Ok guys, here's the deal. I have a couple of john deere 690E LC hoes,and need to re-pack the cylinders.Got the bucket cylinder done, no big deal.Took the stick cylinder apart and found a very odd looking gland nut on the end.The boom cylinders were the the same. Got to looking in the service manual and found out what those odd nuts were. Seems that the 'proper' way of loosening said nuts was to put the rod in some sort of fixture with a wrench/clamp sort of thing attatched to another cylinder to facilitate removal and assembly of the nut.Now, I can get the nut off and, even put it back on, but the torque specs call for something like 3500 ft. lbs. of torque on the stick cyl. and 2800 ft.lbs. on the boom cyl.'s.I have re-packed many cylinders and have never tightened a gland nut THAT tight.My question is this, do these gland nuts really need to be this tight? I usually loctite 'em and hammer 'em home with a 1" impact. Any help would be much appreciated!
If the piston on the cylinder in question is not threaded internally then YES, the nuts really do need to be that tight. A 1" impact will get nowhere near that torque. Are the nuts the Nyloc type or just plain..? If they are Nyloc then for a 2nd life they can be Loctited although the recommendation would be to replace them every time they come off unless the service manual says othewrwise. Either find someone with a cylinder bench or make your own tooling to tighten the nuts. Whatever you do don't just flog them up with a 1" impact and assume they are tight enough. See this thread, it has some good suggestions including photos. My personal preference would be a torque multiplier HeavyEquipmentForums
Mark the end of the rod and the nut before disassembly, and when you reassemble (with red loctite)just slug her back tight until the marks line up.
Nige is absolutely correct. You have to tighten those things up to the specified torque or they will come loose. When they come loose they usually make lots of metal and even more head aches. The high torques came about when hydraulic system operating pressures went over 4,000 PSI. You might get lucky and not get it that tight and it holds, but then again you also might be visa versa. If you can get it to someone who can remove and install it, then just have them do that. If you are in the brush and have to have it done right away then you do what you have to do and take your chances. Good Luck!
Well, I've decided to take the rods,with the glands on them,to a J.d. dealer in Columbus and have them loosen the nuts.Then I'll put the seals in while I'm there, then have have them put nuts back on and tighten them to proper specs. Thanks for the replies guys!!