How to take apart hydraulic cylinder?

I was talking to my dad a while ago, and he asked me to see if I could possibly find some sort of universal resource on how to take apart Hydraulic cylinders. A quick Google search revealed no such.
Do any of you guys know of any?

Go to google and enter 'rebuilding hydraulic cylinders' you will get hundreds of good hits. Check the youTube ones if you like videos.
Here is a good site.
How to rebuild a hydraulic ylinder

It really depends on which particular cylinder you are working on.

What do you have? Some cyl. have an internal snap ring, some have a wire you roll out, some are threaded. So again what do you have.

I wish I knew. Unfortunately, I'm 200 miles away from my dad attending college, and have yet to convence/teach him how to use the computer for himself. One thing is for sure, these cylnders are not as easy to take apart as the link ollie gm gave makes out: if the end was just bolted or screwed on he'd have never asked, as he'd of had em apart last Sunday! I'll have to remind him about the snap ring and the wire to roll out next time I talk to him...or in the packet of other stuff I'll mail him tomarrow which he'll get Tuesday.

I have the same problem. I am trying to figure out how to take apart one of the boom jacks that is leaking on my Bush Hog 2426 loader. It doesn"t look exactly like any of the videos I have looked at on you tube so far.

If the packing gland has two indentions on the face of the gland,it requires a spanner wrench to roll the locking wire out of the groove through a hole on the side of the cylinder.Some have snap ring. The gland has to be pushed back down into the cylinder to remove the snap ring. Some welded cylinders have to end sawed off on the bottom end the rod pulled out resealed and the end welded back on.There are many different types of cylinders and without seeing them it is almost impossible to tell you. I have rebuilt almost all types and occasionly I make a cylinder from scratch in my machine shop. Cylinders are a very simple piece of mechanical genius.

There is no one answer for that due to the creativity of engineers to make things unnecessarily difficult. For example, on some JD cyl you need to work through the hose line hole to get a snap ring loose. Get the svc manual for the machine that the cyl is on, so you have the schematic for each cyl.

There is no universal guide because all cylinders aren't the same. Some have bolt on glands, and some have the glands screwed in. Those that are screwed in often have either flats machined into them, a hex made onto the end, and/or notches on the outside edge, or holes in the face for either a hook or pin spanner to grab. Then there are those that are threaded in and have holes in the face for a pin spanner and notches around the outside that are part of a jam nut that keeps the gland tight once it's threaded in.

There are also the ones out there that others have talked about that use a ring in an internal groove. Usually those have holes in the face for a pin spanner in order to turn the gland and make the ring role out. This will also have a narrow slot in the side of the barrel where you can see the ring. One side of the slot will be relatively square cut and the other will be ramped down. The gland should turn in the direction that would force the ring up the tapered face. One problem you run into with this type is if the tang that makes the ring rotate with the gland and forces it out of the hole breaks off. When that happens they can be a real PITA to get apart, and that's putting it nicely. If the tang is broken the best thing to do rotate the gland and hope the ring will move with it. Get it moved to where you can see the gap is use a skinny screw driver and slip it in the narrow slot where the ring is. From that point try to pry up the ring as much as possible and rotate the gland at the same time. If your lucky the ring will at least begin to come out of it's groove and you can catch it with a pair of pliers and help it the rest of the way. If that doesn't work, bad as I hate to say it, your own your own as there really isn't any other way to get one of those cylinders apart.

Another variation on the ring in a groove is one that has a threaded jam nut tightened against the face of the barrel. Once that nut is taken loose you have to knock the gland down into the cylinder. Once you knock it down a ways it will reveal a ring that fits tight into a groove around the ID of the barrel. Once it's removed you pull on the cylinder rod and as you pull the gland, rod, and piston all come out together.

Of course there is also the type with tie rods holding everything together, but I doubt anyone would get stumped disassembling one of those.

Those are the main types I can recall ever dealing with in a lifetime of working on all types of equipment. Granted there are variations on them where special sockets are needed for this part or that, but in general they all fall under one of the general designs I just mentioned.

Beyond that holler back when you have a bit more info and maybe I can help a bit more with how to get the thing apart.

Well, yours is a little more like the idea he was loking for: a list of the most common ones and or the ones that seam to be far from obvious as to what is required to get them appart.

I'm not shure, but I think he was even interested in trying to find a book that in general covers a large number of the styles in existance.

Like I said I've been working on machines all of my life and while I'm not saying I've seen everythingthere is out there, the ones I've listed are all I know about. As far as a having all of the design info in one place, I've never seen anything like that in any of the books/web sites, etc I've consulted over the years. That said I did do a search and found the site below. I've heard of these folks before and they have beem around for awhile. If anybody might have any type of design/training manuals, or know where they can be obtained, it would probably be them. Good luck.
Fluid Power Safety Institute

The tie rod style are the easiest to take apart, just make sure you have a bucket ready to catch all the oil. The welded cylinders almost have to be cut on a lathe, or throw them away and get new ones. I have seen a few of them get rebuilt when I was younger.

Heck, after all that he could have a welded cylinder... There's no way for a mere mortal to get one of those apart without destroying it.

You need a large lathe to cut the head off, and a TiG welder to put it back together. Plus the skills to use both.

No offense, but if it is a tie rod type cylinder that has your dad stumped, ever getting him to use the computer is a lost cause

To many different types and styles of cylinders to have any universal way of taking one apart. I know just here on my place I have at least 4 different types and all of them are taken apart in a different way