Has anyone tried using a 3/4" impact driver with an adjustable spanner wrench to loosen the gland cap on a swing or other cylinder on a Case 580L or similar backhoe-loader? It seems this might work to loosen the cap so that it can be removed after it is broken free. The typical issue is rust that develops on the first couple of threads of the gland cap that acts much the same as Loctite Red.
Just do a search on the forum for the hammer penning method. It works very well for loosing the gland.
If this is what you are referring to, it is a no go for an impact gun. whack the barrel at the end where the threads are, and get a breaker bar with a good long pipe. I crack the nut on the machine as holding back the torque required to break it on a bench is tough.
I have rebuilt every cylinder on mine, It sat for 10 years, I drilled out the lock pins and used a 46" pipe wrench after breaking both spanner wrenches I wasted money on. Between every gland and the cylinder mating surface there is a lock screw that the heads rust off on.
Thanks for the replies. I finally removed the swing cylinders from the backhoe. Took the cylinders to a repair shop. They have special torque equipment and eventually had to resort to heating and beating on the gland nut to break it loose on each cylinder. It was a very tough rebuild for them and it cost $400 per cylinder on top of packing costs. The glands were rusted in solid about 4 threads deep. Got the swing cylinders back in the hoe and all works fine with no leaks. Before pulling the cylinders, I tried using a 10-foot long cheater pipe but it was a no-go. I had somewhere around 1200 foot-pounds of torque on the gland tool when the gland tool finally broke by twisting out of shape.