Backhoe plumbing mystery

The backhoe on this 63/64 4000 industrial has some previous owner plumbing that I'm at a loss to figure out. Its a Sherman power digger 1168 (an F9 as far as I can read). On the back of the swing chain cylinder there is a cap on the end of it. The parts manual says its a breather. The left one is fine, the right one has a hose the last owner seems to have scabbed on there, and the hose goes into a gallon jug under the backhoe seat. It fills up in a few min and you have to dump it back in the tank. The hoe seems to work fine with it like that.

Why did they put this hose on like that... the other side breather doesn't leak, why not just put a plug in the breather hole if it was leaking? I was going to plumb the hose into the tank to eliminate the catch jug but I want to make sure I don't screw something up.

Now I looked in the parts book for this hoe, and on Messicks and NH, it says the breather is no longer sold... it was replaced with "kit #7700025".

Of course that kit is also no longer sold by anyone I can find.

What was the "Kit" and can I just fabricate one? Can I just stick a bolt in the breather hole (I assume its threaded)? What purpose did the breathers serve?


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Opposing cylinders are often used to run the swing. They are one way cylinders and work fro the same valving. If they are
in good shape, they need to breath on the end of the cylinder that is not pressurized. (thus breathers. If one of them gets
leaky internally, allowing hydraulic oil to get past the piston, the oil comes out the breather. rather than fixing the
proben by rebuilding the cylinder the Previous owner put a hose on it to prevent loosing the oil at 5 dollars a minute.
Breathers are readily available from Surplus city or almost any hydraulic shop. Take the other breather with you when you
have the cylinder repaired, or when you shop for parts to fix it your self. Jim
 
I see... that makes sense. If I was to plug that breather with the hose on it then the fluid leaking past the seal would fill the rear and have nowhere to go, then either slow the piston down or blow it out or lock it up or... something.

That swing cyl doesn't look like its too hard to remove, (famous last words..) there is a lot of room in there and its only connected to the frame with one pin. For now I'll just put a new hose on it and stick it in the main tank while I'm using it and get it rebuilt before winter maybe.
 
Good idea. Remember to level the hoe tractor when using so that it doesn't over swing where the cylinder is leaking. Jim
 
Short update on this jerry rig...

I've been using the hoe, and nothing comes out of that hose anymore. I put a new hose on it and a hook pipe to simply hang it on the tanks fill hole while Im using it so the oil goes back in the tank, but is stopped leaking so I just put a small bottle on the end like the previous owner had it. After a couple of ditches and drain pit dug out... its still not leaking out the vent hose. Go figure.

And the chain tightened up real good once it was being used, when it sits it bleed off and they slack up again. No big deal.
 

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