Please Help - Rusty Backhoe Cylinders

[hamholfarm]

Hello,

I left my backhoe attachment outside over the winter. I did have it covered with a tarp. Somewhere around middle winter I went under the tarp to see how the backhoe was doing. I found that the cylinders had become rusty. I wiped the cylinders with dry rags, and then coated them with white lithium grease from a spray can. When the weather broke earlier this spring, I was able to bring the backhoe inside my shop building note: there is no heat in the shop. I recently cleaned the grease off with some solvent. The left side outrigger cylinder, and the main boom cylinder are the two most damaged. The other cylinders range from no damage to slight damage, but nothing like the worst two. Please follow this link to see pictures of the two worst cylinders: Rusty Backhoe Cylinders pictures by hamholfarm - Photobucket

Can I use the backhoe as is without causing damage to the cylinder seals?
Is there something I can do to remove some of the rust and roughness so I don稚 cause further damage, and I can use the backhoe?
Or, are the cylinders so damaged that I should not use them at all until they are fixed, and exactly what would I need to do to fix them?

Thank you,

Chip

 

[kennyd]

Welcome to TBN

You can "polish" the rods with steel wool, scotch brite pads, or krokus cloth and oil to try to remove the rust. You want to polish around the rod-not along the lenght. What damages the seals is anything that sticks above the chrome surface.

 

[irvingj]

Ouch. I'll be following this post to see what folks have for suggestions... I'm not sure what would be the best route here. If these were motorcycle fork tubes, I'd be looking hard at replacements if a total refinishing (oil, emery paper, very fine steel wool) didn't save the seals....

 

[captaincrab55]

hamholfarm, Those cylinders don't look good... If used they way they are, your seals will leak and the rust & dirt will get into your oil...

 

[Ford tractor]

Wow those look like they are just steel with no chrome.

Most of the old timers get a golf ball size glob of axle grease and rub it all along the exposed cylinders before storage. Maybe that will help you next storage season. Don't know what to say on the state of them now. Sorry.

 

[shinnlinger]

Before you go to crazy repolishing, look up surplus center.com and see what replacing those two cylinders will be. Depending on the size, it might not be too bad. I have dial up, so I can't see your unit, but is it a name brand or not. Could be a fluke, but sounds like maybe the original pistons aren't all that in the first place.

Some machine shops will also resurface or rechrome pistons, but see what new ones will be first.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Hello,
Is there something I can do to remove some of the rust and roughness so I don稚 cause further damage, and I can use the backhoe?
Or, are the cylinders so damaged that I should not use them at all until they are fixed, and exactly what would I need to do to fix them?
Thank you,
Chip

Avoid use of abrasives as they will scratch. Use Brillo Steel wool soap pads wet. That will clean them up well. You will have to store them greased or with rust inhibitor supplemented oil on them from now on tho.
larry

 

[markct]

i would polish them as well as you can, not trying to smooth the surface just make sure nothing is sticking up as thats what damages seals. some seals are more tolerant than other types are, for example the chevron type packings on our IH TD9b dozer have been sliding over rods with nearly half the chrome altogether missing. just polish them with emry after it sits and grease them up when parking for a while. by contrast the hard lips seals JD uses on most of there construction equip cylinders will leak alot if the rod had any roughness to it or burrs. i would hit them with some emry and run it, worst that will happen is it will leak over time, but either way the cyl will have to come apart so whats the difference

 

[sandman2234]

Hydraulic shop here quoted me about a hundred each to replace the rods with new chrome shafting. Some things they are cheap on, some not. Mine set outside for 15 years before I bought it. David from jax

 

[RoyJackson]

The cylinders don't appear to be chromed. Chrome might flake off, but it shouldn't rust.
There's a product called CLR (Calcium-Lime-Rust) remover that's commercially available. We used it at work clean some nasty surface rust off some components that weren't preserved properly before shipment (they come in from Germany). I'm pretty skeptical about "miracle" removers, but I must admit this worked great. So, before you try mechanical means to remove that rust, get a bottle of CLR and see how it does for you.