Looking for some advice / direction on removing the bucket hydraulic cylinder on a 1995 Cat 426b, as luck would have it I got a fingernail sized piece of bark wedged up into the seal by the gland nut where the cylinder extends from and now have a very slow weep (not even enough to drip on the ground) but figured since winter is here get it taken off and to NH hydraulics for repair. Any help or pointers in removing the cylinder from the machine would be great. Also developed a ticking/clicking sound in the front left wheel hub when turning left or right at slow speed (in 4x4 or in 2x4) sounds like a wheel bearing going like from a car to me or a spindle? any insight on this or how to diagnose it would be great. thanks matt
well first question I would have is are you doing it yourself or have someone with you? I would extend the backhoe onto the ground and curl the bucket in just a hare before its all the way in ( this will give you wiggle room) next step if have a crane available (service truck) attach crane with a sling to the bucket cylinder behind the head end and in front of the fitting. next remove the snap ring holding the mounting pin for the rod end to the bucket and remove the pin. if you don't have a crane available then place a piece of wood where I said to put the sling but don't have it resting on the 90degree fitting coming out of the cylinder. with the pin removed and the rod end free start the machine up and retract the rod all the way back. once all the way back shut machine off, turn machine on to key on only and move all the backhoe controls around to relieve hydraulic pressure. next remove the two hydraulic lines from the cylinder and cap. they should be -8 and -10 if I remember correctly (15/16 and 1 1/8 wrenches if memory serves me right) once lines are capped then remove snap ring on top mounting pin at the head end and remove pin. cylinder will now be free. I would strongly suggest either using a crane or other machine to hold the weight of the cylinder while removing pins as the cylinder can be a bit heavy and its going to want to move a bit when it comes free. once cylinder is repaired reinstall cylinder in order of removal. for your noise on the front wheel hub my best suggestion would be to drain the final drive oil into a pail and look for any metal pieces... then put the final drive in the 3 o'clock position and refill with proper oil. It shouldn't take much oil, maybe 1L? The 420D's didn't even take 1L. Hope that helps!