My BIL has a late model 580SK w/extendahole option.The dipper cylinder has started to leak out of the rod.I rebuilt my swing cylinders on my 580SL on the tractor and did not have to remove them.Do you have to remove the heavy dipper cylinder or can i leave it on the SK tractor?
I haven't had a K in a long time but I think if you lay the boom down, with the dipper cylinder almost retracted, then block the boom, it will be low enough to work on. I think at this point it wouldn't hurt to unscrew the gland a 1/2 turn just to see if it's going to unscrew. Take the rod pin out, then retract it fully, so you can block the cylinder up high enough to push the rod out, over top the dipper. Am I anywhere close on this one...anyone? Phil
Phil...thats how we have done them. In the shop it's just as quick to remove the whole cyl. However you can do it this way. Like you said you have to leave the dipper cylinder rod out a bit or you cannot clear the dipper. Block the boom up and make sure the bucket is slightly off the ground. Turn the machine off and feather the dipper circuit to bring the stick in till the bucket touches the ground. This way you have little or no pressure on the cyl. Loosen the gland slightly, block under the cylinder and remove the rod pin. Now use a cherry picker and a sling around the cyl to lift it up more, put additional blocks under the cylinder so it clears dipper. Turn the machine on and extend the cylinder so the rod is almost fully stroked. Turn machine off, remove both lines from the cyl, unscrew the gland and remove rod. This is a lot easier if you have a cherry picker and straps. Reverse process for reassembly.
I did not remove the dipper cylinder on my 680 to repack it. I just dug a hole in the ground deep enough until the dipper cylinder was fully extended and was at rest horizontally . I then loosened the gland and pulled the rod out by hand. I reattached the rod to the dipper with it pointing straight towards the back so that I could remove the rod bolt. In the thread -- My 580b Cannot Even Move (last page) I have a photo posted of myself retightening the rod bolt. It really wasn't that hard to do.
Tinkerer, you sure come up with some interesting ideas . Utilization of available resources, I think they call it. Phil
Phil, I have always looked at a repair job such as we run into on these machines and try to figure out a way to do by it myself and as cheap as I can. I just cannot afford to buy expensive tools or hire someone to either do the job or help me. In regards to repacking hydraulic cylinders I make a gland wrench out of scrap 1/2 plate steel . I make one for each different size cylinder I have had to repack. I drill the plate for three of the pins, braze 1/4 inch nuts over the holes and use 1/4 inch grade 8 bolts with the heads cut off to go into the pin holes in the gland. I torch cut a square hole in the plate for my breaker-bar. On another note I just want to say how glad I was to have found a website that has so many knowledgable and helpfull contributors like you and all the others. I have learned a lot here in the short time I been here. Hopefully I also can help make life a little easier for our fellow members in any way I can. I have always been been a firm believer, that what goes around comes around !!