Leaking FEL cylinders - clean or replace seals?
- Thread starter timsch
- Start date
I looked at mine today and I'll be able to use a pipe or chain wrench, fortunately.
Where do you purchase your spanner wrenches? I have a couple of older ones manufactured in the USA by Williams. Please don't tell me you buy your tools at Horror Fright!
I have never heard of a leaking seal being cleaned and put back in. If someone claimed to do that with good results I would not believe it without some pretty serious proof.
MAC or snapon for the most part. You only purchase stuff you intend, or want to break at HF - lol.
And to be fair, they were not 2ft long handled like the pipe wrench. I just get tons more torque with the wrench.
Bmyers
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
Grand L3560 with LA805 loader, EA 55" Wicked Grapple, SBX72 BB, LP 1272 mower
We installed the rebuilt cylinders yesterday. The cost to have them rebuilt was $150 per cylinder. Installed them and put the MF383 to work and they worked perfectly likely the tractor was brand new.
Regarding the expander and sizer for the piston seal, are you saying they are not necessary? I am on the fence of DIYing my FEL and backhoe cylinder rebuilds. I have the means to do it, but I don't have any of the necessary tools for the piston seal installation like what I have seen used in some Youtube videos. Here is an example of an expander/installation and re-size tool that one video references. I can't imagine an hydraulic shop has these specialty tools for every single size piston that they may have come into the shop?
What is your approach to installing the piston seals without the "proper" tools?
The first cylinder I did, the only special tool I bought was a face spanner. I could have used a pipe wrench to remove the cap.
I wrestled the rod seal in with small screwdrivers etc., but I could see the potential for ruining a seal, especially with the smaller rods. So I ordered the 3 pc set of seal installers. They work pretty well.
I just used several small, smooth screwdrivers to install the rod seal parts. Some are square cup plastic (teflon?) and kind of hard. You can soften them in hot water if needed. They recover slowly and you don't want to stretch them more than necessary. The cylinders I've worked on had a lot of taper on the bore, so it was easy to get the piston back in.
The piston nut is pretty tight. I used a 3/4 drive bar and a short cheater on it. You may be ok abusing your 1/2" breaker if that's all you have. Take pictures to make sure you get them back on in order. Work clean.