Bent it again

woodlandfarms · Jul 28, 2010

OK, now I am going from pissed to angry.

Brand new tilt dump cylinder has pretzeled. And honestly, I don't know how or when it happened. I backed my PT up with the backhoe attachment, drove to a spot, removed it, backed up and went to pick up my bucket and it was bent. I have NO clue where or how I goofed. All I can think of is that to uncouple the backhoe I have to get the quick attach on the ground, maybe I got it too low. Hit the plate just right on something.

So, to this end... That rod cost me $65 plus shipping. I took my pretzel to a company who makes custom cylinders. The guy at the shop is seeing if he can drill out the gland and make me a 1.25" rod. He said it would be $65 if he does not have to remake the gland.

I have to say I am really bent about this issue. I guess it is just me as no other 1850 owner has this issue. but it is a huge bummer for sure.

Carl

wasabi · Jul 28, 2010

woodlandfarms said:
OK, now I am going from pissed to angry.

Brand new tilt dump cylinder has pretzeled. And honestly, I don't know how or when it happened. I backed my PT up with the backhoe attachment, drove to a spot, removed it, backed up and went to pick up my bucket and it was bent. I have NO clue where or how I goofed. All I can think of is that to uncouple the backhoe I have to get the quick attach on the ground, maybe I got it too low. Hit the plate just right on something.

So, to this end... That rod cost me $65 plus shipping. I took my pretzel to a company who makes custom cylinders. The guy at the shop is seeing if he can drill out the gland and make me a 1.25" rod. He said it would be $65 if he does not have to remake the gland.

I have to say I am really bent about this issue. I guess it is just me as no other 1850 owner has this issue. but it is a huge bummer for sure.

Carl

Sorry to hear of your trouble. I've not experienced any such issue, but then I haven't yet, (with the exception of mowing down eight foot tall locust saplings) pushed our 1850 as hard as you do. Look forward to hearing about your fix.

SpringHollow · Jul 28, 2010

I have used my mini hoe a lot busting through shale up to 5' deep- I keep thinking all of that stress will break something but it never has. Even trenching, i have often set the bucket and then driven backwards. The PT has been more robust than I expected it to be.

Ken

toy · Jul 29, 2010

woodlandfarms said:
OK, now I am going from pissed to angry.

Brand new tilt dump cylinder has pretzeled. And honestly, I don't know how or when it happened. I backed my PT up with the backhoe attachment, drove to a spot, removed it, backed up and went to pick up my bucket and it was bent. I have NO clue where or how I goofed. All I can think of is that to uncouple the backhoe I have to get the quick attach on the ground, maybe I got it too low. Hit the plate just right on something.

So, to this end... That rod cost me $65 plus shipping. I took my pretzel to a company who makes custom cylinders. The guy at the shop is seeing if he can drill out the gland and make me a 1.25" rod. He said it would be $65 if he does not have to remake the gland.

I have to say I am really bent about this issue. I guess it is just me as no other 1850 owner has this issue. but it is a huge bummer for sure.

Carl

I am going to assume that you are not taking a running go and hitting your work load, or you are not sinking up the mini hoe bucket and then backing up with it in the ground, so I believe when I got it fixed I would run it from extreme movement to extreme movement and watch as I am doing this to see if it might be hitting something on the machine that is bending the curl cylinder rod. One place to look might be the roll over pin on the lift arms, or maybe something has been added to the machine that is hitting the rod during it's movement. Is the cylinder hooked to the correct end of the uprights on the roll over pin? I don't have your size of machine so I don't know how things are supposed to be hooked up. Is there anything that has been broken off of your machine and then been welded back on cockeyed or do you have any of the ends that have a lot of slop in them that is letting the cylinder push at an angle instead of a straight shot. Hope you can find something in these suggestions that might help find the answer to your problem. Good luck.

Willl · Jul 29, 2010

Wow, what size shaft you bending ?

First thought would be to increase in size till the next thing started to bend.

woodlandfarms · Jul 29, 2010

Well...

The only thing I can think of is after I disconnected I must have rolled forward with the QA close or in the ground. It is all I can come up with.

That said, here is the end of the day grumblings

Company #1 tried to bend the rod back into place. Apparently they feel that the Rod is made of lesser quality steel than a good cylinder, they were unable to rescue the rod.

Company #2 which manufactures pistons said that the gland was shot in my spare, and that it would require $275 for a new gland and rod, or $325 for the whole cylinder with whatever rod diameter I desired.

PT will send me a new rod for $65.

I have a 1.5" cylinder that I bought as a replacement and then chickened, I am going to try to wedge it in (it is 2" longer than the original cylinder, but it is the same extension distance (18" with a 14" extension on arm is original, 20" with a 14" arm is new) It will require some welding and cutting on the cylinder but at this point I have nothing to loose.

Grumble, grumble grumble.

Oh, did I say welding in the dark sucks?

Willl · Jul 29, 2010

"Oh, did I say welding in the dark sucks?"

Personally prefer the dark, sure beats a sun ray to the back of your helmet. :laughing:

If I'm close enough, I'd be glad to help. Spanaway, Tacoma, 152nd + Waller.

woodlandfarms · Jul 29, 2010

North of Portland, Exit 21 on the 5...

I would love the education if nothing else but I am slammmed with work. Stupid movie... Welding is funner and fixing tractors the best ;-)

Are going to Dcyril BBQ?

Carl

Willl · Jul 29, 2010

woodlandfarms said:
Are going to Dcyril BBQ?

Kinda thinking about it.

Although the way work is going , I'm not going to pass up the chance for some OT. :thumbsup:

dcyrilc · Jul 29, 2010

woodlandfarms said:
... Welding is funner and fixing tractors the best ;-)

Carl

I have to disagree here. Seat time beats fixing the tractor any day.:laughing:

...but fixin' the tractor does beat work.

BillBeyer · Jul 29, 2010

Carl,
Can't help you with your cylinder but saw your name and wanted to say hi. We might me long lost cousins.

woodlandfarms · Jul 29, 2010

Are you a billionaire? If you are you are my long lost uncle and I am truly glad to meet you, can I come by and ask you about a movie I want to produce?

Carl

ps, sending you a PM

dcyrilc · Jul 30, 2010

woodlandfarms said:
Are you a billionaire? If you are you are my long lost uncle and I am truly glad to meet you, can I come by and ask you about a movie I want to produce?

Carl

ps, sending you a PM

Hey, speaking of the movie...
...we need more info here.

J_J · Jul 30, 2010

Carl, sorry about your troubles. You mentioned backhoe, but did you mean mini-hoe. I have a theory why you could have bent your cyl rod. When you curl the bucket closed, the bucket is sort of folded up under the boom. When you place the bucket on the ground, and put any pressure on the bucket, the bucket will fold some more, and pull the rod across the end of the boom hinge point, therefore bending it. About the only thing to prevent that is to weld on some stop points for the bucket.

Do you have any pictures of the bucket closed?

J_J · Jul 30, 2010

In this picture, relating to the bucket and cyl, can you see how close the cyl rod is to the boom with the bucket folded. If you were to force the bucket to fold up even more, then it is not hard to see what would happen. That bucket has a lot of mechanical advantage.

J_J · Jul 30, 2010

I guess I should ask if this was the curl cyl on the mini-hoe, or the curl/tilt cyl on the PT.

SpringHollow · Jul 30, 2010

JJ,

His damaged one is on the PT.

Ken

woodlandfarms · Jul 30, 2010

Sorry guys... Missed this part of the thread.

JJ, as Ken said it is the tilt dump on my machine which has been problematic on more than one occcassion.

I must have pushed on the plate just right and torqued it when full extended. Or the geometry was mis-welded but I can't count on that.

I am welding up the new cylinder tonight and tomorrow. More news to come I am sure.

Carl