L47 Backhoe - Hydraulic Line Replacement

[Superpuma]

Hi All,

Loooong time, first time. After many many years of imagining myself owning a tractor I'm very gratefully the owner of a an L47 that I've put 180 hours on in the past two or three months. I have a hillside I'm terracing.

The point: I have a hydraulic line in need of replacement. A leak with a palpable blister on the line appeared, and then quickly developed into a gusher.

The new line arrived today and I'm gearing up to do the work. It's brand new and well under warranty but the soonest my local place can send a guy to me is two weeks out.

I'm looking for any ideas on how to access the fitting under the cylinder on the boom arm and general advice on the procedure. I figure I'll have to remove the pin (green) holding the cylinder in place and then swing it out in order to get to the fittings. My plan : Undo the retaining bolt and push the pin out with a dowel and mallet, then retract the cylinder while its free. Swing the cylinder out, swap the lines, and then repeat the process in reverse. I'm assuming all of these components will be man-handle able.

Any and all advice/feedback would be welcome.

-d

 

[Vlach7]

I looked at mine and your plan sounds good. Did you lay your boom down like the schematic? That would make feeding the line thru easier, no access from the bottom, also I would pull the old one out attached to a rope or wire to assist in pulling the new one thru. Please let me know how it goes, I'm sure I will be there some day.

 

[6869704x4]

Thinking out loud here. If you got a union to tie the lines together, as you pulled the old one out you would be pulling the new one in. I think those are JIC fittings?

 

[Superpuma]

Good news everyone! The job was surprisingly easy to do. With the backhoe fully lowered and stretched out I was able to semi-comfortably fit a swivel head flare nut wrench in the cavity and loosen the fitting (it was just barely snug).

Lowering the backhoe even below grade would have provided even more room to work.

The hardest part of the job was pulling the new hose through with its sleeve still in place, but by wrapping the sleeve around the hose with paracord as suggested, it wasn't that bad.

Since the hose I was swapping was on the outside of the block, it was super easy to work with. I'd rate this job at "easier than an oil change".

I'm happy to be done spilling hydraulic oil all over the place.

I have pics of the job and of the hydraulic line pin-hole if anyone is interested. I'm not the picture taking kind but I figured this might be the place to start.

Thanks for the responses Vlach7 and 6869704x4, as a full-time loner its good to know I'm not in an absolute void sometimes.