I have a stabilizer cylinder that is leaking real bad, and when we had cleaned it up and taken off to do the rebuild, we noticed that sometime in the past the cylinder must have banged a stump or something, and has a slight curve inward on one side. I would estimate about 3/16" total inflection. My mechanic had to pull the internal piston/assembly out by pulling it between two trucks, and it finally popped out after a bit of gravel spinning. The inflection is about half way down the cylinder. I have been looking around for a good used one, or even the outside shell that does not have a bend, but have been unable to find anything.....except expensive new ones. I took it to a machine shop hoping they could use some type of RAM to push through to push out the "dent", but they could not do that. They could only cut both ends and weld a new pipe, then thread and drill/tap the two hydrualic line holes. All that would be expensive also......and finding a used outer casing or used stabilizer seems the way to go. Has anyone tried rebuilding one with a slight inflection? Will it at least work without leaking for a few months until I can find a good used one? I guess it wont hurt to try? Thanks. dwight
If it is a gradual 3/16 bend you may get by for years provided you can get it back together. I found a 1/2" bow in the hoe boom lift cylinder on my Fordson Super Major TLB when I installed seals ten or more years ago. I only use it occasionally around the homestead but it is still working fine. Probably had been bent for years before I got it. Edit In re-reading your post yours might have a kink if it is in one spot. Not sure how that would turn out. A barrel for that size cylinder should not be to big a deal at a decent hydraulic shop. It would run a couple hundred bucks here for a new barrel installing your existing ends back on.
Thanks old iron habit for that info.This is a very gradual taper......probably 3/16" over a span of a foot. We will try the rebuild, and follow up with the results. If it fails, $200 for a machine shop to put a new barrell would be real reasonable.
When the stabilizer is holding the tires off the ground now, is it dripping out the gland like shown in the picture? OR does it drip out when you have the stabilizer held up in the air? If it drips more with the stabilizer down and the machine in the air, then the piston seal is leaking (from being damaged by the bent cylinder) and the pressure inside the cylinder is "intensified" (sorta) by the rod becoming the piston, the rod seal has to hold much more pressure than it would if the piston seal was holding. I'm not saying that the rod seal won't hold the pressure for a while, but the cylinder won't be functioning as designed, might as well fix this one right.
Delmer......when the stabilizer is all the way up and I just touch the lever to move it, the fluid will squirt out the seal.....pretty messy. Its so bad that I dont even want to try to put it down and raise the tractor up. My plan is to rebuild this one and to continue looking for a replacement cylinder....maybe a used one will surface.