My old hymac has lots of power in the hydraulics. It can lift itself (8 tonnes) off the ground with ease and can dig through hard ground no problem etc. The slew rams seem very weak in comparison. Slow to turn the boom and can be stopped with little resistance. I'm new to backhoes so don't know if this is normal but I suspect it isn't? Should the rams push as well as pull as mine only seem to pull?
If you post a picture of the slew/swing cylinders and the hoses we can tell if they should push and pull. I've never seen a hymac so I won't guess. It doesn't surprise me at all that the swing has less power. If it had enough power to move any dirt with the bucket halfway out, then it would put too much force on the boom to stick joint when the bucket was close in. It's just the nature of the beast, pick the dirt up and move it, don't try to push anything sideways. BTW, I love the pics on your other post, it looks like you could give the "Norway pictures" thread a run for their money with your scenery.
Never seen a backhoe with big power in the swing/slew. Not much for leverage there.... they are pushing/pulling only a few inches from the pivot pin whereas on the dipper for example is over a foot from the pivot. Leverage is still leverage no matter what is pushing on it.
Cheers guys. Next time im up at the digger, I'll have a look at the back of the ram to see if any hoses go there. I had to replace a clevis pin on one side and I had great difficulty getting the ram to extend. I tried a ratchet strap on it with the lever tied the correct way to make sure valves were open etc but couldn't shift it. Ended up pulling it with my truck, snapping a strap in the process. If the opposite side ram has to pull against this force, no wonder it is slow. Seems wrong to me. Thank you! Here are some more pics. The view from my new home is nice.