SNS 216 Part 2: Hydraulic Cylinder Tear Down 

Well said! Hydraulic repair ain't easy.

Y’all caught me

Abom79 I think we can stand the odd one here and there. When I think about the language used at my workplace...this place is a chapel in comparison.

Your correct there. I've already suggested he change the oil and filters and he said he is going to.

Thanks Cuz, good to see you around!

Sure thing.

mattcurry29 bridrs disi,s

I'm just now getting in the trade..and I'm not understanding nor getting all the different names of wipers seals etc or how to measure or find in the book

That might work if the dimensions of the cylinder hasn't been adjusted. He did mention another piston rebuild where a seal groove was resized because a proper sized seal coun't be found. So he could have checked the seal / o-ring sizes with a rebuilt kit and ensure the kit has the right size, but that's relying on who knows what supplier of the kit. He trusts the mfg of the book being used and feels confident rebuilding with those parts...the rebuild is his personal reputation and being the quality person he is, wouldn't trust it to any 'ol parts supplier.

Thanks Mark.

Yes the Hercules seals are high quality. I would assume Ford sources third parts from the same type of sources.

When you watch a video about hydraulic cylinders and drink coffee, you must make sure that's coffee and not hydraulic oil in your mug. :D :D

Yea it’s 3/4” drive. I remember Dad and I bending it but don’t recall what the job was. I just know we were trying to get something to move!

That technique is sometimes called out in the maintenance manual procedures for for repacking (replacing seals in) aircraft landing gear shock struts. The seal carriers in some struts have additional, deeper grooves that are loaded during assembly with a spare set of seals and backup rings. If a strut starts leaking in service, the part of the airplane supported by that strut is jacked up enough to allow the gland nut on the bottom of the strut to be unscrewed and the seal carrier dropped down. The old seals and rings are removed, the spare set moved from the storage grooves into the active grooves, and the carrier and gland nut reassembled. This is quicker than partially retracting the strut in order to remove the lower cylinder and axle assembly completely and repacking it. Unfortunately, the spare seal set has sometimes aged enough to fail prematurely after being moved into the active position, so some airlines choose to do a full repack anytime the strut leaks, and never use the spare seals.

I talk about this in the next video. An old hydraulic guy that passed away when I was in my teens had an oil vat that stayed warm. he would toss the seals in that oil tank for a while before he built the cylinder to get them nice and soft. I have yet to try that but want to.

You could put a small jar of oil in a pan filled with hot water. A quick and easy way to heat, but not overheat the oil.

And what size club is best used on the babies...

I’ve been using them for over a year now with no problems. I did have one incident where the batteries failed twice so they sent me another one in exchange for the one that failed. Turned out to be bad batteries. I’ve had mine certified at work, and you can even buy them with a calibration and certificate. I’d suggest buy some and try them out. They have a good feel and work great.

Thank you sir, I'll give them a shot. I build submarines for a living so the navy is pretty strict on what they except. Thanks for the feedback its much appreciated.

There' so many parts that are only marked by stickers or paint, which don't last long. After a few coats of rust converter paint over what's left of the original, hard to say who made it.

I know what it is, it's called Pig Mat, also used in auto shops to absorb oil spills. Just Google it up, they make it to soak up specific stuff depending on application as far as I know.

Kenneth James thanks! Found it!

You're going to love that stuff... the gray type is great, but white has its uses as well. I'm never going back to any other method of spill pickup, they have a customer for life.

Thanks for the name Kenneth! helps me out as well. About the "paper towels" these are made of Polypropylene, that is because it absorbs oils very well. I can't recall who but a well known youtuber talked about it in a video but he showed the difference (paper towel on water (absorbsvery well), paper towel on oil (somewhat absorbs but not really), PP on water (does not absorb) and PP on oil (absorbs very well). Maybe AVE, or Applied Science.

The company name is called PIG Industries. We call it Pig Mat. I use the grey heavy duty mats, those are for water and oil. The white mats are oil only. So much cleaner then clay absorbent.

Yeah...I was going to comment on the 'assembly torque'.......I'm surprised the tiny ratchet mechanism could take that.....

3/4” drive

looks like a 3/4. wonder whats the story behind that little accident

I order them through work, Motion Industries. We’re a distributer for them. My favorite piston seals are the PS2700 series. Those snap in like a urethane seal.

Damaged during use.

paul iossi We also use CRC, and Alligany York. Yes sometimes we modify the pistons and glands and install wear bands.

Sawdust works pretty good too.....machine shops used to actually go to the wood-mills for it....

I hate that clay absorbent. Itscmakes a mess and kicks up dust. Oil absorbent mats are where it’s at these days.

Another disadvantage to the clay oil absorbents in a shop is that people are always quick to throw it down but no one seem to like to sweep it up again.

I use to use cat litter back in the day. Too much dust and no one likes to clean it up. I now use mats and since I have a industrial centrifuge I wring then out and reuse them. Old washing machines on the spin cycle also work well for spining the oil out. Also, and this is a biggie here in California, when the inspectors come around and see the mats and how I recover the oil and reuse the mats they are happy. Throwing oily mats in the trash is a BIG no-no!

We have rules or laws here in Florida that specifies when you can or can't throw oily waste in the trash. They say you need to put oily waste like those mats or rags in a heavy duty trash bag, then throw in the can. If it's in abondance your supposed to dispose of all of the oily waste through collections areas, like at the land fill.

I'm pretty sure he has the t-shirt as well, double miss :P

MicrophonicFool 😂

I visually inspected it yes.

I’m sure that was battle damage from use.

Looks like a hammer and cape chisel was used for tightening that gland into the cylinder.... I was 'The Welder' in a machine shop that did a LOT of cylinders....plenty of that damage caused by failure to buy a $25 adjustable pin-spanner...or in too much of a hurry to just make one...

That damage in the face did nothing to the cylinder.

Thanks very much for the reply. I greatly respect the years of experience you have done with heavy equipment repairs and you have the cylinder in front of you as I just see it through your video so you would be more qualified to identify problems. Hydraulic cylinders carry great weights that could be dangerous to people working in the area around the piece of equipment.

Didn't listen to the contractor and skimped on rebar ;)

Back when I poured that slab, I never thought it would be a shop floor. It was just a cheap slab to park my boat on.

G Andersson good enough for the girls i go out with!

Those glands got stookum.

You can source them online too. I prefer a book, especially in a shop environment.

One would think so. I've found when it comes to hydraulic seals, and fittings very few companies implement a very good lookup. In addition those online tools tend to point you towards a single seal or fitting. The books give you the advantage of seeing adjacent sizes which is helpful when you are having doubts about your measurements or the measurements are provided by somebody else. Most of the suppliers use the catalogs too. Only time they go to the computer is to check inventory.

I agree, books have there advantage. Unless you use it, you don’t understand. Easy to flip through those pages then navigating a website.

All sounds well and good But many companys have attempted to put this stuff online And many companys have failed Iv never used one that works well Always slow and laggy And you can't just skip 300 pages online Gotta navigate back though the menus Books ftw

fls360 I used to be a cylinder mechanic myself. And I agree the ones he shows come apart nicely, there sure are some frustrating ones out there.

I’ve had my share of stubborn cylinders, and still see them often. I’d rather be Machining then tearing down hydraulics.

I am a forklift mechanic by trade and i do a lot cylinders in the field. I'd rather work on other things than having to pull cylinders and reseal 'em.

Yeah...forklifts...usually filthy, abused and worn out....some of the worst cylinders I've dealt with are the type with the 'square' wire retainer you have to feed through a small hole in the end of the cylinders.... Then there are the tie-rod cylinders...fairly easy...

Hey Doug, sometimes those cylinders will not spin apart. We’ve had some we had to cut apart, like the gland, retainer, and tube welded itself together.