I have to pick up the rotary swing cylinder for my 931B backhoe. It cost $1600+ to get repaired. They reused the seals on the vane but said they were in good shape. Not sure if new were even available. Cat says check with dealer. The seals for the caps are all new. Apparently the extra cost was in repairing the worn shaft. It was chromed and they can't spray weld chrome so I think they had to machine the chrome off, repair the grooves from the seals and then re-chrome the bad end of the shaft. Was told seals wearing grooves in shafts is quite common? The guy also said it was a little bit involved talking it apart and putting it back together. Needed to be repaired but wasn't expecting it to be so pricey. Wouldn't be surprised if it was more because they've never worked on one before. The backhoes aren't common. Now just to get it back on the machine which will be fun. Also need a couple pails of new hydraulic oil.
You might think chrome is "hard" but when a seal is rotating in one spot it's surprising how easy it is to wear a chromed surface down. That's why sacrificial wear sleeves were invented.
Anything to do with chrome now days is expensive. A couple of businesses around here got caught dumping the used up stuff from their tanks in the local river and everyone has been paying for it ever since.
I asked if a Speedi-sleeve was another option but they said metalizing it was the best way to repair it. The first guy I talked to didn't think it would need to be chromed but they can't build it up if it's chromed. I did read that hard chrome plating has a higher hardness than the steel shaft and the chrome has a lot less friction. It just seems odd a swing for a backhoe that only moves back and forth at relatively low speed would wear so much. It should outlast me now so as long as it works and doesn't leak, I should be able to get some work done. Hopefully no more expensive repairs.
I was thinking that myself, if they were available in the right size seems like it would work. Not sure how much work to get the thing apart enough to replace one if it did wear out after a few years. But as you have had it rechromed already it should outlast you and me!
I picked it up today and was looking at the bill and the parts. Re-chroming and repairing the shaft was the least expensive part of the repair, $340.93. $40.70 for shop supplies! 3 1/2 hours Lab labour and 2 hours mechanic labour at $148/hr! They must mark up their parts pretty good. Seals I see online are half the cost. The one seal 5J8350 has been replaced by Cat 311-9317 but they used the original part number 5J8350 in a Hercules seal. I don't know if there's much difference or if it matters much? The other seals were a 5P-0074 at $137.30 each! Do these prices seem about normal?
Their markup on parts seems to be pretty steep, at least D1ck Turpin had the decency to wear a mask. I show 311-9317 as $21.69 and 5P-0074 at $44.94. Those are US$ BTW.
Sometimes Hercules is a little more to alot more over OEM Cat. Not typical, but for example price a football head seal.
The 5P0074 wasn't from Hercules, it has an MIS prefix so not sure what that stands for. Triple the cost is excessive but what can you do? Do you think the new part number 311-9317 would be a better seal than the original 5J8350 or pretty much the same?
5J8350 new surplus is $10 out of Knoxville, aftermarket as low as $2.70, sixty plus pieces in Dallas, TX. 311-9317, no OEM surplus shown but aftermarket is a whopping $1.80 each 5P0074 New surplus available at $17.00 each. $40 of that $40.70 for shop supplies must have been for the orgy sized tube of KY, sorry man. Unless they wrapped in some serious overnight shipping on those parts..... I wouldn't be going back.
Do you think it's worth going back and asking them why their parts are so high? They said it was more involved than just taking the caps off. I realize they had to take the vane apart but I still can't see 5 1/2 hours labour.