Hi everyone, any helpful guidance is greatly appreciated. I just installed a new set of flat face quick connects on my hammer going into my cat 262d. I tried disconnecting the female coupler from the machine but for the life of me I can't pull it off. I may have damage the coupler some how. I released pressure in the lines by pushing the fitting in. I hear the oil going back into the machine and the coupler is loose. The collar on the coupler is forward. I tried pulling the coupler off. I tried prying it off. I tried hammering it off but for the life of me it won't come off. It's a brand coupler that's either defective or I bent some how. Thanks again for any help.
Some couplers have a safety lock. You rotate the sleeve after connecting and it won't come off. First pic the coupler can be renoved, second is locked. Ed
It's stuck like the first pic with the ball and notch lined up. I can barely even rotate the sleeve.
A tap with a hammer on the collar has always done it for me. TAP, not hit.
Your not alone.The flat face connectors do exactly the same thing on my 303 Cat. I know how they are suposed to work and they just dont. I usually have to crack the fitting and relieve them. If i used mine a lot id just go to a different style.
On my New Holland skid steer, I shut the machine off, turn the key back on and operate the control. That relaxes them as there is no pump turning to pressurize them. Not sure if it will work but easy to try. They will not operate with the key off.
I have a Stanley breaker and use Case style flat face. Sometimes they connect and disconnect fine, other times the take two guys and tapping on the ring. Usually, it's because they have dust or moisture in the section that slides in the female coupler causing it to bind. I try to spray them off with ether before connecting them, or wipe them with a clean rag. I have usually have more problems with my auger drive then my breaker. I swap attachments between the CX50b shown and my 1845C.
May be somewhat relevant, but during storage of the attachment I connect both male/female together and don't disconnect them until I go use them. Keeps them lubricated and clean. I've had the same issue couple of times. Wood block and tap away.
I do to- but do remember to also cycle the park safety switch, or the hydraulic control won't activate. At least on my Cats it works that way.
Us New Holland skid steer folks don't know what a park safety switch is.
The fact that your having that issue with hammer attachment I think is the key. While all the tips mentioned have value, sometimes hammer attachments can, over time damage the carrier couplers just like they beat up the attachment connections. The same damage you see on the attachment (the dimpling caused by the vibration of the couplers) is happening inside as well. If you do a lot of hammering, you have to plan on replacing the couplers on the machine as well. My guess is the couplers on the machine are beat up and need to be replaced as well. I had the same issue on my Taki excavator. I replaced the hammer couplers but still had trouble releasing the couplers. I replaced the couplers on the mini ex and now it works like it should.
I had an unremovable female coupler on a cat289d3 equipped with a grapple. Found no workable technique to remove it so I cut the outer slide ring twice 180 degrees apart approx 1/8” deep. I pried apart the two cut pieces with a flat bladed screw driver. Coupler was then easily removed. There was no damage to the male portion.
To couple I quite often have to crack the fitting loose, so that I can get them to connect. Usually they come apart pretty easily, thou do use a screwdriver to push the lock ring back sometimes.
taking apart is usually easy but going together i find most of the problem so crack the line
Paw removed the coupler completely . He has the male and female completely off and he still can get them separated. He assumes the balls aren’t opening up to allow the male to come out The male is stuck. He unscrewed the male from the cutter and unscrewed the female from the cutter. That is a temporary remedy. He plans on just getting a new set. I assume we will just scrap the old set. Paw does remember that when he attached the cutter to our skid steer that it was hard to connect, and now 3 weeks later he can’t get them apart. I guess it a common problem fixed by a $40 Amazon purchase. Granny DP DPForumDog
The old school thinking about hammers and quick connects was don't use quick connects. The pulsing of the oil buggers them.
We always installed the screw together couplers with a hammer or as TONES mentioned above don't use quick couplers. https://www.stucchiusa.com/threaded-flat-face-couplers/
I've invested thousands into Stucchis VEP 17 HD couplers. After I still experienced failures I was told by my supplier (a local hydraulic repair shop) that I needed to get the VEP HD L couplers if using them for high impulse/vibration applications (this seemed like an avoidance technique as they are the ones who recommended, and sold me, the original couplers knowing what my application would be). High vibration applications would be things like breakers, ho-pacs, etc., which we do use. (I honestly struggle to come up with very many "low vibration" hydraulic attachments). Regardless, I spent the money to upgrade both machines and attachments. This adds up when you have (6) pairs of 1" couplers to buy (they are just under $400 per pair). The "L" in the part number indicates that it will have a locking pin, and subsequent holes, to prevent the coupler threads from coming loose due to vibration. In my applications this does sometimes happen (usually with the ho-pac, and hammer, but not so far with my crusher bucket) and when it does the seals in the couplers go bad (maybe they get cut?). Once this happens they tend to constantly leak. In theory the locking pin seems like a pretty good idea. In actual use they do not perform as promised. Despite the locking pin the coupler will still come loose enough to leak and destroy the seals. They won't come all the way off (never had any of the non "L" style come off either because the operator will notice that the attachment performance suffers from restricted oil flow caused by coupler coming loose) but they will still get damaged. I plan to contact Stucchi, maybe even return some to see if they will warranty them but I don't hold out much hope for that. Right now I have removed them and am just screwing together the JIC fittings. It's a bit messy but only when actually connecting/disconnecting the lines...not during operation of the machine/attachment. This also has the added benefit of not having to wonder if the coupler is causing any performance loss, and/or extra heat, due to possible restriction of oil flow that is inherent in hydraulic quick couplers.
Feels like a no win situation with the high vibration applications. No couplers is best but it's slow and messy changing over attachments, quick couplers are clean and quick but always breaking and costing money.
On the Stucchis, the seals in the male are replaceable, and available. With a male installed in a vise, fully depress the poppet with a blunt tool, and inspect the two seals. I've only got a few machines using them (22 to be exact), and twice as many attachments. #1 The male couplings need to be on the carrier, solely for ease of connection. Female on the carrier means both the threaded collar and the male on the implement both turn #2 Tighten them with a wrench. Do not buy the stoopid stucchi aluminum wrench. For VEPHD 17 couplings, I use this... Short enough to prevent over tightening, and strong enough to take loosening via hammer. I etch the machine number on every wrench, and make simple holder for in every cab. I also use the aluminum caps on the males, and have begun installing holders for the caps when removed.
heymccall, That looks just like the cab on my new 325! If it's not a 325 I'd bet that it's a Cat NextGen. I've been using Crescent wrenches because we also use them to change the valve position on the stick. I could use some of those wrenches for tightening the hoses inside the box housing of the hammer. What website are you sourcing the wrenches? Twenty two tool carriers, and twice as many attachments?! I thought that maybe I had a lot (in both machines and money invested in Stucchi couplers). I'd love to have a chat with you! I'm still hoping to see a reply in my other thread (about pin-grabber couplers) and/or the PM (which included my phone number if that's easier) that I sent you. I'd greatly appreciate it!! I reached out to Stucchi today and they are sending me an RMA and another pair of VEP17HDL sets to keep me up and running. That's pretty great. Once I return the failed units we will meet with the regional rep to see about what we can do to prevent failures in the future. It sounds like they might recommend putting a swivel in the line. They also hinted at using their new RoT-Lock couplers (not available yet, but they do have them on their website).
Yup. 325FL. I have a thread on here showing how to put a clear screen filter in place of the metal inline screen, rather than changing it on intervals or finding plugged. Back to the stucchi. That wrench is from McMaster-Carr. I have VEPHD15, 17 and 21 in service. 99% of the time, it's the seals in the male. And I use them on my 345C with G110 hammer @ 85 gpm, with similar lifespan on the couplers as on my little TB180FR machines.
I am setting up my breaker connections according to your suggestions Heymccall. I got the VEPHDL fittings for the machine and breaker. I am awaiting some additional fittings for the machine. The McMaster tool is enroute. Hopefully all goes well.
You guys are the pros. In my shop with low tool change frequency, we just took the damn things out and went back to wrenches. Aint spilling any MORE oil, and the frustration level declined a whole bunch.
Stucchi is thinking a couple possible reasons for my failures. One is that my GPM is 1 or 2 GPMs higher than what they recommend for the VEPHDL17 couplers. They are thinking I might need to be using VEP21HDL couplers. Do you have a wrench size for the 21s? The other possible issue is that I am using 90s on the attachment lines so that I can get the hoses clearly routed around the thumbs (my machines have thumbs attached to them as well). Most of the steel tubes (for the auxiliary hydraulic lines) that the MFRs put on the stick terminate too close to the linkage so that the hose routing around, or through, a thumb puts a weird bind and/or a chaffing point for the hoses. 1" 5,000psi hose is not cheap either....and needing 5' per side makes one think about trying to extend the life of them as much as possible. That being the case I am also contemplating removing the steel tubes and replacing them with shorter hydraulic lines to raise the termination point (or where one connects the attachment hose to the carrier aux. hydraulics) thus allowing more distance for the hose to route without chaffing or binding. Seeing as how the Stucchi rep also made comments on the hoses trying to "swivel" I may give your idea (having both males on the carrier) a try. I have always put one of each on there in an effort to make it impossible to get the hoses mixed up (supply and return). Most attachments are easy to connect correctly but the ho-pac requires us to swap sides due to the way that the manifold is on the ho-pac.
I put the male end on the carrier as suggested. The wrench is now $100 including shipping. I was thinking of taking red duct tape and taping the supply side on the hammer and the carrier to keep them from getting confused. Still waiting on parts to get this finished.
I just checked wrench price again. But, make sure the VEPHDL are the same hex size. I use the VEPHD and the 55mm is for the 17VEPHD.
Shipping was only $6.44 for 2 wrenches.
They must hate me. Confirmation McMaster-Carr number 7563120 0414SKAISER Delivers Apr 18 1 Open-End Wrench 55 mm Size, 17-1/2" Overall Length 5488A37 1 each 82.11 each $82.11 Merchandise 82.11 Shipping 12.21 Tax 4.93 Total $99.25 As look at yours, this one is longer, maybe that is it
5746A15 is the shorter one. I would never use a longer one for tightening.
My mistake. I have the technology to make it shorter.
HD & HDL are the same dimensions. The only difference is the holes drilled into the female "sheeth" (the threaded nut that threads onto the male) for the locking pin. heymcall, do you happen to know what the nut size is for the 21s?
I use 65mm on my VEPHD 21 female couplings. Part number is in the attachment above that says "shipping was only $6.44."
Used the Epiroc today. The couplers worked well. The bigger wrench works well. Having the males on the machine is smart and I appreciate the tip, easy to couple like that. The breaker is pretty impressive, kinda questioning whether that is working correctly. However no doubt it does a great job hitting.
I'm not sure if a seal kit will help with the stuck couplers. In my experience this is usually a result of the pressure not being released, there is debris between the coupler body and the collar of the female side, or the vibration has caused the balls to wear divots into the coupler body and then the balls won't roll correctly thus prohibiting the couplers release. All have been talked about above. That being said, your sales pitch has revived this thread. I have had (12) pairs of -21 VEPHDLs on order for months now. The males came in fairly quickly but the females have not. They are absolutely worthless with out their counterpart. Has anyone else had trouble getting Stucchi product?
I don't seem to have any trouble. 2 days or less for VEP HD 17 SAE & VEP HD 21 SAE. The HDL females did take a week. Most of mine aren't "L". Running them for years now, and the only application I got the "L" for was large hydraulic breakers. A short wrench (not the crappy Stucchi aluminum one) makes snugging and loosening much easier. I just got the HDL females 3 weeks ago (1 week lead time, they had).
That's great! Where did you source them from?
I use Wojanis out of Coraopolis, PA. Since I use quite a few 21 & 17 VEP, all SAE thread, they usually have them on the shelf. They don't stock the "L", but, then again, I've never bought "L"s until last month.
If you suck at keeping the caps and plug on them, or if they back off in use, the Oring and backup ring in the male fret and erode. They are serviceable. Nothing in the females are serviceable. And we run males on both machine circuits because, if you have a female on the machine, everything twists while tightening, requiring two wrenches and some mumbling.