BH Cylinder line fitting damage

[bindian]

Well, working the burn pile today with the BH thumb got me in trouble. A branch bent the line fitting to my bucket cylinder. My first thought was $$$. Then I thought, why didn't the line break at the cylinder. So I locked the boom up and disengaged the remote and finished filling the stump hole and went to take a break.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Since I was soaking wet from sweating in this heat, I changed cloths and had a coke. Then I went back out to figure out if I needed to remove the actuator for replacement or try to straighten the line fitting. I was thinking, if it had pressure on the line when it was bent and it didn't break, maybe I could get it straight if I kept pressure on it while trying to straighten it. I thought a tree could be used to swing the BH into it. That didn't work, so I tried a barn pole. That didn't work. Then I remembered the tree my Dad calls a Saddle tree. I backed up to it and with some boards of various sizes, proceeded to straighten the line fitting. All the time thinking the line would break. It never broke. I got it straight enough about dark. Tomorrow I will replace the clamps I added when I installed quick disconnects for the PHD. So I turned lemons into lemonade.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Dougster]

Hi Brandi - Is it true that this is the very same technique you've used in the past on 737's???

Seriously, those hard fitting extensions have always troubled me. I am anxious to see if my new thumb cylinder will be the same. I've always been troubled by their exposure to possible damage and some obvious "pinching" where they make the final turn into the cylinder (at least on mine). I'm much rather replace a hose than worry about what it would take to properly fix one of those funky hard extensions.

Dougster

 

[bindian]

Hi Brandi - Is it true that this is the very same technique you've used in the past on 737's???

Seriously, those hard fitting extensions have always troubled me. I am anxious to see if my new thumb cylinder will be the same. I've always been troubled by their exposure to possible damage and some obvious "pinching" where they make the final turn into the cylinder (at least on mine). I'm much rather replace a hose than worry about what it would take to properly fix one of those funky hard extensions.

Dougster

Dougster,
I agree with you on replacing a line vs. the funky extension. I have thought hard about it and I couldn't have done it piling up the burn pile with the thumb, as I dug out a large stump after that. I must have done it will trying to drag that large stump out of the hole and mushed it up against the boom and a root did the dirty deed.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Dougster]

I must have done it will trying to drag that large stump out of the hole and mushed it up against the boom and a root did the dirty deed.
hugs, Brandi

The bucket cylinder fitting extension is way too exposed out there. You'd think that if they went to all the trouble of making it welded and rigid, they should have gone one step further and put some kind of guard around it.

You gonna replace it just for good measure? Or are you going to wait for the next mega-stump to damage it again???

Dougster