HYDRAULIC PRESSURE TESTER

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of "hydraulic pressure tester" that I should buy? I have never used one, but need one to do some testing. Thanks for any and all advice.
Gene

i have an oil filled hydraulic pressure gauge attached to a male pioneer coupler fitting. if i remember it has a zero to 4000 psi range. have a few fittings made up to plug it in to wherever i need to check.

For pressure just go to a TSC or Rural King or even a farm store and buy a gauge rated for more then what pressure you need to test. Then you have to figure out what kind of threaded adapters you may need to get it hooked up to your system.

Or maybe you need a flow tester ? Northern Hydraulics sells one.

I have a 3000 psi guage permently mounted in the bleeder hole on my Jubilee pump. Normally it runs up to 2000 psi, depending what I'm lifting. Some systems may use higher pressures. Check owner's manual. I had to install a damper on guage or needle would bounce all over the place.

I really appreciate the replies. I don't know what a "flow tester" is. I am trying to find out how much pressure my tractors are producing. I am having trouble raising a wheel disc. Thanks again.

If you just want to do a simple pressure test then buy a 3-4000 psi gauge and hook it to a male coupler tip and plug it into a remote. Dead head the remote on that port and that will tell you what you have for pressure.
That said... if you need to do any serious diagnostics on a semi-modern hydraulic system you're going to need something with a flow gauge, pressure gauge and some form of flow control valve assembled together so you can force the system to produce rated flow at known pressure. A simple pressure reading itself is not a whole lot of use unless you know how much it's flowing at the same time. A system that can make 2500 psi at 10 gpm isn't much good when it's supposed to make 2500 psi at 20 gpm...
Princess Auto and other type surplus centers like it often sell the gauges, flow meters and throttle valves you need to assemble your own flow tester.

Rod

i went through this apx 4 months ago, need to check some pressures in the 10000 psi range on a case skid steer. kits ranged from $1800.00 to $2400.00 so i ended up taking it to repair shop. if you don't need to test in the high range and need to do flows the you could do like other have said. i just could see spending that kind of money and still need to buy the parts.

If your only testing the pressure going to a cylinder, then a simple Tee fitting with a gage on the tee line should suffice. In that instance your not really that concerned with the flow as long as the cylinder isn't acting really slow, so the pressure reading is all you need. Basically, when the cylinder reaches the end of it's stroke, and bottoms out, you'll be reading the max pressure the system is capable of creating, or the setting of the relief valve. If the pressure is reading low then the first suspect is usually the relief, the second will be the pump.



Now if you've got a hydraulic motor turning way to slow, or turning with no power, you'll need to check the actual flow and pressure together. Basically pressure is a product of flow. A worn pump may make 6000 psi at 10 GPM, but not make but 1000 psi at 20 GPM. In other words the flow and pressure are tied together and have to be checked together.

In order to do that they have meters with a flow valve, load valve, and gage all built in. Too, those usually have a safety valve to dump the pressure if something really screwes up, like a pump surging too much oil when the valve is shut down. I've had it happen several times and it makes quite a racket when the rupture disc bursts inside the meter. Unfortunately those are usually quite expensive.

To do a basic check you can get a meter like the one at the link below. There is a gage port on the top of the block to allow for checking the pressure. If you plumb a high pressure needle valve on the outlet side of the meter, it will allow you to close it down a little and put a load on the pump to see what GPM it's putting out at a specific pressure.

I've got one of the second type that rides on my service truck all the time, and one of the first type that I keep in a box for use when I need to check something with a higher flow and pressure, and feel the need to have the rupture disc for safety.

Hope this helps, and good luck.
flow meter

Thanks to NCWayne & all who replied. I have never received such good and helpful info before. Wish I could repay someway,someday.

An oil filled gauge is the most accurate; it is the only gauge that I would use for hydraulics. Costs a bit more, but gives more accurate readings without the needle bouncing all over.

What are you testing?
If it is just a hyd. cylinder then you may be able to buy a hand pump jack and a gage and some oil and pump it up and see if it leaks.

At work where we have trailers to move 25 tons of hog feed per load, we have two gauge/shut-off valve/flow meters (we use a two inlet/two outlet section pump). The cut off valve has a 4000 PSI gauge tapped into it and it's mounted on the outflow end of the GPM (gallons per minute) gauge. You can close down the valve as needed to get the pressure desired and check GPM or shut it all the way down (very briefly!) to check the relief/regulator valve adjustment. I'll look at the GPM gauge tomorrow for a name brand to see if it's readily available. The combo we use is very helpful, saves R&R a 120 pound pump for nothing when the problem is the relief valve or a valve on the trailer!!

I found one at Grainger. Thanks to all and to J. Schwiebert for his advice. Just need to get the male adapter.
Gene