I have decided to rebuild my cylinders myself and here is my tilt cylinder being disassembled while still on the tractor. I welded a brace across the loader lift arms to support the housing so that it could not fall and crush any lines etc. I loosened the bolts and used the machines hydraulics to push the cap out some. It also blew out the old and worn seals. The bolts require a 1.5" socket and 2 of them require a thin wall socket. So my 1" impact sockets would not fit and I had to use a 3/4 Drive standard socket with an adapter to a 1" drive since my 3/4" drive bar could not handle the 5 foot cheater pipe. I broke the lines loose and attempted to pull it out by hand but it was not happening, I then attempted to use a 4 x 4 atv. Nope. Ended up needing the second forklift to pull it out of the bore. The rod weighs about 150 to 175 lbs so have a hoist or something holding it up so it does not fall down. I was considering welding up a jig to lock the cylinder in and using my excavator to break the nut loose.. but I guess I am getting lazy because the hydraulic shop quoted me $75.00 to break the nut loose and stick on the seals.. I am wondering if and how I am going to get the piston back in the bore once it is readied up. I rolled my bucket back as much as possible and stuck a wood block under it so that it could not roll back flat while I was pulling out the pin..
I have one to do (RH tilt cylinder) on my old 955L soon that is leaking too. Have the seals already. Is leaving the barrel in place the right way to do it?
Well I guess I can put it this way. About the easiest repair I have made on this machine.. I went down to Yancey brothers in Atlanta to pick up my 150.00 rebuild kit. Drove the rod around to the cylinder shop. They called me at 330 to say it was ready. 450.00 repair. Thing was my cylinder head was ruined, they had an old unit they had been sitting on and went ahead and got me going. No extra charge. Great service. I just slid the unit right back in the bore and about 1 hour later all done. No leaks. They also had to use a different seal kit because the kit was not correct. I saw four different seal packs for the cylinder head and the parts guy actually looked up the head number but it was still not correct, I almost took the head and parts to a smaller repair shop to try and save $100.00 but I wondered if what I had purchased was correct. It was not.. Here's a few pointers, make sure you keep your bucket flat on the ground so that it can not move when the lines are broken loose and crush you. Since you leave the cylinder on the machine it is easy to break the bolts loose, and you only need to remove one pin. I used one forklift to hold the piston level and a second to push the piston into the bore I let a helper drive the lift while I made sure the wipes did not bind. Easy to do because the machine acts like a jig and holds everything in place.
Is it the right way to do it? Strictly speaking, no. A pukka cylinder reseal involves measuring the bore for ovality and swelling and then honing it. On the other hand if you're simply aiming to fit a new set of seals it's acceptable and sometimes easier to just remove the rod.