mopardude318
Platinum Member
I'm rebuilding these power steering rams you see pictured, they are not typically meant to be rebuilt, you throw them away and buy new ones. But new ones are not available, so what I have to do is cut them open, replace the inners, and weld them back up. 
The rods were bent, so I had new ones machined.
What I need to replace is this piston 'ring' that goes in the groove. It is made of a teflon type plastic. However, a new ring is not available. I went to a local plastic manufacturer and they tried to machine new ones for me, but we found the fit is really tight and once we stretch them over the piston to sit in the groove, they become distorted, destroying them.
Here is another piston and ring out of a "new" cylinder that is nearly identical, that I took apart. You can see it is rather crude, the teflon ring is machined rough, and the piston is kinda beat up. But what this tells me is the ring material isn't too critical...?
Is there any reason why I can't have new pistons machined to accept an O-ring? As it is, a standard O-ring will not fit the groove because it is a non standard size. So, if I machine a new piston with a proper groove cut for an O-ring, wouldn't that work as well?
I'm not sure the reasoning why a teflon ring would be used instead of an O-ring. Can someone explain? What are the ill effects?
The rods were bent, so I had new ones machined.
What I need to replace is this piston 'ring' that goes in the groove. It is made of a teflon type plastic. However, a new ring is not available. I went to a local plastic manufacturer and they tried to machine new ones for me, but we found the fit is really tight and once we stretch them over the piston to sit in the groove, they become distorted, destroying them.
Here is another piston and ring out of a "new" cylinder that is nearly identical, that I took apart. You can see it is rather crude, the teflon ring is machined rough, and the piston is kinda beat up. But what this tells me is the ring material isn't too critical...?
Is there any reason why I can't have new pistons machined to accept an O-ring? As it is, a standard O-ring will not fit the groove because it is a non standard size. So, if I machine a new piston with a proper groove cut for an O-ring, wouldn't that work as well?
I'm not sure the reasoning why a teflon ring would be used instead of an O-ring. Can someone explain? What are the ill effects?
