Hydraulic cylinder part 2

Here's what it looked like this morning . Almost a steady drip

This is the first time this cylinder was rebuilt. It's 17 years old. Tractor is a

2004 T5C. I had to fight the rust on the pin . Used WD40 and a big hammer. I won the fight.
Next battle was removing


The wire that holds the end in place.
Once I moved the end a little I grabbed the wire with Vice Grips (vise grips) for the smart spellers and used hammer to hit the grips to remove the wire.
lol.
It's a battle to get the piston out. So I don't remove cylinder. I use hydraulic pressure to push it out. Better have a way to catch a quart of oil and use ratchet strap to catch the rod or it could end up on the other side of the barn. After I removed the piston I polished the rod on an atlas lathe that is my age or older. But the 600g sand paper put a mirror finish on the rod. I could see the individuals LEDS in light about.




I ran my finger across the rod when I was spinning. Any imperfection you can't see you will feel. The rod had no signs of abuse. There was 17 years of the rod scuffing the end can when piston is fully extended.
I was surprised the factory used an O Ring and backer, instead of U seal on the end cap.
No idea type O rings my hydraulic shop. They look like black O Rings. U seals are white.

I'm done for today. I left a small O ring at my other pole barn.


George

Glad to see you are getting the repair underway. Actually if all is right in your hydraulic system there will be little to no air in the hydraulic system. So the statement about the cylinder ending up on the other side of the barn is only adding a colorful ..what if.. to your story. When you operated the lever to push the piston out of the cylinder once the seal between the cylinder tube and it were broken the piston and ram would simply fall away under gravity. Liquid does not compress that is why pressure vessels and piping are hydro tested, so if there is a weak area that fails the release energy is very minimal at the point of failure. For a hydro test the internal volume is filled with a fluid test media which is quite often water, bleeding out all air or at least every bit within reason. Then applying pressure to a predetermined test pressure. I would guess quite a few have seen pictures of an air tank that has failed and quite often it shows a large ripped out area. That is due to the stored energy the compressed air contains. A failed area during a hydro test will be a small non deformed hole, crack or gap. Once the pressure that is slightly deforming or stretching the item under test is released nothing else happen except the test media slowly drips or trickles out of the failure point. Understanding there may be air in the system the precautionary measures of the constraint of the strap was a good idea. I am also in no way singleing out George or his methods just additional information from my experience.

No air. No idea why puston gets hung up. But like today when it broke loose it required something to hold it so it didn't band into some metal and damage the rod.

There are times when cylinder is at an angle. gets hung up the rod and piston travels when it breaks loose. Impossible for me to remove without hydraulic pressure
.
George

Every time the cylinder hit the end of the stroke, the gland (end cap) hammers that wire ring in its groove. Over time it makes a little ridge inside the cylinder bore. That is usually what the piston catches on.

You are right. Add to that rust between the wire grove and where the O ring comes in contact with the cylinder. I have no clue where the rust came from because the cylinder is pointing down.

I used to have hydraulic shop rebuilt my cylinders because I couldn't get the piston out. Hydraulic shop told me they rigged up a battery powered pump like one used on dump trailer, to get the piston out.

So I leave cylinder on tractor and tap control to get it out. Then get out of the way or get oil all over you.
George