Snow Blade Cylinder Damaged Repair or Replace?

[Kernopelli]

Going by what I see in the pictures:

I think the first thing I would try is smooth the gland and cylinder barrel with emery cloth, clean out the snap ring groove and put it back together. From the pics, I don't see anything that is going to cause it to leak ( looks like the barrel's mating surface for the seal was undamaged) or come apart on its own. Nothing to lose by trying.......

If that doesn't work then go forward with repair/replace options. One thing that should be pointed out concerning aftermarket replacement is that the rod end pin is 3/4" and the opposite end has a 7/8" pin

 

[grey goose]

UPDATE: First off, thanks to everyone who responded. What an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience we have here.

I was only able to find an exact replacement option at Kubota. Each of the after-market option cylinders had either the wrong hose fittings, fittings in the wrong place, or the wrong kind of ends, and would've involved much jury-rigging. I took it to a shop in Denver that offered to disassemble it, chuck it up in a lathe to true up the bore damage for $100 per hour - with no attempt to fill in the voids, no ballpark estimate, and no guarantee. Drove home from there grumbling. 8-(

Now that the bills are coming in for my wife's knee replacement surgery ($$$$), I decided to at least make an attempt at repairing this cylinder before investing gobs of cash which I'm a bit short of now.

I chucked it up in the vise, fired up the die grinder, and cleaned up the burrs that protruded into the bore diameter space. I felt it was safe enough now to pull the shaft out all the way without mangling the original seals and o-rings. These showed no damage at all! Now that I had better access, I finished up cleaning up the small amount of damage inside the snap-ring groove to the point I felt confident the replacement snap ring would hold. With lots of hydro-fluid and patience, the shaft assembly slid back into place. Today, I got the cylinder re-mounted onto the blade, and the hoses reconnected. After adding some Super UDT to the pump reservoir, I fired her up, cycled the steering wheel lock-to-lock a few times to get any air out of the system, then tried the blade pivot action. Full motion! No leaks! Yippee! As an ounce of prevention, I cut a piece of pipe insulation to fit the cylinder shaft and hose-clamped it to the pin end of the shaft - all in an effort to keep gravel out of the snap ring / end cap area. We'll see...

Oh, yeah. After the snow under the blade melted, I found the guilty $#@%&* rock that did the damage. How the **** it managed to get in there... Seems I need to be a bit more careful back-dragging snow where there's a chance there might be gravel lurking.



So. End result? For the cost of a few hours in the cold shop, a buck or two for a new snap ring, I got 'er working again. I'll post an update if I have another failure. Otherwise, assume all is back to normal and you can resume normal programming.

Again. Thanks to everyone for offering up their experience and suggestions. Wishing you all the very best. Cheers!

 

[Ford850]

I love it when a plan comes together! Thanks for following up.

 

[LouNY]

That was good, nice to come out with a reasonable expense and a good outcome.

 

[lt190b]

grey goose, check where the cylinders contact (stop) on the plow frame. You may have to add a piece of flat material for the cylinder to contact (stop) instead of over extending and knocking the snap ring out.

 

[grey goose]

Based on the damage to the snap ring and it's groove, I believe a stone became lodged in the open end of the cylinder and it's pin mount (see pictures in previous post). I've carved up a chunk of 'pool noodle' to fit over the shaft to block this open area. Just need to get it to stick inside the open end somehow.





There are massive stop structures built into the frame of the plow. Are you suggestion I add material to these stops?

 

[lt190b]

Based on the damage to the snap ring and it's groove, I believe a stone became lodged in the open end of the cylinder and it's pin mount (see pictures in previous post). I've carved up a chunk of 'pool noodle' to fit over the shaft to block this open area. Just need to get it to stick inside the open end somehow.

View attachment 593506

View attachment 593505

There are massive stop structures built into the frame of the plow. Are you suggestion I add material to these stops?

greygoose, yes. On mine (BMX184H) I had a very similar problem. I tend to roll snow to the right most of the time, extending the left cylinder, more than the right. The stop was wore enough to let the cylinder OVER extend and pop out the snap ring. To check this, extend which ever rod gave the problem, measure its length. Then undo that cylinder from the frame and check length. If it extends more, its probably not over extending, and your theory is correct. If in doubt add some material, those worn stops won't heal. If you would like to see some pictures, I will see if I can find them. Larry