Hydraulic Fluid Shower

[Haneyrm]

Was loading some trash onto a burn pile on Sunday. Had the loader almost all the way up when suddenly I heard a loud pop and was getting showered with something. Took a few seconds to realize that a hydraulic hose had popped on the loader. By that time I was dripping wet with hydraulic fluid and the tractor was a mess. I have no idea why it popped. It split right under one of the couplings and send a shower directly back onto the operators station. It was not fun cleaning up last night. My clothes and my favorite hat were ruined. I will probably still wear the hat but the shirt and pants are toast.

Mike

 

[AndyMA]

Did you get the line hot in the fire? Catch it on anything? If you were moving brush it is not impossible that yo caught a piece of it on the line. Or it could have just been a defect in the line. Not much help I know. Might as well burn all the clothes. I would probably never wear hat again either as I doubt that you will get stink out of it. This is just part of the fun of tractoring.

Andy

 

[Wayne County Hose]

You were lucky. I know a guy that was torching on a forklift when a hydraulic line blew. The flame turned the oil into a flame thrower. He had 2nd degree burns.

I hate oil showers. I got one about a month ago. I had a 37 ton log splitter in my shop with a bent rod. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the rod out of the cylinder. I decided to use the machine's hydraulics to do it. No other choice. I thought I had everything set and covered for when the rod let loose. Nope. I got soaked from the waist down. I stripped down right there and threw the clothes into the oil. All they were good for at that point were to help soak up the rest of the oil. Good thing I had a spare change of clothes at the shop.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. good ole hyd fluid shower. Most of us have BTDT.. and had to throw away the tshirt.

Just think of it as advance rustproofing for your tractor.

Soundguy

 

[jinman]

Just a bit of advice for free. Don't just get one hose, get all four. Notice how I'm making some assumptions about it being the short 18" hoses? That's because I've replaced all four of mine. Luckily, the only thing that I showered was my loader and hood. Replace the OEM hoses with some good hoses and you should have no problem. I've never had a problem with anything but the bucket curl hoses.

 

[BTDT]

Take the hat to your tractor dealer and tell them they owe you one. Might get a new hat out of the deal.

 

[Diesel-ME]

Yep.. good ole hyd fluid shower. Most of us have BTDT.. and had to throw away the tshirt.

Just think of it as advance rustproofing for your tractor.

Soundguy

hehe... I rust proofed my wife's car this fall when I hooked up my wood splitter and tested it out in the driveway. (had busted a fitting moving it out of the weeds).

As luck would have it, the car had not been washed all summer - looked pretty good by the end of that day. She was happy.

phew

 

[Redbug]

My mind flashed to a likely scenerio that could happen to myself after reading this thread.

Suppose that would have happened out in the woods away from anything? What could you do? No hydro oil = no transmission to drive back. Just park it and get parts and oil?

Is there any way to jury rig the line enough to be able to drive back to your trailer, etc? Hose clamps around rubber...would that work? Possibly a couple threaded brass caps...take the hose off and cap the cylinder?

 

[jinman]

My mind flashed to a likely scenerio that could happen to myself after reading this thread.

Suppose that would have happened out in the woods away from anything? What could you do? No hydro oil = no transmission to drive back. Just park it and get parts and oil?

Is there any way to jury rig the line enough to be able to drive back to your trailer, etc? Hose clamps around rubber...would that work? Possibly a couple threaded brass caps...take the hose off and cap the cylinder?

In my case, the oil leaks I had were on the FEL's curl hoses. I just raised the FEL while the bucket flopped and drove back to the house. Since the joystick was in neutral, there was no leakage. At another time, I drove a limb into my HST filter and it started spewing. I didn't have far to go and was able to make it to the house before the HST ran dry. If I had been too far away, I would have just shut the tractor down and walked. That's when cellphones are handy. I could call my wife to come get me if needed.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

A lot of guys around here working in the woods for a living do a couple different things. If they blow a hose out on the FEL, there are usually "sister" hoses. Hoses next to each other the same size and length. If you blow one, the others aren't too far behind. They will change them all and save the old ones for spares. They also sometimes keep a long hose around that will work on most of the common stuff if they get stuff.

Just remember, some things you can't prevent. I've hiked out of the woods before for parts and tools.