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Pulling hyd-cylinder eyeball from pin

towbar ยท 2023-05-22 20:49

I have a hydraulic half-cylinder that I need to remove for rebuild. Best way to separate the eyeball? Reason I'm asking is that I've NEVER touched one of these before and would like not to damage what can be salvaged. Would a wheel-puller around the rim damage the eye ball bushing or bearing?

Replies6
  1. #1Nige2023-05-22 21:12

    I'm assuming that the bearing is a tight fit on the pin. Pull on the housing and the spherical bearing is most likely to fracture, or at least crack. I'd plan for a new spherical bearing and work around that for possibilities. My 2c. YMMV.

  2. #2willie592023-05-22 21:36

    Does the cylinder can need to be resurfaced on the inside? If no, if it's in good shape, clean it up inside and stuff if back together with the can still attached.

  3. #3Acoals2023-05-22 21:37

    If that bearing is pressed onto the pin it's probably not going to come off intact. I don't see any other form of retention such as a snap ring. If it is just stuck on there from time you might be able to put some tension with a puller and rattle around with an air hammer a bit to try to get it moving.

  4. #4towbar2023-05-22 22:07

    The inside surface is rough, it's off a front pto lift and I think it's been open like that and running on a single cylinder for a long time. BUT there's a 1/2" of 'unoccupied' pin length under the eyeball (not visible in the pic) so tomorrow I'll try some wd40 and maybe a little tapping with a piece of pipe (same ID as the pin D) to loose it up ..maybe. I find it hard to imagine that a cylinder would be just hooked on a pin like that with neither some sort of lock nor a press-fit, but then I've never touched stuff like this in my life. PS. It's from the Deutz-Fahr-Dx-6.05 I've posted about before, pieces of which are now beginning to gravitate back together after having been dismantled parts scattered all over the property.

  5. #5willie592023-05-22 23:07

    Well, it really depends on what you call rough. Rough as in deep pits? Well, that's going to require a new can. If it's just rusty, maybe light pitting, get a dingleberry hone, add an extension to it so it will go the depth of the can and clean it up. Yeah, may still have some internal leakage around the piston, but being the application, likely won't cause great worry, not like it's a cylinder holding up a crane boom. But again, how rough is rough?

  6. #6towbar2023-05-23 16:25

    Done! There had been a circlip but whoever last tried to repair removed it, then (when he maybe couldn't get the spherical-joint eyeball off the pin) just left the whole thing dangling as it was. The pin was thus flush, and I saw no circlip, untill I cleaned up the other one to see better. Flooded with wd40, tapped it with a hammer on a socket just bigger than the pin, the seize broke easy, then it was light work with a puller. The (half) cylinder surface is not bad but now that it's off and needs to be made into a whole cylinder I think I'll just take it to my blacksmith for a rebuild. Thanks for all the wisdom