cylinder rebuild

[thebicman]

Winter has arrived in this part of Canada and I thought everything was ready to go. Put the subframe on for the front blower and discovered the hydraulic cylinder is leaking. Will call Kubota for a seal kit tomorrow. Never rebuilt a hydraulic cylinder but have redone tons of front shock. Doesn't look to difficult. I assume from everything read that the proper gland wrench, pin style, is a must to get it apart and back together.

 

[Lil Foot]

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[thebicman]

Wish I found this in the fall so I had more time to deal with it. Going to give a local hydraulic shop a call to see on price and time for a repair. Don't want to get it apart and can't get it back together.

 

[Toyboy]

Check the price of a new one. It may be cost effective.

 

[Dave_eng]

I have found these beginning of the season leaks often resolve with a little use.

Of course assuming the cylinder is not decades old.

Dave

 

[thebicman]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Cylinder is only 2 yrs old. So hopefully it will seal itself.

 

[D2Cat]

What Dave said often happens. You might check with the hyd. shop to get information on parts availability for you to repair, and their price if you bring the cylinder and they do all the work. Then proceed to use it to see if the seals swell some. If not, you know what to do, what it will cost and time it will take.

 

[Henro]

Check the price of a new one. It may be cost effective.

Unlikely. I had the curl cylinders on my L402 loader rebuilt by a hydraulic shop for $100 each this summer. Kubota seal kit would have been half of that or more delivered. Replacement cylinders would have been around $600 each from Kubota. I did price them out of curiosity.

 

[thebicman]

So I checked with the hydraulic shop I have always used and there are too busy. Maybe after the holidays was there reply. Have the seal kit ordered and will be in soon. Looking at some videos and the picture on Messicks it looks like there is a hard plastic seal that needs installed. Am I going to be able to do this without a special tool ? Love a challenge but don't want to get stuck without being able to complete repair. All advise is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[D2Cat]

See post #2. Bill shows a picture of the tool that makes the job easy. You can do it without the tool, just takes more time and patience. It helps to put the seal in hot water for a while to soften it up.

 

[thebicman]

I need the forums help on this one. Picked up the seal kit and have the cylinder apart. Have not replaced any seals just in case. All the seals match except for two. The existing gland nut internal seal is an o ring with an orange plastic spacer and the kit does not have these. I did find a post on here that stated the internal seal has been upgraded. My question is what direction does it go as I presume its directional.

 

[Bulldog]

Wish I found this in the fall so I had more time to deal with it. Going to give a local hydraulic shop a call to see on price and time for a repair. Don't want to get it apart and can't get it back together.

I would check with the shop first. I have a local shop that will build them cheaper than what the kit cost from the dealer. I have always taken mine apart and took it to them. They'll put the seals in and hand them back to me and normally only cost about $40 or so and I'm out the door.

 

[thebicman]

Have all the seals replaced and everything looks good except for the one seal in the gland nut. Its the seal in the second picture. Hopefully someone on here can let me know the direction. Thanks.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

I need the forums help on this one. Picked up the seal kit and have the cylinder apart. Have not replaced any seals just in case. All the seals match except for two. The existing gland nut internal seal is an o ring with an orange plastic spacer and the kit does not have these. I did find a post on here that stated the internal seal has been upgraded. My question is what direction does it go as I presume its directional. View attachment 51626 View attachment 51627 View attachment 51628

The top picture is the rod wiper and the side showing in the picture goes to the outside.

The second picture is the rod seal and the side showing (the open side) goes to the inside (so the fluid pressure activates it).

There wasn't a serial number break on your blower, was there?

 

[thebicman]

Thanks for the reply. That is the way I put it all back together. Found some info on seals after searching a bit. Now I know why everyone uses a seal install tool. What a pain.

Sorry I don't understand the question. "There wasn't a serial number break on your blower, was there?"

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Thanks for the reply. That is the way I put it all back together. Found some info on seals after searching a bit. Now I know why everyone uses a seal install tool. What a pain.

Sorry I don't understand the question. "There wasn't a serial number break on your blower, was there?"

Yeah, if you're ever going to do another rebuild, the tools are reasonably priced.

On some of my cylinders, the ones with serial number below a certain number use one kit, and the ones with higher serial number use a different kit.

 

[asgard]

You probably looked that this video shows the seals and says which way they are to be orientated.

I might be following in your footsteps with a rebuild on my cylinder but I intend to ask Kubota Canada why they are failing. This seems premature.

 

[thebicman]

That was the video I found first. From what I have also found is that the lip seal is a better seal. Probably why it is in the repair kit. The original seal was an o ring.

 

[thebicman]

Checked this morning and first day with no signs of a leak. Not a difficult repair and glad I did it now before the weather gets bad.

 

[asgard]

Good outcome, you have given me hope and I hope a good source of information when I potentially need to do the same. I have yet to cycle my cylinder to see if the leak stops. Did your cylinder leak before it was connected or like mine only after connection?
Thanks