i was looking at a guys 863 bobcat over the weekend and saw he had an orange excavator sitting by a pond. So being curios i asked him if it still ran he said yes it did. it was the weirdiest machine to run he said it had about 4 diffrent sticks to run it. he said he used it to do a little work on the pond and then the next day it blew a seal on a cylinder he didn't say which and asked if i would be interested in fixing it for him the question i have is are the cylinders on them like any other on the packing or are they complexe and dificult i am used to cylinders that have a wiper seal on the head the internal seal o ring under and above the threads on the head. didn't get close enough to it to look at the cylinder to see if it has a screw on head or a bolt on head. and then on the piston a o ring under a square cut o ring. I dont know the model serial number or anything really about the year of the machine if anyone has a service manual on it and can tell me or scan the pages on the cylinder reseal and torque spec on the rod nut i would appreciate it
Bobcatmechanic, I had a Bantam C450 that blew the seal out of the dipper ram. I didn't see exactly what seals were in the head because I gave up on trying to get it out. It was held in with a threaded collar that had an allen head screw expander plug to lock it in place. I managed to get the collar out but the head wouldn't budge no matter what I did. It is just an interference fit I found out from the guy who fixed it for me and he just used the rod as sort of a slide hammer to pop it out. He said they were common seals, he just measured them and got new ones made, then honed the cylinder and resealed the whole works all for I think $200... I wish I knew where he was now as he was a very talented fixer but last I heard he went nuts and had an armed standoff with the cops and that's the last anybody I know has heard of him... Sorry I'm not of any more help.
I have a couple of bantam manuals. Post a photo of the machine and look hard for the model number. I can send you what I have. It may or may not help.
seals From pass experience (mostly not good) I dont repack anymore of my big cylinders. Its just a PITB and time consuming. Different things at different times, but I normally try to take the ram out of the cylinder and take it to a hydraulic shop, they can use universal seals, you dont need to buy a $20 seal from the manufacture, when it only costs $5. The best thing is to remove the cylinder and take it to the shop and let them beat and bang on it and pressure test it. The next way, is to get the shop to come to you and repack the cylinder on site, of course you know that. What I mean by shop, is a hydraulic shop, not a dealer shop. The dealer shop will charge you the $20 for a $5 seal. Im not trying to beatup the dealer shops, but they have gotten crazy over the past few years, with high prices. How can we afford to pay a dealer shop $100 an hour in this economy, then comes the extra cleaning supplies and other crap they add on. Good Luck
yeah i know what you mean by the labor costs when i got laid off they were charging 85 an hour shop and93 an hour field plus drive time and mileage. thats why i like side work instead of 15 dollars an hour its 20 or 30 or 50 or whatever you want to charge a guy within reason of corse for what you are doing i personally try to take it easy on everyone because they chose to use me instead of a shop so if you take care of them in the first place you get repeat business when it breaks again and you fixed it for them the first time for cheap so they will come back to you
yeah i just thought if its anything like the cylinders i have done in the past i could reseal it cheaper and get him going i know there are very complex cylinders out their with many seals and other parts in them that have to be reassembled in the exact order and they came apart as far as orientation and stack of shims and so on but if you take it apart and lay it out on the bench the way it comes out and dont skip around and handle everything then it goes back together smoother and without getting stuff mixed up