FYI - Hydraulic Vee packing suppliers

[john_bud]

Hi, It's always a chore to find a good place to buy the stuff you need. For specialized things like hydraulic cylinder packing seals it can be real hard to find that perfect combination of the right parts at a good price with customer service. Thought I would share some of that information.

There are 3 that I like to use. H&D Distributors in Texas has a GREAT down loadable PDF catalog that has pictures of the parts. Makes matching up what you need with what they got much easier. Especially for rod lip seals, O-rings, Quad rings, backup rings and other parts.

H&D Distributors, Inc. Your Complete Source for Seals


Problem I just ran into with them is they don't have some of the more specialized parts for my older Ford hoe's cylinders. I rebuilt a cylinder last year and found it bypassing (badly) after only 75 hours of operation. Yuck. Took it apart and found (my) problem. The Male Vee is too thick. That made the whole stack too tall. That made it squash out too wide when the packing nut was torqued. That is where the problem came in, it sealed too good. Really. It made a dry seal and the edges of the Vee's rubbed on dry steel and failed. H&D doesn't make that thinner Male end. So I had to look harder to find one that did carry it. By the way, I shouldn't have assembled the cylinder with the stack too thick - my fault. Hey, it happens...

Home Page

Powerseal1 does not have much of a web site. You can't order online. The catalog is an Excel spreadsheet with nearly a thousand lines. Each line is a different VEE seal. All sorted by size. Many different materials and importantly different end thicknesses. Yippie! I selected a bunch and cut / pasted the part of the spreadsheet into an email. Had to send a check to get the order, but no big deal. There is even a real live person you talk to about the order. Imagine that! They would also do COD, but they don't do credit cards. They are more set up for servicing hydraulic shops on an account basis. Still, the price per VEE was low and they had the exact parts needed in stock . Shipping was prompt.


Baum Hydraulics

Baum has individual parts and Vee stacks you can buy. But the thing they have that is nice is pre-made kits for popular cylinders on many different loaders, hoe's, dump trucks, trash trucks, Dozers, etc. Oddly, the price for a kit is way cheaper than the piece parts. Have used them and was happy with the kits. They don't have a great web site, but they do have a good paper catalog.



If you want to seal your cylinders yourself and keep a MAJOR chunk of change in your pocket, these 3 vendors have been good for me. Hopefully, they will be good for you too.



jb

 

[Kernopelli]

Baum Hydraulics[/url]

Baum has individual parts and Vee stacks you can buy. But the thing they have that is nice is pre-made kits for popular cylinders on many different loaders, hoe's, dump trucks, trash trucks, Dozers, etc. Oddly, the price for a kit is way cheaper than the piece parts. Have used them and was happy with the kits. They don't have a great web site, but they do have a good paper catalog.



If you want to seal your cylinders yourself and keep a MAJOR chunk of change in your pocket, these 3 vendors have been good for me. Hopefully, they will be good for you too.



jb

Thanks for the info. I too have used Baum for several items I had trouble locating anywhere else. They are a great source for many things, not just hydraulics. Generally speaking, I would not say they are cheap, but for example, I found a set of control cables for under $60 and the only other place I could find them had quoted $300. I encourage everyone to request their catolog, lots of hard to find items of all types. It is free (or has been in the past) and is VERY complete, in fact the items I have gotten from them were items I had given up on but happened to find while looking at their catolog. I also use their online calculators and have recommended them to the TBN members several times. Baum Hydraulics :: Spec Calculator

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Hercules Sealing Products beats them all. Catalog is the best I've seen, they have a tech help line which is very good, they take credit cards, have kits available for most applications, and they have the seals individually. I own a cylinder shop and they have always had what I needed.

 

[john_bud]

Wayne,

That's one that I hadn't found in my searching. Thanks for the tip!

On edit - I looked at them (have to schedule the catalog DL for night) and it looks like they don't carry seals for my size cylinders. 3 3/4 ID x 4" OD.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

On edit - I looked at them (have to schedule the catalog DL for night) and it looks like they don't carry seals for my size cylinders. 3 3/4 ID x 4" OD.

That's a very thin cross section for that large of an o.d. What type of seal is it? Is it the Vee packing you described earlier?
I'm surprised you could even assemble that cylinder with the seals too large. That's a dead giveaway for me that something's wrong, when it won't go together too easily. You could also mix up the Vee style packings. I like to put some rubber and some poly in with the fabric packings. I found it lasts longer this way.

 

[john_bud]

It actually went together pretty easy. I use a piston ring compressor and then get the rod down with the "hammer head method". No, I don't hit it with a hammer, I raise the cylinder with the rod precariously perched just bearly stuck in there and drop it down onto some carpet. Sort of the way you seat a hammer head on a new handle.

Put new VEE's in today. Had I typo - it's 3 1/4 x 4" 1" stack. Packing went in nice after holding them in the hot air from the shop furnace, but the hose end is buggered up some. Can't get the adaptor in with out it feeling cross threaded. So, have a 7/8 - 14 bottom tap on the way. Just the first thread is the issue, so hopefully greasing the tap flutes will trap the metal filings that will be generated. Will also stuff some paper towel in there.

jb