Cylinder shaft repair?

[Jay4200]

The stabilizer cylinder on my BH is leaking from the shaft seal. When I got the thing, the cylinder shaft had a sizable scar in it, no doubt from a rock being dropped on it. Fluid would ride out of the cylinder in the groove, so I assumed that dirt would ride in too. In retrospect, I probably should have simply smoothed the edges of the scratch, but instead, I did a kludge repair by grinding an undercut into the wound, then filling with JB Weld and smoothing. It worked fine for a few years, but the JB Weld has been slowly wearing away, revealing the sharp edge of the undercut. I noticed a line of spooge running down the cylinder last weekend, so it looks like the seal has finally started leaking.

So, what is the best way to proceed? My options the way i see it are:

1) Leave it alone until it goes really bad (not a bad idea in any case), then proceed with:
2) Re-repair with JB Weld and hope it never gets any worse
3) (2) then put in a new seal
4) Somehow repair shaft (via shop, I guess) by welding/grinding and/or other means
5) (4) then put in a new seal
5) Replace whole cylinder with new one (probably from surplus supplier)

JayC

 

[DanD78]

You could polish and blend in the sharp edges of the scar so a new seal won't cut. It still might leak when passing that spot but the seal won't cut. Another option is to replace just the cylinder rod by having a machine shop make another.

Dan

 

[kennyd]

You can use a Braze material to fill the gouge-then smooth/replace seals. Just like the JB weld repair only more permanent. You could also seek advice from a local hydraulic shop-sometimes making a new rod is the best way.

 

[Cami]

Using JB Weld to repair hydraulic cylinders is a new one for me...a stabilizer cylinder isn't cycled much compared to the rest of the cylinders on a backhoe, but holy smokes! It doesn't take much roughness on a cylinder rod to start cutting seals; longitudinal scars aren't as bad as lateral ones though.

How about a cheapie, off the shelf cylinder from a discount centre. Up here in Canada, Princess Auto sells inexpensive hydraulic parts, but I've never dealt with them.

As for repair, when I worked servicing cylinders, I believe it was typicaly billed out as 1-2 hours for the machinist and 1 hour (the minimum) for the welder to do the rod ends; I don't remember what the mechanics typically billed for the removal/teardown/assembly/installation. We had hard chromed rod material in stock but I don't know what it cost.

 

[Jay4200]

Using JB Weld to repair hydraulic cylinders is a new one for me...a stabilizer cylinder isn't cycled much compared to the rest of the cylinders on a backhoe, but holy smokes! It doesn't take much roughness on a cylinder rod to start cutting seals; longitudinal scars aren't as bad as lateral ones though.

Yea, well it did last 5 years. I think the saving grace is that the ding on the shaft is near the foot end, so there is never any hydraulic pressure on the thing while it is sliding past the seal.

JayC

 

[Just Bill]

I would say just polish it up and give it another try.
5 years isn't a bad run.
Around here shop time is about $100 per hour. That will pay for a lot of JB weld and a little oil.

 

[Soundguy]

JB WELD? you want that circulating in your expensive hydro system?

better woulf have been to file down the edges, then braze or solder up, then polish to contour... not perfect like chrome.. but better than GLUE!

I've seen what paint and other contaminates do to a hyd system....

soundguy

The stabilizer cylinder on my BH is leaking from the shaft seal. When I got the thing, the cylinder shaft had a sizable scar in it, no doubt from a rock being dropped on it. Fluid would ride out of the cylinder in the groove, so I assumed that dirt would ride in too. In retrospect, I probably should have simply smoothed the edges of the scratch, but instead, I did a kludge repair by grinding an undercut into the wound, then filling with JB Weld and smoothing. It worked fine for a few years, but the JB Weld has been slowly wearing away, revealing the sharp edge of the undercut. I noticed a line of spooge running down the cylinder last weekend, so it looks like the seal has finally started leaking.

So, what is the best way to proceed? My options the way i see it are:

1) Leave it alone until it goes really bad (not a bad idea in any case), then proceed with:
2) Re-repair with JB Weld and hope it never gets any worse
3) (2) then put in a new seal
4) Somehow repair shaft (via shop, I guess) by welding/grinding and/or other means
5) (4) then put in a new seal
5) Replace whole cylinder with new one (probably from surplus supplier)

JayC

 

[Cami]

JB WELD? you want that circulating in your expensive hydro system? ... I've seen what paint and other contaminates do to a hyd system....

soundguy

When it comes to hydraulic systems, cleanliness is definately next to Godliness. Hydraulic fluid can come out of the pail looking clean but actually not be up to snuff for your system.

I feel a stroll down amnesia lane coming on.... An old coworker had to deal with a loader whose hydraulic pump had "grenaded." The owner simply installed a new pump and put the machine back into service.

All that shrapnel made a lovely mess of the whole works and what should have been a clean-out and inspection became a total rebuild.

 

[tractorski]

There is a shop in Bellows falls VT. that can repair your cylinder. he makes his own shafts. it is probably 2 hours from you. pm me if you want his name and number. He does good work at a fair price.

 

[Soundguy]

our local shop.. when he rebuilds a pump or cyl.. if he finds debri in the pump / cyl, he won't warranty them unless you buy oil and new hoses from him too.. because he knows most people won't go to the trouble to flush lines and sumps...

I don't blame him either.

I've spent hours picking rubber and cord fiber bits from an internal hose colapse out of a steering orbital valve after someone just added oil and went after a no steer problem...

soundguy