Hi I have a John Deere 690B excavator and it is very slow to travel and worse to turn. I recently bought new swivel joint seals however they are the same size as the shaft. They are made of a very hard material, how can I get them over the shaft without damaging them?
compare old seals vs new. Use a press to push the shaft in. Keep the shaft travelling square, oil the seals well prior to pressing the shaft home. A simple car sissor jack can work, if you get it all set up within a simple box steel frame ( I use my workbench frame)
There are many types of swivel seals out there, hard for us to know for sure what material yours is made from. Typically, a very hard seal ring will be something like teflon or urethane, it helps to heat these seal rings in hot water on a heating plate, doesn't have to be boiling water, but if you heat the seal up it makes it a bit more pliable. If they are teflon rings, you will be forced to stretch the rings a bit working them on the post of swivel, this is normal and unavoidable. But unlike urethane, teflon will remain stretched, you have to compress it back to its original shape. This is best done with an automotive type band ring compressor. You may have to install just enough seal rings that ring compressor will cover and compress, then come back later after the seal rings have cooled off to fit the remaining rings.