Seems like this has been discussed before, but i'm curious as to policy for most folks regarding disposition of machines at night/weekends. Safety/theft issues aside, is it better to leave cylinder rods exposed to the elements or retracted in the hydraulic cylinder? In case i'm not being clear, should i leave booms arms in appropriate positions for nighttime storage on the job (and thus exposed to the elements-dirt wind rain) where chrome is showing or hidden inside the cylinder? Does it even matter?
In the case of your typical backhoe or excavator, you'd need to dig a hole to be able to lower the boom far enough, wouldn't you?. I think you're over-thinking the issue. Unless you're really talking about long term disuse, it really doesn't matter.
When possible, I try to park in the proper position to check the hydraulic oil before the next time I start up the machine. Different from machine to machine.
You're being too anal here.It would be impractical to do what you're thinking.The most important thing is all raisable implements are lowered to the ground.If you're worried about rod rust for long term storage,simply grease it with some cheap grease.
ForsytheBros, my opinion is that it does matter and you are promoting good habits On an excavator I would always recommend that as much cylinder rod be retracted as possible at the end of a shift, that means the bucket is dumped, the stick is extended and the boom is flat on the ground. Like tyler says this is the position where the hydraulic oil should be in the sight glass for checking the levels. Further to this though... this also means that as much oil as possible has been returned to the reservoir and the reservoir will be pressurised slightly which is better for start up on a piston pump. Also less air volume means less water content to be absorbed into the oil just as you always fill your fuel tank to the top at the end of the day to avoid water settlement overnight... right? Its also a fact that abrasive dust, water and maybe snow and ice (up here)will settle on the rods overnight, consider it anal but its better to be extending the rods immediately after start up than having to retract them and hope that the wiper seals do their job?