Howdy gents. Hope you're all well. We've got a JD310a with blown steering cylinder seals. I have the new parts from John Deere and I even have the Factory Service Manual. We have a large cast iron weight bolted to the bottom of the front axle that seems to be blocking the inner pin access. Removing the weight for access seems like a bigger job than the cylinder rebuild. Here's my question to you all. Can I take the cylinder apart with the inner pin left attached. Pull the rod out. Take the rod to my shop and rebuild it then reassemble on the tractor? I'm very new to heavy equipment wrenching but wrench all day on cars and dirt bikes and have rebuild lots of forks and the main cylinders on my 533 Bobcat. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Mark :notworthy
Hard for me to say without looking at it Mark Grant, but typically that can be done on cylinders. You would have to at least disconnect lines from cylinder or you won't be able to pull rod and piston out.
I have taken the lines off and the pin out of the spindle. Would it help if I posted a picture of the situation? Thanks for the reply!
A pic might help, could get a better look that way.
Looks like I'll have the angle to get the rod out clean. How about the tool to take the endcap off? Does a punch and hammer work? Think Napa will have the tool? Is it called spanner? Sorry for all the dumb questions.
I don't see any reason why you couldn't pull that rod and piston leaving the can in place.
I have been down there trying to figure out what is the best tool to use on the rod guide to remove it besides buying the JD tool. I have a propane torch. I think the best idea I have had is to get a pipe wrench and weld a couple blobs where it would fit into the rod guide. Set screw came out without any issues. Looked at first like the allen hole was all rusty, but it ended up being fine.
Mark, I have the exact same problem. How did you end up resolving your piston removal issue?
If anyone searches this thread in the future, the "top" of the piston comes right off using a "spanner wrench". They come in various size ranges, use the 1.5" to 2.5" size. On others advice, I tapped the area where the threads would be to loosen any rust/binding. 18" cheater pipe and it came right off
I just rebuilt the steering cylinder on my 1982 John Deere 310A. I have a few tips for those searching on how to do the same thing. Yes, it is preferred to pull the rod and piston out while leaving the can in place on the tractor, and I didn't need to even disconnect the hydraulic lines. Yes, spanner wrenches are available to use to loosen the gland nut on the end of the cylinder, after you loosen the allen screw near the top of the cylinder that locks the gland in place. I bought a "vintage" Williams 472 adjustable spanner (1-1/4 to 3" in) for $20 on fleabay for the purpose but had to resort to using a 36" pipe wrench to break the gland loose first. It didn't chew up the metal too much but did leave a couple marks. Then, I had a lot of trouble removing the pin from the steering knuckle as 40 years of corrosion had taken their effect on seizing the pin in place. An air chisel with a pointed bit succeeding in driving the pin up from the bottom and out, eventually. I sourced the rebuild kit (RE18749) for $17 on fleabay, again. Once disconnected from the steering knuckle, the piston pulls right out. I had trouble figuring out how to insert to new piston seal, so I had a local hydraulic shop do that for me (no charge!). It took some time and effort, but I got the job done for $37, including the Williams #472 tool that I also used to reassemble the cylinder.
Any way to view the pics without the photobucket logo?
Yes ! Post them directly here instead of a hosting site. Umm, By the way Mark Grant hasn't logged in to HEF in 9 years with those photos.
I see that now. Good to see a current update to an old post.