Hydraulic Pump Filters?

[akadave]

I am putting a double action pump on a 5 1/2 inch OD by 30 inch cylinder. The question is do I need to put a suction strainer or return filter or both or something else on this thing. Seems if you start with a clean cylinder, clean fluid, a clean reservior then filters may not be that big of a deal but I don't want to damage anything.

This is for a dump trailer. I also considered going with a single action pump and gravity down but the cylinder is designed to be wet on both sides and I likely risk damaging the seals if the power down side is not full of fluid. Comments on that?

Any thoughts would be helpful.

 

[IceStationZebra]

You will ingest dirt through the breather and rod seal. You can think of a filter as insurance. You need to determine if a small investment is worth saving the pump, valve and cylinder seals.

In a perfect world you would put the filter after the pump and before any valves. (or a filter between every component! ) In the real world inlet strainers can cause pump cavitation, especially in cold weather. Filters after the pump need to be high pressure, which = $$. So we are left with a return filter, which is what most off-road machines have. For a system with a gear pump you should get a filter with a 10 micron rating, unless the area is really dusty then you should get 6-8 micron.

As far as keeping both sides of the cylinder wet I don't have any personnal experience, but I'm guessing the seals and wear bands (if equipped) are designed to run wet. Maybe you can replace the seal with one designed to run dry?

ISZ