Hydraulic Cylinder Problems on Bog Disk

[exiled cheesehead]

I have a 8 foot wide bog disk that has a single 3x8" hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the unit via a single hydraulic line connected to the tractor. The last person to use the disk was a friend of mine a couple of years ago. The hydraulic cylinder worked fine for him and he put the disk back in the shed without incident. I went to use the disk over the weekend and noticed that the hydraulic piston was extended about 5.5" out of the cylinder. So, I hooked the hydraulics up to the tractor and tried to adjust the height of the disk for transport, but the piston would only move about 1 inch. The piston would only move from 5.5" to 6.5" of the total 8" working stroke. The piston would not extend to the full 8" nor would it contract to 0" (completely inside the hydrualic cylinder).

Can someone please tell me what is going on here? Is the cylinder broke or seized up from being extended at the 5.5" length for a couple of years? The hydraulic line has fluid in it and so does the tractor. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[oldnslo]

I have a 8 foot wide bog disk that has a single 3x8" hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers the unit via a single hydraulic line connected to the tractor. The last person to use the disk was a friend of mine a couple of years ago. The hydraulic cylinder worked fine for him and he put the disk back in the shed without incident. I went to use the disk over the weekend and noticed that the hydraulic piston was extended about 5.5" out of the cylinder. So, I hooked the hydraulics up to the tractor and tried to adjust the height of the disk for transport, but the piston would only move about 1 inch. The piston would only move from 5.5" to 6.5" of the total 8" working stroke. The piston would not extend to the full 8" nor would it contract to 0" (completely inside the hydrualic cylinder).

Can someone please tell me what is going on here? Is the cylinder broke or seized up from being extended at the 5.5" length for a couple of years? The hydraulic line has fluid in it and so does the tractor. Thanks for any help you can give.

If the cylinder has a single hose going to it will require weight from the disk to make it retract. If the disk is sitting on the ground it will not retract any further.

Raising:
Does it act like the disc is trying to lift?
Does the tractor you are using have enough pressure to lift this disk?

Roy

 

[exiled cheesehead]

Roy,

Thanks for the information about the cylinder issues. I hadn't thought about the disk weight issue in terms of retracting the piston. When the friend returned the disk, he had raised it to it's full height and then locked it in place for road transport with a separate pin that takes the load off the piston/cylinder. He then had unhooked the piston from the disk as he had to transport it about 40 miles and didn't want any chance of stressing it when hitting bumps in the road. I couldn't get the piston pin lined up correctly to reattach the cylinder to the disk and was trying to lengthen it out to do so. So, I will have to jack up and block the disk to adjust the wheel height to get the piston pin lined up with the hole in the frame. This should solve the problem as it will put the full weight of the disk back on the cylinder/piston when I remove the jacks and blocks.

Again, thanks for the information as I had overlooked the obvious.

 

[oldnslo]

Again, thanks for the information as I had overlooked the obvious.

Welcome to my world Mr. Cheesehead

seems like the older I get the more I forget....

hope things work out for you

Roy