Blown Hydraulic Line

[bgott]

I was pushing down a tree today when one of the hydraulic lines on my loader exploded. Line, not hose. It sounded like a shotgun blast and scared the mexican that works for me so bad he cleared a hundred feet in two steps. Here is a couple of pictures.

 

[bgott]

The first picture is the location, here is a close up.

 

[bgott]

It sprayed oil from here...

 

[bgott]

To here...

 

[bgott]

And way past here.

 

[bgott]

Let's not forget here!

 

[Thomas]

Glad you came out of that mishaps okay..whew.

I've pop a hose here and there thru the years,but never seen one split open like yours. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif..I to would have done the three slap shuffle out of there also.

 

[Inspector507]

Wondered if it got the operator........glad you're OK

Jerry

 

[DUMBDOG]

Cannot believe that a NH pipe burst. Will have to watch my closer as they were damanged in the orginal shipping.

I do not blame the help for being surprised by the noise. I probably would have need a change of pants.

 

[karmakanic]

Man, that's a heck of a wierd failure. Looks like it split at the "seam" of the seamless tubing. Was there any previous damage to that area? If not, must of been a Friday at the tubing factory when that line was drawn./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Oh, and don't you just love what a conditioning job that hydraulic fluid does for your hair? Could give those fancy store bought conditioners a run for their money if it wasn't for the smell. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Dave

 

[Turfman]

I don't know how they make the tubing, but when I was at the Smith and Wesson plant they told me of bursting barrels in some of the old guns. They'd have an impurity or air bubble in the metal. They'd take the metal and heat it to red hot and set the ingot into a drop forge. The forge would hammer it down three or four times (kind of cool to watch) and it would form the barrel in the ingot. They'd trim the flange around it off and bore it. When the impurity or air pocket was forged with the ingot it would stretch into a long thin weak spot. If it failed, it failed along that line and always in line with the bore, as that is the direction the flaw was stretched. They now have a testing process to prevent bad barrels from getting out of the plant. This looks similar.

 

[hazmat]

My semi educated guess is that the tubing was extruded. The metal is warmed up and pushed out thru a die. Think of the plato toys your kids play with.

Like the drop forged gun barell, any impurities will cause a defect along the length of the tubing.

 

[GSS]

You would think this would be covered under warranty, huh?

 

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>
You would think this would be covered under warranty, huh? </font color=blue>

You bet your behind that I would expect this to be covered.

If the relief valve is anywhere near the correct setting, there is NO WAY the steel line should have burst. Even if the relief were not functioning, the hoses would have given out first.

The damage looks like an explosion, ie the oil pressure caused it, not you hitting a foriegn object.

 

[bgott]

Update: I haven't got the tractor back yet, supposedly the line is going to come in tomorrow. I think the root cause of the problem is a hydraulic hose that would get to buzzing under hard usage. This would happen intermittently, I was going to put it on a list to get fixed before the tractor was out of warranty. A hydraulic hose buzzing is usually a sign that the inner liner is collapsing. I figure it collapsed, causing a pressure spike. I called them up to mention it, whether or not they noted it? I forgot to tell them at first because of the break, I almost got in a wreck on the way to the dealer and a phone call from my help lying his way out of work. I hope they don't turn down the pressure relief valve on the loader, I think the pressure was on the low side anyway.

 

[jinman]

WOW! I busted a hose, but nuthin' like this./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif Surely your dealer will realize this is a tubing problem and not a relief valve problem. On my hose, the swaged sleeve that is behind the fitting was rusty. Earlier, I had a battery acid damaged radiator and hydro tranny coolant lines replaced. The rust on my fitting looks like it is caused by something like acid and the hose busted right behind that fitting. In your case, your line just had to be defective. I think this is a rare happening on any tractor (thank goodness!). I'm glad you escaped with only a "lube job" and hope you get your TN back really soon. Thanks for the post.

 

[SteveV]

I think hazmat is getting a little ahead of himself here. This being a blue dicussion, you can discount what orange has to say but.... as a generality, the pressure relief valve does not protect anything while the control valves are in the center position, wether it be closed or open center, the relief is out of the circuit. The loader circuits can be subjected can be subjected to pressures up to the breaking strength of the weakest component, in this case, the tubing. Not a good thing to break but not an expensive one either. Ever lifted a load over the capacity of the loader by sliding the angled bucket up against something? It stays up once you get it there unless the back end comes up. Only the guy operating the machine really knows what happened. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif SteveV

 

[bgott]

I got it back today. The verdict, according to the dealer, was, my fault! It was covered under warranty. The mechanic told me it happened because I had the juice to it while I was pushing. Being that that's just about the only way to break something out with it other than really loose material or leaves I guess it might happen again. The dealer's stock answer is that it's a utility loader and not an industrial loader. What, is the durn thing there just for looks? I think I'm pretty easy on it, actually. I don't take running starts into stuff and don't beat the hay out of it. That is probably just their stock answer. We'll find out because after I get done cleaning up the easy stuff I'm gonna go back and do what I did before.

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds like a cop-out. Kinda like the 'q-tip' deal... they're not meant to clean anything but the outside of the ear.. yeah right...

Soundguy

 

[DUMBDOG]

I have pushed down quite a few trees, with all kinds of juice to the loader so to speak, up, down, whatever and not a problem, of course I do not have that powerful of tractor.