leonz
Super Member
No they do not,
the stop tube is a machined slug(bronze preferably)
that has a bore that is 1/32 of an inch larger in diameter
than the actual rod diameter.
The stop tube is placed in the cylinder between the piston,
and the packing gland/stuffing box when the cylnder is
assembled and simply rides up and down when the piston moves.
You lose one inch of cylinder travel per foot of the cylinders previous extended length, which translates to what ever the measured arc circumference is of the loader bucket lip minus the length of the
stop tube in inches.
The beauty of a stop tube is it increases the surface area of the piston and reduces the side loading stressed to allmost zero and the cylinders last so much longer because of the stop tube.
A stop tube will also stop a log splitter cylinder from creating huge side loads and eventually failing from bending.
I can scan a hand written diagram to show how they are installed and how they work and how the stop tube saves cylinders if anyone would like to see one.
leonz