Both stabilizer cylinders took a dump on me :(

[mercdv]

Well, as usual my luck isn't so great. I pulled the JD 260 backhoe (not B version) off the tractor a few days ago so I could pull some trailers around and looks like both stabilizer cylinders decided to start leaking their contents all over the garage floor. Of course since it is me they both decide to do it at the same time. Anywho, I need some advice since this is the first issue I've ever had with hydraulics. My 2305 is the only thing I have that runs hydraulics. I went to order a seal kit from JD but they want $71.06 for a single kit. That seems about $30 too much. The current 260B seal kit costs around $45. I'm trying to find a reasonably priced seal kit. This is where I need some help. Is it better to take my cylinder to the local shops in my area and see if they can find a rebuild kit to fit it or would they cost around $70 as well? I don't want to waste my time running from shop to shop if you guys think I should go ahead and bite the bullet and order the JD kit for $70 ($140 total). I have no idea how much a seal kit should cost normally. How much would it cost to let a shop rebuild them (just curious)? Thoughts?

 

[747driver]

Just some relative info. I just had to replace both bucket cylinder seal kits for my Kioti. Each cylinder kit comes with 2 seal kits which was $110 each....so $220 total for both cylinders. Took me an hour to remove both cylinder pistons. I just wanted to give you a comparison. Its not a hard job to replace the seals, at least on my Kioti its not. Any good hyd shop would not have a problem doing the job. I always use OEM parts unless I can't find the part.

 

[mercdv]

Thanks for the comparative info. I might be balking at the cost a little too much having been told that my seal kit was around $45 too until they came out with the 260B. This kit has pretty much the same stuff in it as the $45 kit so that just annoys me. I could certainly use that extra $60 back in my pocket to put towards other projects. I don't know...you guys have way more knowledge about this stuff than me that is why I lurk here.

I hope I'm not too annoying. I'm one of those people that dives into a project to learn as much about the cost and repair process even when it is something small like this. I would have called some shops but they were closed tonight when I noticed the issue. I learn by grabbing as much knowledge from the people with experience in the subject matter while doing my own research. A lot of you guys have thrown some little tips out there that are huge cost/time savers. That is why I came here while waiting for the shops to open tomorrow. I want to know a little more about what is a reasonable cost before I speak to them. I'm confident I can do the rebuild myself. I deal with high pressure air vessels on my PCP rifles so the o-ring and seal concepts are pretty familiar. I really like going into things armed with knowledge. I've been watching a lot of videos and reading up on things but the one thing they leave out are the costs.

 

[oldnslo]

My bigger question is what caused these to fail while sitting in your garage under little or no load. Did both of these start leaking around the cylinder rod?

 

[flingwing1969]

My bigger question is what caused these to fail while sitting in your garage under little or no load. Did both of these start leaking around the cylinder rod?

My question as well - sounds more like a broken hose or a bad valve to me.

 

[ovrszd]

How about this concept, the hoe was cold, he removed it in a warmer environment, pressure on the stabilizers because they are holding it up, expansion caused pressure in the system that caused them to leak???

I know it's a stretch. Just trying to figure out why this mysteriously happened??

 

[oldnslo]

Thermal expansion is a possible reason for the cylinders to leak but would be more likely to happen when sitting in the sun vs in his shed.

 

[3Lfarms]

Seems odd. I would hook it back up and see if they leak under pressure before rebuilding them.

 

[mercdv]

Thanks for the responses. Here is a little more background on the issue. The backhoe was sitting for 6 years unused (long story). It was literally just sitting. I hooked it up to the tractor about 1.5 years ago just to move it but the tractor died with it on it. There it sat until I got back to getting the tractor working again over the last few months. I took it off about 5 days ago to put the 3PH on. I'm guessing the lack of pressure in the system over all those years let the seals relax and then I pulled the really dirty pistons back up into them. I don't know if the seals are just relaxed to the point they leak or if the dirt and sand got pulled in and the seals expanded back around the crap leaving gaps in seals due to contamination. What do you guys think? Like I said, I'm not a hydraulic expert I'm just going off my experience with pressured air vessels which I assume they are similar in some ways. Someone told me they could possibly be cleaned and repacked but that I would be a fool not to replace the seals when I had them apart anyway. Thoughts? Am I out in left field on this one?

 

[flingwing1969]

Thanks for the responses. Here is a little more background on the issue. The backhoe was sitting for 6 years unused (long story). It was literally just sitting. I hooked it up to the tractor about 1.5 years ago just to move it but the tractor died with it on it. There it sat until I got back to getting the tractor working again over the last few months. I took it off about 5 days ago to put the 3PH on. I'm guessing the lack of pressure in the system over all those years let the seals relax and then I pulled the really dirty pistons back up into them. I don't know if the seals are just relaxed to the point they leak or if the dirt and sand got pulled in and the seals expanded back around the crap leaving gaps in seals due to contamination. What do you guys think? Like I said, I'm not a hydraulic expert I'm just going off my experience with pressured air vessels which I assume they are similar in some ways. Someone told me they could possibly be cleaned and repacked but that I would be a fool not to replace the seals when I had them apart anyway. Thoughts? Am I out in left field on this one?

Have you inspected your fluid? Maybe a sample from the sump with a syringe and a piece of tubing?