Waiting on parts to put my steering clutches back in my D6c 10K, and got to thinking .....(dangerous I know). I've had a lot of trouble with losing oil pressure at the clutches and one thing I notice is that the piston seals have a pretty good sized end gap (1/16-1/8") which can't help the pressure loss. Experimented with a couple of the old seals by cutting the thickness down to 1/2 what it was and fitted two seal rings in place of one. The idea being that I can stagger the end gaps 180° apart to eliminate most of the leakage. Cutting them down actually ended up being pretty easy and the thickness is quite uniform with a good finish. I'd like to be able to do this with the rotating seal between the bearing cage and the hub but the seal is different and already has overlapping end so it's not practical there. Any reason why this won't work?
Not a whole lot different then some of the old continuous oil rings. Unless there is a side force strong enough to break them it looks logical to me. Keep us posted.
I'm wondering if the gaps will stay at 180* from each other. Maybe small key or pin to keep them in the 180* position could help?
Shouldn't matter. Many seals/rings have gaps that seal just fine. Hydraulic cylinders, piston rings, ect, ect. Just orientate them 180 and they'll be fine.
I think I'm going to give it a try....what's the worst that could happen?....Have to pull the steering clutches again? Too bad they didn't design the rotating seals with duo-cone seals like the pinons....but I suppose they aren't designed to hold against pressure.