How to fix a buggered fitting

[96kta]

Here is the cylinder off of my boxblade. As you can see, the fitting has experienced some trauma. It didn't leak when the previous owner demonstrated it, but it sure did the first time i tried it.

So my question is... Is there a cheap/reliable way to fix this?

Thanks
Steven

 

[kennyd]

Welcome to TBN

That bung will have to be cut off and a new one welded on. If this is above your abilities then you should find a hydraulic shop in your area that can do it.

 

[tommu56]

96kta
I would take the o ring off fitting clean the oil out off the threads and screw it in to correct orientation then braze the fitting in that position. just pull rod out to the end of cylinder and put some wet rags around cylinder to keep the piston seal cool

tommu

 

[96kta]

Thanks, this is not how I envisioned my first post (been lurking for quite a while now).

It's hard to tell from that photo, but the bung is only distorted about .25" down. The rest of of it looks straight. Since there is not much to loose bung-wise, I wonder if I could plug it to prevent shavings from entering the cylinder and grind/file away the distorted part enough to get it to seal.

Or as mentioned, brazing it. I don't have a torch setup, but am fairly good with the mig welder and the fitting is steel...

Thanks for the ideas. It gives me something to think about.

 

[tommu56]

If the boss is long enough to keep fitting from hitting piston pack some rags in hole put some grease on top of that then file away.

remove rags flush some hydraulic fluid in and out of port and see how it fits.
the only problem with the mig is getting the oil out of fitting to get a good weld
to mig it i would clean it out with alcohol let it air dry for a day or two and go at it with the mig

tom

 

[john_bud]

Step 1 - remove cylinder
Step 2 - take cylinder apart, clean and degrease
Step 3 - repair
Step 4 - clean and reassemble

I would cut off the old bung and weld on a new one. But trying to do it with it all in one piece is just asking for trouble. Especially as you can take that apart in about 5 minutes.

jb

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Step 1 - remove cylinder
Step 2 - take cylinder apart, clean and degrease
Step 3 - repair
Step 4 - clean and reassemble

I would cut off the old bung and weld on a new one. But trying to do it with it all in one piece is just asking for trouble. Especially as you can take that apart in about 5 minutes.

jb

Now come on John, why on earth would you take the one way to fix it right and throw out all these humorous rig it ideas?
Any job big or small, do it right or not at all.

Steven, there is no cheap and reliable way to fix most things. Taking it to a hyd shop and having a new bung welded on shouldn't cost you more than 75 bucks. If that's not cheap enough and reliable enough, I don't know what is.

 

[Farmerford]

Gosh, Wayne County Hose, I am sure glad I did not post my suggestion before you replied. I would just hammer the bulge back until it was round again. Might even fire up the torch and heat it a bit if I wanted the professional fix. In the (unlikely) event I could not hammer it exactly round, how about drilling and tapping it for tapered pipe; that way you would have one outlaw fitting to curse the next owner.

 

[3RRL]

Gosh, Wayne County Hose, I am sure glad I did not post my suggestion before you replied. I would just hammer the bulge back until it was round again. Might even fire up the torch and heat it a bit if I wanted the professional fix. In the (unlikely) event I could not hammer it exactly round, how about drilling and tapping it for tapered pipe; that way you would have one outlaw fitting to curse the next owner.

I love that idea Charles !!
Heck, depending on the cylinder, sometimes you can buy a new one for $75 bucks. But your suggestion costs nothing. As long as the threads hold that ORB fitting in there, and the "O" ring seals inside it and can't blow out, it should work just like new. I think that's why it leaks in the first place, because the hole is oblong where the "O" would normally seal.
That is a cheap (the cheapest) and reliable way to do it. Maybe get a new "O" ring for 2 bits?

 

[J_J]

If I want cheap, and sometimes I do, I would remove the o-ring, screw the fitting in as far as it can go, and MIG weld around the seam, making the ORB fitting part of the cylinder. If you are good and fast, the heat should not be a problem.

 

[john_bud]

Now come on John, why on earth would you take the one way to fix it right and throw out all these humorous rig it ideas?.

You're right, you're right! Sorry I blew up!

How about the JB weld and sell route?
jb

 

[J_J]

Now come on John, why on earth would you take the one way to fix it right and throw out all these humorous rig it ideas?
Any job big or small, do it right or not at all.

Steven, there is no cheap and reliable way to fix most things. Taking it to a hyd shop and having a new bung welded on shouldn't cost you more than 75 bucks. If that's not cheap enough and reliable enough, I don't know what is.

Are you saying that you would charge him $75.00 for you or someone to cut and weld, when he could do the same thing himself? Why not just weld the ORB fitting in place.

Steven, Break out the mig welder and put a bead around the fitting, minus the o-ring.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Are you saying that you would charge him $75.00 for you or someone to cut and weld, when he could do the same thing himself? Why not just weld the ORB fitting in place.

Steven, Break out the mig welder and put a bead around the fitting, minus the o-ring.

There are a lot of things we all could do ourselves. But my guess is that if he took the time to post here and ask for our advice, then he is not comfortable with this whole scenario or he wants it to be done right and problem free. To me, 75 bucks max, probably less as I can't tell unless I had the job here but $75 would be the absolute max I would charge, is cheap piece of mind to me. If you notice, very few cylinder manufacturers or equipment manufacturers run a hose directly into a component. They run to a fitting that screws into a component. This is so that if you are changing hoses, or you break a fitting, or whatever, you can always remove the fitting and install a new one. Weld that fitting in there and it's a bigger problem later. What is he going to do with the next problem? Screw that ORB fitting in there with damaged threads and the pieces of damaged thread that come off go directly into his cylinder. Now by fixing one problem, we create a worse one.

I do like the JB weld idea.

Funny, in this lousy economy, my business is booming because I do the right thing for my customers and they don't have problems. They are tired of all the other shops around here rigging stuff. Thanks to everyone for all their rig ideas, you only make me look smarter.

I'm also sorry if I seem abrasive at times, but too many times, I have seen the cheap pay twice. The first time for the rig, the second time to do it right.

 

[tommu56]

My repairs usually are to get some thing running on a sat or sunday or at midnight most of them have survived we usually order the replacement the next day and it ususlly sits on the shelf till some thing else fails then we change out the repaired part.
For us midnight mechanics bailing wire and string is all whe have. Some times and you learnt to look out side the box like the night we lost a lift pump at our waste water plant lowered the replacement pump in with the riser and it was 1/2" too tall to mate with flange no 3"dies in our plant i suggested we grind 1/2 off pump feet and it has been running that way for 3 years.

tom

 

[J_J]

Here is the cylinder off of my boxblade. As you can see, the fitting has experienced some trauma. It didn't leak when the previous owner demonstrated it, but it sure did the first time i tried it.

So my question is... Is there a cheap/reliable way to fix this?

Thanks
Steven

I am thinking that you were deceived by the previous owner for this reason. He knew that it was leaking when using max pressure, like when you run the cylinder to the stops. He probably only used enough pressure to demo the unit. Consider this, that cylinder maybe can lift 1500 lbs, at 3000 psi. To raise a box blade which weighs at around 400 to 500 lb, will not use all the pressure available, so sometime later, you ran it to the stops and developed the high psi and the fitting started leaking.

A new cylinder would be good, but we all don't have the assets. I still say weld it yourself, and if it still leaks, then take it to someone like Wayne County Hose, and they will cut off the bung and weld in a new one. You can also go to Surplus Hydraulics and see if you can locate one that will work.

Wayne County Hose,

All of us are not gentleman farmers, and we don't have the time to run around. We have to use whatever we have, to do the things we do. Do it right, who's to say what is right. Right to a lot of people is does it work. How many of you try and fix your own stuff. Common sense dictates you have to try if you have the knowledge, and ability.

 

[3RRL]

No disrespect intended to Wayne, because fixing it in the best professional way is no doubt the best way to go.
But JJ and Tom really bring out a good point that all of us face. In many cases, like JJ says, fixing it right has more than one solution. In fact many designs keep that in mind when new stuff is built. that's why some stuff is heavier duty than others. Is it good enough to do the job temporarily, long term or is it going to the moon and back? Fixing it right can be a relative term.
I still like Charles's (farmerford) suggestion the best. I'm pretty sure with and "O" ring seal it will work and seems to be the least amount of work, cost and risk (to me).

 

[Wayne County Hose]

No offense taken here and I hope I didn't offend anyone. I know there is more than one way to skin a cat. The only thing I was looking at was that it came with an ORB port from the factory and when it left my shop, it would still have an ORB port. My goal when I repair something is for nobody to know I even touched it. If my customer says it looks and performs like it did when new, I did my job properly. Just my humble opinion here, but to be able to have it as it left the factory for under 75 bucks is a no brainer.