VAC Case leather piston seal

My 1950 Case VAC has a leather seal on the Rock Shaft piston that needs replacing. Anyone know where I could get one? Also, has anyone ever tried taking that piston to a machinist to cut o-ring grooves in it and converting it to said o-rings? Thanks!

Good hyd repair shops have Neo-Fab cups that will replace leather cups, come with no holes and with holes already punched.

(quoted from post at 16:15:41 10/17/23) Good hyd repair shops have Neo-Fab cups that will replace leather cups, come with no holes and with holes already punched.

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Thanks, I ll give that a try and let you know how it went.

If your hyd shop can't help, try external_link 315-585-9826 they have tons of parts for older Case tractors and very helpful.

You were right on. I tried two tractor dealers, one was the local "Case-IH" dealer and a longtime hydraulic repair shop. I got no help from them. I then tried another hydraulic shop and he said,"Oh sure we can get you one". It took a little coaxing to get it started in the bore but I made a fixture out of " Redi-bolt, iron bar and nuts and washers to hold it in place and put a little pressure on it. I oiled the bore and the new cup real good gently worked it into the bore, reassembled everything and it works like new. I suspect those other guys didn't want to bother with an old guy needing a cheap part for an old tractor. No money in that.
Thanks again for your help and God bless!

Some time ago I got a new cup for mine from John Saeli. I had forgotten, but as you mentioned, it was a bit of a challenge to
get the cup started in the bore. Is your breather/drip tube open and working as it should?

(quoted from post at 00:54:32 11/01/23) Some time ago I got a new cup for mine from John Saeli. I had forgotten, but as you mentioned, it was a bit of a challenge to
get the cup started in the bore. Is your breather/drip tube open and working as it should?

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Yes, I checked that over and it's working. What got me started on this is it looked like oil from the torque tube was ending up in the differential and someone said it might be from the rock shaft piston. Well the leather seal surely needed replacing but I'm suspecting the oil migration might be through the seal between the torque tube and the transmission. If it's that then I might have to split the VAC to replace it.

I don't see how oil could get from the piston to the rear end. My VAC also leaks oil from the torque tube/hyd. to the rear end.
I have checked the vents, and just keep adding oil to the torque tube. Someday it will probably bite me.

I've had my VAC for a long time (47 years) and just kept adding oil to the torque tube, too. Never payed attention to where it might be going other than there must be a leak some place. My brakes never held very good so about 4 years ago I decided to redo the brakes. I'm retired now and have the time. When I disassembled the brakes I saw that they were soaked up with oil. I drained the differential and found that there was 10 gallons of oil in it. There should only be 7. At first I figured someone before me had overfilled it. The seals on those brake shafts looked like they had been replaced by someone who didn't know what they were doing. So I fixed everything up, put 7 gallons of new oil in and some time later checked and found the oil level higher than at first. I would say that the torque tube is leaking past the seal on the main drive shaft and into the transmission/differential reservoir. I think our only options are to split the tractor at the transmission and replace that seal or just keep adding oil to the torque tube. In which case, if we let the oil in the diff. get too high it might squeeze past those seals on the brake shafts and contaminate the discs again. And as you say in your last sentence, Someday it will probably bite me. Thanks for your reply and God bless!

Beercase, not sure if the VAC is like the
300 that replaced it but on the 300 you
don't have to split it. The seal is
accessed by taking the top plate under the
seat off and pulling the pto shaft out the
rear. Speak with John Saeli and he will
know and also have the seals to repair.
I've done three on 300's and it's not easy
but doable. If you decide to do it, post
and will give tips to help make it easier.