Hi there. I'm new! I've got a John Deere 510 from the 70s. I was digging out a rock the other day and one of the hydraulic lines that feeds the bucket movement exploded. I got a nice hot oil shower. (Manual image attached with the burst location highlighted) I'm looking to replace the flexible line between the boom and stick. From the control valve the line is flexible and attaches to a steel line inside the boom. It connects (at some point) to another small section of flexible line that connects to the bucket cylinder. The problem is that connection occurs inside the boom. Any advice on getting at it without tearing the entire machine apart? Basically I just need to expose enough of the top part of the steel line in order to get a wrench on it. Thanks!
How is the steel line secured inside the boom? is it a bolt through the outside of the boom to a clamp on the inside? I don't remember if you can loosen that bolt enough and leave the clamp on the bolt, but still get the steel line loose, or if you have to remove the bolt, and then figure out how to get the clamp back in place and then get the bolt into the clamp. Might have to come up with a longer bolt with a section with the threads ground of for a pilot to get that started easier. Also might be a possibility to get inside the boom with crowsfoot wrenches or a box end wrench over the loose end of the hydraulic hose to get it loose at least.
There's definitely a clamp on the bottom of the steel line holding it in place. I plan to try and loosen it to see if it'll move but I'm reasonably sure there's one on the top too but I can't see it nor any access from the outside. More to come!
How does the hose attach where it goes into the boom at the swing tower? I have a Cat hoe on a track loader and recall having to take a clamp off that holds hoses inside the boom and then the hoses could be slid back and lifted so you could get at the hose connections. There's also 90 deg. bulk head fittings close to stick pivot I had to undo and drop inside the boom and pull the hose out at the swing tower. The hose had to be disconnected at the swing tower end so I could slide the long hose out that attached to the 90 deg. bulkhead fitting. New hose was tightened to bulk head fitting and then slid up inside the boom. Surprisingly I don't remember it being too difficult to line the hole up to get the bulkhead fitting back in from inside the boom. I was perplexed like you are until I basically tried to reverse engineer how they put it together in the first place.
Attached picture illustrating how the hose attaches as it goes up the boom. I removed the clamp but the steel lines seem to be stuck fast... No movement whatsoever. It makes me think there's another clamp buried towards the top of the boom but I can't see anything in there that I can get a wrench on. No apparent access from the outside either. Any thoughts?
If there's another clamp there will be a bolt or something on the outside of the boom. What is the pin under the "tu" in turns on the boom in your last pic.? It looks like it could be a bolt. It makes sense the steel lines would have clamps at each end so they stay solid. Is there a similar bolt or nut on the other side?
Dave you are absolutely correct! I tried to get a bore camera inside there to check it, but unfortunately I couldn't see a thing. Bit the bullet and turned on that bolt under the "tu" without knowing what it was. Sure enough the steel line let go! It appears to have a threaded block attached to the steel line that will probably be fun to re-attach. I was able to finally wiggle the steel line to a place where I could work wrenches onto it. Thanks all! Time to replace some lines.
Will probably need a helper to reattach the steel line. If you line up the steel line where it fit in the bottom clamp can hopefully just lift the other end up to align it for the bolt. How do the hoses come out of the boom to go to the bucket cylinder? Wondering if there's an opening you could see in or even reach your hand in to make changing hoses easier.