Neighbor owns a 110 HP turbo diesel JD tractor. I was using it when the hydraulics on the bucket let go.

Long story short, we were in the re-seal process and found that the piston rod in one of the bucket tilt cylinders had snapped in half at the point where the rod is machined down for the retaining nut.

I have looked thru the JD parts website and found that the rod is a part you can purchase.

My question is, I can not retrieve the portions of the seal out of the cylinder. Does anyone think that a hydraulic shop can fish them out?

A new piston rod is 225 bucks versus 750 for a new cylinder.

Any input from any tractor or hydraulic experts is greatly appreciated.

Gary

PS: This is my only source of personally hearing the turbo spool and smell the sweet scent of spent diesel since I had to trade in my 02 for the Hemi.....

 

I would use the hydraulics from the tractor to push the piston out of the cylinder. Or is it just a seal that is stuck in the bore??

 

You can do as stated above jus be careful and know that you will loose a lot of fluid once you push out the rest of the piston. I have an electric bench mounted pump specifically for dong this, low pressure and works like a charm.

 

I may not have explained this correctly. The nut and the top of the gland pack are still in the cylinder and the rest of the seals are at the bottom of the cylinder. The rest of the piston rod just slid out of the cylinder when I unbolted it from its lower mount, and yes hydraulic fluid drained out completely when I disconnected the hydraulic lines (prior to removal of cylinder mounts). I had no problems with the other assembly when I disassembled it. I tried light amounts of compressed air to push out the gland and seal assembly but nada happened. I re-inserted the broken off portion of the rod into the bore and used compressed air, but it only pushed the rod back out leaving the seal assembly and packing gland in the bore where they were.

Basically I have a cylinder with the sealing assembly and packing gland still inside and the rod (with broken off end) still in cylinder and the rest of the rod sitting on the floor.-------

 

Stand the cylinder upright with the open end down resting on a good hard flat board and then lift and bump (drop) the cylinder onto the board . It will come down but not fast.

 

Can you find a piece of plastic pipe that fits in the cylinder? Maybe it would straighten out the packing enough so air can get behind it and push the packing and above said plastic pipe out.

A borescope picture inside the cylinder might help figure things out.

 

I am thinking from his description of the "air pushing the rod back out but leaving the packing behind" that the center bore of the packing stack is an open hole and the broken end of the rod is up behind the packing so no seal to use air or oil to push it out just a big leak.

If the packing stack is a little sideways and stuck the pvc to straighten it is a good idea before trying to bump it down.

 

Do you have access to an inside bearing puller you might be able to get it out that way but you might have to fashion a longer pulling rod. Just thinking.

 

Rattler, you are correct. The packing stack still has the broken end of the rod in it, therefore I can not get air pressure to the "other side" to force it up. I have the cylinder in the back of my truck and am going to hit a repair shop today to see if they can "fish" it out, otherwise I guess I am on the hook for another cylinder.

too bad my neighbor is so **** about keeping the parts all John Deere. I found a comparable cylinder at tractor supply for 159.00, but it has 3 more inches of stroke. I told him I could buy 2 (one for each side) cheaper than the replacement rod. They are both rated for 2500# operating pressure and 5000# burst, so I can not see why the tractor supply units would not work....but then again it is his tractor. I guess he needs to learn how to keep our community dirt driveway up, cause it is getting too expensive for me to use his equipment for our common good. My little 25 horse Massey does the job. It just takes 4 hours to do what his JD will knock out in 30 minutes.

Gary

Gary

 

I have an adapter for my slide hammer, it 1/2 threaded rod. I attached that to my slide hammer and put the correct size axle bearing race puller on it. Maybe you could fashion something up like that?

 

The packing and the end of the rod are in the bore? Putting air to the hose port won't move it?

 

Well I took it to a hydraulics shop that custom builds cylinders. They are going to fab a new rod per OEM specs, dismantle the parts that are stuck in the bore, install new seal kit for the magic price of $195.00.

I asked them how the rod could have snapped like it did and they said that this rod has been worked on before and that it was too long for the bore. This causes undue stress when cylinder is fully retracted and ends up fracturing the rod at the weakest point (where the rod is machined down for the retaining nut).

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions. I just finally had to break down and let a professional handle it. Have to say that I have learned more about hydraulics in the last week than I have in an entire lifetime.

Gary