Hey guys, new to the forum and not sure where else to post this. I'm looking to add a hydraulic accumulator to a piece of equipment that doesn't have one. I'm needing a 5 gallon accumulator, preferably piston style (nitrogen charged, not spring). The trouble I'm having is finding a used one. Lots of equipment yards out there say they may have one but without a part number or a model number of a machine with that type & size of accumulator, it's like finding a needle in a hay stack. A friend told me he once found one like that off a Terex wheel loader, but no idea on model or part #. Does anyone know a piece of equipment that would have an accumulator that style and size that could help me narrow it down? Thanks for any help, Justin
The 5 gallon bit sounds like a lot of cooking oil, in the past when I have wanted power reserve from accumulators, I have used the Bosch re-chargable style units and fitted them in a manifold so it is small units in multiples of, if you can understand my discription, I also have the Nitrogen charge kit to keep them upto spec, they need to be charged to 90% of the top working pressure of the hydraulic system, the largest accumulators I have seen have been on engineering type machinery, the people I bought my charging kit from make accumulators to peoples requirements, but I would think 5 1 gallon cylinders would be better than trying your luck with 1 5 gallon monster, Hydac was the C'o that sold me the charge kit, Bosch (Rexroth) are a World class leader in this field, although there is plenty of smaller outfits making these items in the U.K. not trying to tell you how to suck em' but make sure you have a mini mess style test point in the line so the accumulators can be energy exhasted if needed.
Contact Motion Industry, they are one of the largest distributors of Hydac accumulators, they will hook you up. Just bought a 10 litre for $418 complete just add N. Tom
For simplicity sake I'd like to stick with a single 5 gallons. It is used for reserve power to extend two cylinders when triggered. I'm just not sure a new one will be in the budget, I've been quoted anywhere from $1100 up to $2000 for one that size. That's why I've been on a wild goose chase trying to find a used one. I'd like to find one for under $500, which all the yards are telling me should be possible, but without a model # of a piece of machinery or part # of an accumulator they don't know what they've got. Thanks, Justin
I haven't seen a piston accumulator that big but we used to put 2.5 gallon bladder accumulators in logging shovels to run the grapple rotate. We only needed about 500 PSI of pressure to run the things so the bladder worked OK. Since those days I've been seeing 1.5 gallon piston accumulators installed and just hate them. Piston accumulators work best when mounted in the vertical position to ensure even lube is always on the packing. They were mounting them in the cab risers and the seals would dry up. You might look for some old Cat articulated trucks. As I recall they used a couple of three or four gallon units for the suspensions. The model I am familiar with is the 550A model and maybe the 550B units. Good Luck!
I'm not opposed to a bladder type, I just liked the idea of the piston type since I'm buying used. I thought there was a lot better chance of finding a good one since the piston type go bad gradually instead of instantly. I'm guessing I'll use 1200, maybe 1500 psi of hydraulic pressure tops, so nothing extreme at all. I guess I'm not opposed to using two 2.5 gallon accumulators either, that wouldn't be too complicated to plumb up. If anyone knows something that used that size I could try that path too. I'll check on the Cat trucks, that may be something I can narrow down. Thanks again, Justin
Just a thought, on the back quarter of the cabs fitted on Terex (green painted) ATD's was a fairly large piston style accumulator clamped into position, I do still have some details for these animals? but anything Terex usualy has something big Gassed up hanging off it, these parts would be for buttons as usualy they end up in the scrap bin.
I don't have access to a parts book, but a Komatsu 830E has a 2.5 gallon brake accumulator (plus a one gallon), and the 930E has two 2.5 gallon accumulators. If you have the space, you could try for the steering accumulators (not sure of their volume...more than the brakes though). These are typically bladder accumulators, but you can still get the parts to repair them if necesary.
cat graders and scraper both have ones like you after if you where to run two of be around 5 gal could use 2nd hand from used equipment ones on grader for blade suspension or scraper hitch.
I forgot about this thread or would have updated it a while back. I ended up finding a couple of accumulators off of the 915/937 style Cat scrapers that I used. They were used in the neck to cushion the ride and had about a 3-4 gallon capacity, so I used two of them to get the capacity I needed. Finding a single 5 gallon was going to be a needle in a haystack search.