Skid Steer Hydraulic Cylinder Repair: Installing a New Seal Kit 

For those stiff seals I soak them in hot oil for a while before installing them. I keep an old coffee can and fill it with few inches of hyd. oil. I heat the oil up with a LP torch and drop it in there while I’m removing the old seals.

An "Expert" is someone that knows more about a given subject than YOU do! I don't mean YOU Keith, just the general "you". I spent five years as a Sales Engineer specializing in Hydraulics and Pneumatics as my first job after getting my ASMET degree. Factory training and the whole thing. Not skid-steer type stuff, mostly manufacturing equipment. Fun job. I never knew from one day to the next what kind of "adventures" I was going to have! One day I might have to drive from Atlanta to Augusta to help a printing plant fix a problem, the next I might have to go to NABISCO and help them with the Premium Saltine production line. It runs 24/7 and when there's a problem they get REAL antsy! I was always the "Go-To" guy for things like that ...

I always throw the good old "what should we do with the left over parts" one liner in the mix when working with a buddy.

I worked in a truck manufacturing plant fof thirty eight years . Many times i went to one of the toolmakers and asked them to make "a thing to do this" !

Excellent work, the only thing missing was Ginger's approval. It is very useful to have a "friend who knows"

As a longtime skidsteer operator, make sure the eye of the rod is centered in it's mount or shim it to be so. I've seen a CAT part killed in a matter of hours, as the rod eye was narrower than designed, resulting in the screw in end of the cylinder hitting that eye, and unscrewing it enough that the seal blew out. When the second new cylinder was installed,. if has the same issue, but I caught in nearly immediately, and we shimmed it from the box of extra slack adjuster shims from the trucks.

It helps to put the new seals in hot water for a few minutes to soften them up so it is easier to install them

Thanks Keith for the video It's always good to have a helping hand in the shop. Nice project completed.

It's a skid steer that will surely see pretty light hours. You fellas did just fine, and good to see old friends get together and have some fun.

Fun and educational - That's what RU-vid is supposed to be. Thank you.

I admire your patience Keith. These kind of repairs drive me nuts

When parking equipment with hydraulic actuators overnight, always make sure actuators are left fully retracted. This prevents rust from forming on exposed actuator rods which if remains for a period of time leads to pitting of the rods etc..

Interesting. There are tools to bend the seals for inserting, it’s a hydraulic system, so hydraulic oil. Nice job on the seal tool.

Sure enough good to see two old friends working together. Priceless

What a great dynamic duo video Keith. Thanks for sharing!

Lol. I did this same job last fall. I was looking at that piston + seal kit and going “That looks awfully familiar…” I have the same machine, in Yellow. I was worried when I went to pull the ram out of the cylinder, because I’d forgotten whether the machine shop I’d taken the rams to previously had welded the piston nuts onto the shaft… We’d had a real problem with them coming off while working…

Keep on kicking ass Keith! I can't wait till I can retire (gonna be at least 30 years) finally have time to work on the things I enjoy.

My definition of an expert: "a person, brought in after the fact, to share in the blame".

Man, it Shure was nice to have the expert. I would imagine it's real easy to get the seals mixed up

Nice collaboration!! Good luck on your retirement Keith.

There is a device for holding things while you work on them. It's called a vice. Taking the old seal off and the new ones o, I was waiting for a pic to slip and go through someone's hand. Clamp the hex of the nut in the vice and free up both hands for the job. But hey! You got her done. I must agree with someone else's comment about the "prehistoric grease!" Not good on hydraulics even if it's supposedly clean. Use only hydraulic fluid for reassembly. Hopefully, the grease won't attack the seals in your lifetime. Regards from Canada's banana belt. 🤞🇨🇦🍌🥋🇺🇦🕊🇺🇲💩🦃🏁👍

I really enjoyed being a forklift mechanic back in my younger days. I've done this job many times on the customer's site with customers all around with no help. (Yes, client's customers were outside my OSHA boundary of course). We always admonished the customer to go ahead & get the other side done as well. After all, they share the same duties & receive the same wear. Trying to drum up business? Nope, too busy for that. What doing them at the same time saves is a 2nd service call. Skid steers are fun to operate & well worth the occasional maintenance!

Awesome info about the groove in the seal, I just learnt on TOT how gas springs push one way over the other due to the same pressure pushing more on the side with the extra surface area. And how you can't open an unlocked door on an aeroplane when flying higher as the handle operate the hinges which first move the door inwards against the increased cabin pressure before opening outwards. I'll never look at a hollowed at groove on a seal again.

Thank You Keith. I’m sure glad you did the job as YOU see fit! There are Your toys after all.

15:22 - ICE piston rings do the same with ignition pressure getting behind them and pushing them out against the cylinder wall.

learn something new every day ! I've never seen a Hydraulic cylinder with a snap ring in the gland...before.... but it Sure made getting that gland seal in there easier ! ...they should do that for all Hyd.Cylinders !!!!!!!! that's cool ! never seen a one piece nut and piston either captured by a set screw.... seen the set screw on the nuts before though ! nice skid steer ya got there Keith ! that should come in real handy around the place ! and yes those upper pins are the worst to try and remove... heat is your friend there.... but even with that sometimes they just will not budge ! fortunately you don't have to remove the top pin to rebuild the cylinder.....just take the rod off ! However if the cylinder is tore up beyond repair and the entire cylinder needs replaced I think you may have to resort to a cutting torch because they simply do not come out !

Nice repair I have helped do that same repair for a late friend of mine who had that same Skid Steer !

Sometimes it's the right tools and the right friends now it's Miller time!!! 😂😂😂 Thanks guys

A highly qualified hydraulic expert would know that hot oil will expand those seal rings. There is a neat little tool for installing the inside rings. It simply has 3 pins, the inside pin pulls the ring toward the center just enough to make the ring go into the bore and the slot, then you simply let off the tension, pull the tool out, and the inside ring is inserted. Repairing cylinders was usually one of the learning jobs the new kid in the shop was tasked. Brake clean is great for cleaning oils and any grit from parts. Once you start using it you will be buying it by the case. Cleaning the cylinder on the skid steer would have been made easy with it.

Yeah Kieth, I did one on my own, and it took foreeeever.

I'm loving have more videos these weeks. Keep up the good work

Jake (Puddin') from Puddin's Fab Shop, located in beautiful Pottawatomie County, Okla-by gawd-homa, calls that a "Pott Country speed wrench."

Interesting - I've never seen a setup with the O-ring BENEATH another seal. Usually they're an O-ring with a teflon backup ring. Ya learn something new every day!

I am enjoying these new retirement Wednesdays. You will be doing the same repair to the other side cylinder sooner than later i expect. TM long time viewer

Made that look harder than it needs to be. Someone is going to hate you for using that green locktite.

I had to undo the Borg-Warner 35 Gearbox from my wifes car. She had in anger revved up the engine before engaging the drive, in a fight of a parking-place, destroying the moment-converter. Many small metal fragments poisoned the Control-System. Lying down under the Car, taking out the Gear-Box on my Chest (~45 kg), to clean out the Control-System with its many precisely fitting pistons, and to replace the Converter. It worked fine for many years after the operation. One little small particle can snag one of the pistons, but I was lycky, for it shifted OK after some forced shifting. One can do advanced things with little equipment.

I would suggest that everyone get a set of adjustable metric wrenches!

Good morning Keith! Thanks for the videos.

Thank you Keith!

Curious why you didn't replace the 2 split seals. Those normally come in a rebuild kit.

So, Keith needs some metric sockets and some proper snap ring pliers.

Well done, Keith 👍🏻

An extra set of hands and expert help is always appreciated.

Kurtis makes it look so easy

Thanks for sharing Keith

Company tractor! That’s so different than the asphalt valley I live in.

I can see a new channel…….two old guys and a bobcat😂

I'm subscribed and get notified every time. I'm in uk

That nut calls for blue threadlike.= special tools for removal, red is 6 times stronger and req. special tools for removal and heat. green is designed to be permanent. = welded . its not really but that's the basic table. p. s purple is 1/3 blue for small screws removed with screwdrivers.

Keith - engineer here with 40+ years in hydraulics design and service. PLEASE PLEASE get rid of that old grease or at least, don’t use it on hydraulics repairs.

Nice,always fun with a new toy,just saying need to look over your tracks,looking a little weathered and under use it might cause problems in future.just saying.be safe 😎😎😎👍👍👍great little video.

LOL! The way I heard it; An Expert: X as we know from algebra is an unknown, and spurt we know from physics is a drip, under pressure.

Good job guys

You guys need to watch some old Abom79 videos

You can use an adjustable hammer just like a wrench! Learn something new every day! 😊 Great video, thanks!

Great job.

Always learning new stuff.

Poetry in motion! Thank you!

Just to start this an expert is just a person that hides the solution from his apprentices until they figure it out for themselves. Just a hint. Next time if you do this heat some of the hydraulic fluid that is specked for the machine up to operating temperature it will help the various seals bands and backers be more pliable. Also grease unless specified not so good in hydraulics. It takes time for grease to thin out in the system and can cause blockages and erratic operation and clog coolers until it reaches heat and solidifies. If hydraulic fluid is not at hand the least favorite thing should be light weight motor oil. And if you heat the oil before you reassemble let everything come back to room temp or you could tear a seal. Just my two cents hope it helps the next time be well.

Kurtis would be proud.

Expert is a "has been drip under pressure".

Hey now .... Oklahoma.. NO WAY!!! My father was born and raised in OK... That there is a California speed wrench!!

Hey Jim, you do know they make bifocals?😄

You are trying to hold on to that thing and you have a Wilton within inches!

I have been a aircraft mechanic for 59 years. Seventeen of those I ran a aircraft hydraulic shop. I still cringe when I see people go after hydraulic cylinders and valves with steel seal picks. Make a set of picks out of brass, it won't scratch polished surfaces. Of course when you rebuild aircraft cylinders and valves parts are a lot more expensive.

I'vr had many a snap ring fly off the pliers and disappear in my shop.

Whoever put that thing together really meant it! 8:50 why does a greased pig come to mind?

We call Cresent a universal metric wrench

I always heard that an expert (ex spurt) is a has-been drip under pressure.

25:53 The sound of grease and sand.

I would have done both sides at the same time.

@farmcraft101 is the seal expert (insert image of seal ;) he usually heats them up in oil.

Happy Wednesday Keith! 😊

Good job, y'all!

No lies were heard in this video

The definition of an expert is an EX= is a has been, sPERT = a drip under pressure

i do 2 or 3 seal kits/day on various types of cylinders,.... man ! this was painful to watch, (chuckle) keep up the entertaining videos guys.

Keith, buy another set of seals to have on hand. If the other side is weak then they will start leaking. Having a set on hand will save down time in the future.

It’s fun to watch each of them trying not to say “Let me do that!” Must be a Guy Thing. :-)

Did y’all peen that set screw again when you put it back in?

CEE makes hydraulic cylinder repair look so easy. This is more realistic.

Hydraulic cylinders re-assembly do need lots of protection sleeves to avoid damaging the replaced seals..

Keith! Time to wash (or burn) your shop apron!!!

the other side will crapout next.

I’m really surprised that this is the first time that you have encountered the joy of dealing with hydraulic issues 😮. Big, but easy 😅. Unless the wear bands have given up and the cylinder is scratched…………then the money flows 😢

Did you run a gap down that hole for the set screw?

I understood the definition of 'expert' is: Ex - a has been. Spurt - a drip under pressure...

The machine did you a favor by not letting you remove the cylinder. With it attached to the machine, you can put as much grunt on the gland nut as you want without the cylinder twisting or trying to pop out of a vise.

❤️‍🔥

I wish you had showed us how you made the tool you used to press the seal in place with. It was a good video, but that would have made it better.

Good old silver anti seize on those pins will absolutely end frozen pins.

Kieth you have a laithe ffs...........

Trivia moment did you know that your favorite actor was also Jack Benny's violin teacher

Expert... a former drip, under pressure.

Seems to me from working on air brake valves years ago, the all the removal tools should not have any sharp points. Particularly where round ‘O’ rings are used. Scratches on interior surfaces could lead to small leaks. Anyone else have leakage problems with those scratches?

An old friend told me that "Nothing difficult is ever easy"

Expert Ex = a has been Spurt = a drip under pressure

Frightening. A "prehistoric" can of grease. 80/90% of hydraulic failures are caused by contamination. Usually this contamination is introduced by bad practices. If you want to lubricate whilst assembling, use CLEAN hydraulic fluid of whatever spec that is running the system. If you don't have a totally clean environment whilst you are working on hydraulic components, you might just as well lubricate with a bucket of sand. Bring on the "well in the real world...." haters. Yea, I've spent enough of their hard-earned money repairing plant destroyed by their poor attitude to maintenance. Hydraulic systems are inherently extremely reliable if correctly looked after. For the sake of a few Dollars/Pounds spent on filters and fluids at the correct intervals, tens of thousands can be saved on pumps,motors valves or other components and downtime. But try telling Farmer Giles or Mr.Fisherman or whatever,that. I'm so glad I don't have to do all of that now.

Too bad they don't have a nice bench vise to grip that hex nut while installing the seals.

My suggestion is to take it to a shop that does this work an just pay them to rebuild it.