Weld Hydraulic Cylinder

[bdeboer]

I picked up a homemade 3 pt. logsplitter awhile back. The hydraulic cylinder is leaking where the rod side cap is welded to the cylinder body from a couple of pinholes. The red circle in the attachment is where it is leaking. Is this something that can be welded with an old Lincoln Buzz box? If so, what rod?

Thanks

BTW: It is not the prettiest splitter in the world, but it does work. I am going to replace the crazy looking hydraulic hoses with out the Pioneer fittings this week.

 

[gwdixon]

Is this something that can be welded with an old Lincoln Buzz box? If so, what rod?

Hard to tell from the photo what is going on. But my experience has not been very positive trying to weld up oily leaking hydraulic cylinders.

I heard, and tried, the technique of welding over the leak and then pounding the snot out of the weld while still red hot. The tendency was for the oil to then leak out the side of the weld. Then another weld, then another leak. It is like BP trying to seal their well.

Hopefully you will get a reply from a professional welder and/ or at least one who has a solution. It would be valuable to us all.

 

[DanD78]

I would grind out most of the bad spot, don't go too deep, Clean with brake cleaner and reweld with 3/32" 7018 rod. Wrap a wet rag around the cylinder rod to keep splatter off the rod and keep the seal cool. Have the rerpair spot facing up so the oil won't wick out the bad spot. Keep your weld time short so you don't get too much heat in to the cap and oil.

Dan

 

[bdeboer]

I would grind out most of the bad spot, don't go too deep, Clean with brake cleaner and reweld with 3/32" 7018 rod. Wrap a wet rag around the cylinder rod to keep splatter off the rod and keep the seal cool. Have the rerpair spot facing up so the oil won't wick out the bad spot. Keep your weld time short so you don't get too much heat in to the cap and oil.

Dan

Thanks, I will try this.

 

[jbooth]

Might be able to seal the weld by just "peening" . Get a round nose punch or grind one and peen all around the pinholes. Can be done with hammer and punch, but small air hammer is great. It appears the leak is on the retract side of the cylinder so full pressure should not be a factor except when fully retracted to the stop. May not even leak if not retracted to the stop.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Hydraulic cylinders are tricky. Some are special alloys, and with all that residual oil and stuff, I don't think you'd get a good weld unless you were able to steam clean then oven bake the cylinde to preheat it. I'm not an expert in this area, other than be competent in hydraulic repair, but from what I know, you'd wouldn't want to weld on it. Worse things can happen than a leak if it were to go all at once

 

[bdeboer]

Might be able to seal the weld by just "peening" . Get a round nose punch or grind one and peen all around the pinholes. Can be done with hammer and punch, but small air hammer is great. It appears the leak is on the retract side of the cylinder so full pressure should not be a factor except when fully retracted to the stop. May not even leak if not retracted to the stop.

It seeps a little when moving, but pretty much only squirts when the cylinder is fully extended or retracted.

 

[gauthier]

Well,it ain't much good leaking,so...I'd follow dans advice,thats about all you can do,and like he said,don't get it hot.,thats all you can do.

 

[KWentling]

I have welded a few of those. Can't tell much from the picture. I've had luck with cleaning it good (steam cleaner if possible), grind the paint and rust off to good metal, and then peening the holes closed. Then use 6011 rod to weld over the holes. You'll need to move the piston as far from where you're welding as you can so the heat doesn't melt the seals. Wet rags can help draw the heat away too. If you use brake kleen on it, note the hazards of breathing the fumes! I don't use it except for brakes.

Kim

 

[Taylortractornut]

I used to build custom cylinders and repair them for a company I worked for. It can be welded and fixed. Just clean it reallyh good with thinner or either and then rinse it with a good degreaser. SOme times I use a torch to burn some of the grease out of the pin hole then grind it out with a nice flowing v . A sharp V will likely make a great flux trap. Becareful of under cut at the end of the weld. I usually make my first pass in the V then let it cool and chip the weld. Then I usually make a cover pass just for extra precaution. I ve only had 2 that still pin holed but Later fixed one. THey were both on Sellick Fork lift side shifts in a tie mill. The operator used the side shift to elbow stacks of ties over.

 

[Kernopelli]

I have had good luck welding cylinders using my mig. I shortened both of the bucket cylinders on my loader about 4 years ago and and have had zero problems with them. It was a little different scenario than what it appears you are needing but still think it would work for you. I was very careful to match the mating surfaces and beveled them slightly for penetration and cleaning/prep for welding. I positioned the cylinder so that when I started a pass I could make one continuous bead without having to stop and reposition....turned out great on both of them. The lift cylinders on my loader are actually aluminum bodied and I had a local shop weld one of them for me about this same time and it has worked fine as well.

I agree with Mark on appropriate care when using brake cleaner and heat...."care" meaning don't do it. It may not work quite as well but I keep starting fluid around specifically to use as a degreaser. It's cheap and works well for most cleaning duties, deep cleaning oil permeated metal may be an entirely different issue however. I would go with grinding as others have suggested.

 

[wdchyd]

The hydraulic cylinder is leaking where the rod side cap is welded to the cylinder body from a couple of pinholes.

Could you post a closer pic showing rod gland arrangement......if it's a threaded cap, someone should not have welded it from the start.....typically any welding done on this side of the cyl has to come apart or you'll just cook the rod seals anyways......

 

[DanD78]

Thanks for waking me up about the Brake clean spray. I would have never said to use it if I had known what I know now. I think I will go back to using some other kind of degreaser.

Dan

 

[toy]

Could you post a closer pic showing rod gland arrangement......if it's a threaded cap, someone should not have welded it from the start.....typically any welding done on this side of the cyl has to come apart or you'll just cook the rod seals anyways......

I can't really tell for sure in the picture either, but it looks like a male threaded cap in a female barrel. In the picture from what I can make out I can't see the weld but if it is welded is it welded all the way around the cylinder? If it is not actually welded he might be able to take it off and maybe unscrew the cap and put a new o'ring on it and put it back together. I am like you wd though I can't really tell, but I do know that if it has a cap with an o'ring on it that seals it off and you weld it [the cap] then I believe it will make it worse. If it is still doing it's job and is not leaking too bad and I can keep it from spraying by just not retracting it all the way it almost fits into the catigory of if it ain't broke then don't fix it.

 

[bdeboer]

I can't really tell for sure in the picture either, but it looks like a male threaded cap in a female barrel. In the picture from what I can make out I can't see the weld but if it is welded is it welded all the way around the cylinder? If it is not actually welded he might be able to take it off and maybe unscrew the cap and put a new o'ring on it and put it back together. I am like you wd though I can't really tell, but I do know that if it has a cap with an o'ring on it that seals it off and you weld it [the cap] then I believe it will make it worse. If it is still doing it's job and is not leaking too bad and I can keep it from spraying by just not retracting it all the way it almost fits into the catigory of if it ain't broke then don't fix it.

I am leaning toward the don't fix it until it gets worse, but have included another picture. The picture is from my cellphone and poor. The cap appears to be welded all the way around the cylinder with the packing on the outside. There is a bubble gum looking weld (at 11:00 o'clock) from someones previous attempts at repair. This is one of the leaks.

 

[gauthier]

Well,I have never,even thought about using brake fluid[wait that was brake cleaner],gas,kerosine,starter fluid to clean before welding,,what do you guys weld on??,,Maybe alchol,but generally a torch will burn every kind of oil off,than you grind/brush...,,,now,they make steam cleaners and vapor degreasers[think vapor degreasers use brake fluid!!!:laughing:],but you follow by steamcleaner,,don't know all the details,,but it would never cross my mind to use brake cleaner to clean metal before welding,,,maybe its a sheet metal thing???

 

[wdchyd]

Carb Spray.....avail at Wallyworld or auto parts store......cheap, quick, and degreases PDQ....a little goes a long way:thumbsup: