Dump Cylinder issue

[cmyoung2]

Dump bed, power up, gravity down, typical electric pump.2'x4" cylinder.Cylinder is held together by full length bolts/rods. When I raise the bed all the way, fluid squirts out of the air vent/plug on the top of the cylinder. I assume a seal is leaking, but have no idea where to start. Easy repair or replace?

 

[kthompson]

Think seal on the rod is bad. Look in phone book, internet and find local shop that repairs the cylinder. Probably reasonable repair. But is cheap cylinder might be best to replace.

 

[oldnslo]

Since this is a single acting cylinder the piston seal is leaking which causes the oil to blow out the vent while extending. If you have a source for seals the tie rod style cylinders are usually fairly easy to rebuild.

Can you find a brand name & or model code on the cylinder?

 

[LD1]

Ditto, your piston seals are leaking by.

That vent plug is to allow air to enter and exit the cylinder when extending and retracting (where oil would normally enter and exit if it were a double acting cylinder.

Just depending on how bad its blowing by would determine what my next course of action would be. Its typical on industrial hydraulic stuff to not even have a vent plug. Rather a line running from that port back to tank to reclaim any fluid that does indeed leak by. Because if the cylinder isnt leaking badly enough to cause a power problem, the only real issue is puking oil onto the ground. Returning it to tank solves that.

Once the seals get bad enough to cause power problems, thats when the rebuild happens.

Again, in industrial stuff, this typically doubles the usable life of the cylinder from first signs of leak by, to ultimate rebuild.

One of the reasons I prefer DA cylinders and power down on equipment. Because even if a cylinder is leaking by internally, all of the fluid is still contained within the cylinder.

 

[bigdeano]

Just take the nuts off one end of the tie rods. The cylinder will easily come apart. Then you can see what kind of seal is on the piston. If it's an O ring the hardware store should have one, or take the old seal to a hyd shop.

 

[flyerdan]

More than likely it will be a cupped seal like in a brake cylinder. Chances are it will be a standard size off the shelf part from any hydraulic shop and should be pretty inexpensive. Also, if there are any tears or excessive wear on the seal, check the barrel to see if there is something rough or sharp. Wouldn't do any good to reseal and tear it up on the first use.