Just had a FEL arm cylinder seal blow this last weekend and while taking it apart discovered a lot of old orange paint chips were the most likely cause.
I put seal kits in all 3 cylinders on the FEL and found old paint chips between the wiper and the pressure seal for the chrome rod on all of them. The eaten up seal had evedence of dried paint chips in the chewed up part of the pressure seal. The other arm seal had a chip embeded 1/2 way through the pressure seal and the bucket seal had chips between the seals but no evedence of any entering the pressure seal. There was very little evidence of other contamination.
I strongly advise using paint stripper to remove any paint found on the chrome cylinder arms of all rams.
Doug
I put seal kits in all 3 cylinders on the FEL and found old paint chips between the wiper and the pressure seal for the chrome rod on all of them. The eaten up seal had evedence of dried paint chips in the chewed up part of the pressure seal. The other arm seal had a chip embeded 1/2 way through the pressure seal and the bucket seal had chips between the seals but no evedence of any entering the pressure seal. There was very little evidence of other contamination.
I strongly advise using paint stripper to remove any paint found on the chrome cylinder arms of all rams.
Doug