hydraulic stop leak products

[pelhamjeff]

Hey guys, my splitter is leaking a little hydraulic fluid out around the piston for the 1st few minutes I use it. When I first built the splitter (as cheaply as possible) it was doing the same thing but a lot worse, and I put a seal kit in it and got 10 years out of it. I know I should rebuild it again and I know I am going to catch hell about asking this, but has anybody ever used products that swell the seals? I just need to get thru this season without any down time. Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[kevin j]

There are various seal swell products, but they act by chemically reacting with the seal materials that are not supposed to be together.
May have some effects on pump seals, hose linings, etc etc unintended consequences. Just fix the seal, or put a bucket under it to catch the leaks. (Don’t reuse the oil)

 

[FlyingDutchman]

As long as the rod or bore isn't scratched just rebuild it. If it's leaking that bad you could be moments away from catastrophic failure.

A good hydraulic shop should have all the seals on hand. Bring them the seals to match up, or schedule a time or incur the charge for a rush cylinder. Sometimes the shop I worked at was weeks out.

That being said, I wouldn't use the seal swell products. They might swell the seals but also could damage the inside of hoses and could make it more difficult to match the seals later. A swollen O-ring will be misidentified then they have to guess based on the grooves. Takes a lot of product to swell it that bad, but I've seen it.