Welding repair on cylinders

[Jim_in_Omaha]

I have a backhoe that was made in China. It was cheap, works, better than a shovel.

I want to convert it over to standard hoses and fittings. The question is for those who have worked on cylinders, can a person TIG weld new ports on the cylinders? Or do the need to be brazed or something else?

thanks

 

[kennyd]

Sure, it can be done. Just extend or retract the cylinder to keep the heat away from the seals.

 

[john_bud]

Yeah, Tig would make it pretty easy. Hard part is degreasing. As Kennyd said, just get the seals away. On the retract one, weld fast as the rod seals are not movable. Safer would be to open the cylinder and get the rod seal away from there. It's more work and I know folks don't do it that way. If you can weld fast and keep the heat away.....


jb

 

[H.D.Tool]

If the ports are on the barrel part of the cylinder welding or brazing will warp the barrel to the point that it will need to be honed with a fixed hone. If the port is on the base it can be welded also if the top port is in the gland head and it is steel it can be welded but it will most likely need honing also. You can get adapter fittings that will fit between your cylinder and the hose end you want to use.

Eric

 

[Jim_in_Omaha]

The ports that I want to replace first are on the swing cylinders. And they are on the base end. I would take them apart. Had them apart before. Then do the welding.

The fittings are goofy. The Chinese think differently or something when it comes to hydraulic connections. They look like a 18M ORFS (O-ring Face Seal). Surpluscenter.com which is in Lincoln has ORFS's up to 16M. I'm thinking of changing the whole thing over someday to something Americanized. The valve assembly has the same type of connections, and it leaves much to be desired.

Maybe I'll get ride of it and buy a chipper....I would use that more since most of my digging is done.

Thanks for the info. A MIG probably could not weld something like that unless the operator is really good?

 

[MJPetersen]

Most cylinders are originally welded up with a MIG so cannot see why you could not do that way again. You do not want to get the surrounding so hot that it warps, Getting it clean is the MOST important thing. high strength brazing is also an option that is not too difficult. The good thing about a port is that seals do not have to slide past the opening. So why would honing would be necessary?

We would get cracks around hydraulic ports on cylinders from time to time when I worked heavy equipment. I personally preferred to braze the crack. I used the heat of the torch to burn the impurities out of the crack--worked for me.

Mike

 

[RickB]

I agree the necessity of honing is very remote. Clean, clean, clean, MIG or TIG.

 

[tommu56]

Jim_in_Omaha

What about taking the hose fiting cut hose off and braseing or tig it to standard fitting and leave cylinder alone?


tom

 

[Wayne County Hose]

I have done this many times. In my experience, here's what you need to do. Remove the cylinder and disassemble it. You can get the weld in ports from Bailey Hydraulic Cylinders Corporate Prof :: BaileyNet.com., or Hercules Sealing Products. I would weld in O-ring boss ports. Do not mig weld them, they will almost always leak. Yes, the base caps are usually welded on by mig, but these are not the base caps. Base caps are welded on by robot. Unless you are a robot, I wouldn't try it. Tig weld them and there will be no issue. You should not need to hone the cylinder after welding. I have never had to and have never had an issue. If you are not experienced in this, I would take it somewhere to be done.

 

[Jim_in_Omaha]

I have tried MIG welding some adaptors for this thing. They leaked, or I should say they bleed ever so slightly.

Good information.