end of what the nut was on down the cyl bore couple of inches .
don't hit the threads [ hardest part of job ]
remove snap ring at end of cyl .
pull out the ram .
remove the nut of ram . [ my nut was welded on ]
go get parts .
went to hyd shop acrossed from work .less than 50 with new nut.
i used lock tite to replace weld .
biggest job was the drive to get parts .
should do my spare .
 
I bought packing kits for my backhoe from a hydraulic shop. They ordered the kits by application at about half the dealer price.

I assume they could match up seals, but a few of mine might have been a challenge. I think mine were metric as well.
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I guess my other concern is that my backhoe is over 50 years old, have things changed that much in hydraulics? Will parts still be available?
 
(quoted from post at 21:37:47 10/16/12) other than the normal what can go wrong will go wrong stuff you should be good to go .

If my memory serves me correctly you have a 220 backhoe too don't you?
 
You might want to check and see if you have a local hydraulic shop or heavy equipment repair place to do a price comparison. I had a cylinder cost 75 bucks for the parts just to rebuild it. If I took the cylinder off the shop fixed it for $300. My cylinder had been over stroked so the had to rework the end cap and reweld a support. Considering I did not have the expertise to rework the cylinder bore. Condsider in my time, I think it was well worth it. Works good. Had it been a simple fix, I probably would have re-packed it.
 
I did take one in to have it straighened and rebuilt at the same time. I can't remember what the price tag was but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.
That being said, if it's $50-75 per cylinder just for the parts, I'm ok with that but being as how there are 3-4 cylinders that need rebuilding, $300 a piece is excessive for an old machine.
I'll tear one apart when I get the chance and bring it to the place I had the other one straightened and see what it will cost for parts.
 
I repack cyls at my job often. Mostly forklifts, but some heavy equip too. OEM kits are usually pricey but at work we don't care. sometimes special tools are required i e spanner wrenches, etc. At home I found a place called Zatkoff that sells seals by the individual piece to be helpful and cheap. I think they are a national company but I haven't used them in years. Its not as great a science as some think and aside from deep knicks, most cyls are pretty forgiving.
 
I checked Zatkoff out and found they do have a website which seems to have everything I might need. Once I'm done with it this fall I'll pull a cylinder off and have a go at it.
Thanks for the info.
 
Take them to a local shop. I was going to do them myself on my loader but the cost of the seals alone was high. It was only marginally higher to have the shop do it.
 
yes inno she is a 220 .
i just put new seals and packings in the control leavers .
start easy just do the worst one first then one at a time .
 
I have one control lever that is leaking externally as well as the cylinders. I guess part of the leak down problem I am having could be in the control valves. How were they to re pack?

I plan on starting with the main boom cylinder, it seeps a bit of fluid and leaks down very quickly. Depending on how that goes I will look at the others. Doing it bit by bit won't hurt the wallet quite as much as doing them all at once.
 

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