Hydraulic cylinder rebuild tip.

[SELKIRK]

If any of your hydraulic cylinders start leaking and your machine has some age on it, do yourself a favor and order a full set of of seals/pistons. My 1430 is a 2004 and two years ago the steering cylinders started leaking. I ordered all the steering/lift/tilt and 4n1 bucket seals at the same time. Sure glad I did, as all of them have needed to be rebuilt in the last two years. Steering first, then lift, then tilt and now the 4n1 bucket this weekend. And they always fail at the worst time, sure glad I had the seals on hand. It's a simple job, about 15-20 min per cylinder if you have the seals handy!!

 

[cqaigy2]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Gravy]

Somewhere along the line, I also read that it's a good idea to apply the big pipe wrench + cheater pipe to the end cap while the cylinder is still attached to the machine. Seems that most vises are not nearly as good at resisting rotational forces as an entire PT bolted to the cylinder.

 

[SELKIRK]

Here's my way of rebuilding the cylinders. Not sure if completely correct, but it works for me. It's about a 15-20 min. job per cylinder.

1. Remove end cap with big *** pipe wrench with cylinder still attached to the PT. Hardest part of the job!

2. Remove shaft eye bolt, and pull shaft/cap/piston assembly out of cylinder. Cylinder and lines stay attached to PT.

3. Put shaft eye in vise. Use impact wrench to remove nut off of shaft. Loctite was used on original install.

4. Remove piston. Some are stuck on pretty good. Use end cap as slide hammer to knock off if needed. Remove end cap.

5. Remove old piston/cap/shaft seals . Clean everything spotless. Replace seals and maybe pistons. I use a little grease so they slide on better.

6. Reassemble shaft assembly . I use blue loctite on the end nut so it does not come loose in the cylinder.

7. Remove oil from cylinder and check for loose pieces of seals/trash in cylinder. Replace shaft assembly in cylinder, replace eye bolt, and tighten end cap.


Note-PT will tell you to replace(buy!!)pistons at the same time. I did replace them with new ones on the steering/lift/tilt but not the 4n1 bucket. Not sure they were really needed. The only damage I found was on one of the 4n1 bucket pistons, I just used one of the used pistons for that replacement.

 

[SpringHollow]

My recollection is that the seal kit is only available with pistons so you might as well replace them.

Ken

 

[4570Man]

I’m working on putting seals in my Grasshopper wheel motor. Only one motor leaks. I’ve been told I should replace the other side too. I’m against the idea. My logic is if it’s not broke don’t fix it. It’s a pretty delicate balance of parts and even getting the “fixed” one back together leak free isn’t guaranteed. Not to mention it’s a it’s a $65 dollar kit that’s probably going to require a $60 bearing and a couple hours work to swap. I’m very much against swapping parts that might fail. You could spend thousands of dollars swapping parts on new equipment and it still break down or worse create a problem that didn’t exist before. What’s others thought on the wheel motor seals? On a side note to creating problems that didn’t exist. The slightly dry rotted hose on my Grasshopper didn’t leak and chances are good it wouldn’t have for years but now it does after screwing around with this motor. Another thing was when I got this mower the belt on the hydro pumps looked like trash and common sense would suggest that belt would fail at the worst time probably in a mud hole so I changed it. The new belt was defective that didn’t last 20 hours. The belt on the deck was worn pretty bad. I bought a new belt so I wouldn’t be left cutting grass with scissors but I never installed that one and the old belt mowed all season with nearly 200 hours put on it.

 

[fried1765]

I知 working on putting seals in my Grasshopper wheel motor. Only one motor leaks. I致e been told I should replace the other side too. I知 against the idea. My logic is if it痴 not broke don稚 fix it. It痴 a pretty delicate balance of parts and even getting the �ixed one back together leak free isn稚 guaranteed. Not to mention it痴 a it痴 a $65 dollar kit that痴 probably going to require a $60 bearing and a couple hours work to swap. I知 very much against swapping parts that might fail. You could spend thousands of dollars swapping parts on new equipment and it still break down or worse create a problem that didn稚 exist before. What痴 others thought on the wheel motor seals? On a side note to creating problems that didn稚 exist. The slightly dry rotted hose on my Grasshopper didn稚 leak and chances are good it wouldn稚 have for years but now it does after screwing around with this motor. Another thing was when I got this mower the belt on the hydro pumps looked like trash and common sense would suggest that belt would fail at the worst time probably in a mud hole so I changed it. The new belt was defective that didn稚 last 20 hours. The belt on the deck was worn pretty bad. I bought a new belt so I wouldn稚 be left cutting grass with scissors but I never installed that one and the old belt mowed all season with nearly 200 hours put on it.

I replaced the clutch on my Ford 1920 with 1056 hours, because I had the tractor mostly apart for clean up and painting.
Clutch I took out had been working fine, and looked very good when I took it out.
Put the new one in anyway as I had already bought it.
New clutch failed in first two hours.
What a dummy I am!
I am now a pro on Ford 1920 clutches though!