Log splitter cylinder replacement

[woodworker501]

Thanks for all the input. I checked a hyd. repair shop because I needed a high pressure hose replaced, they wanted $64 for it, the parts dealer wanted $29. They wanted $350-400 to repair the cyl. I am just going to get a new on from the parts dealer and be done with it. I can fix a lot of things but I have my limits.
Thanks again

 

[NSMaple1]

-10c isn't cold, that's around 15* F.. nice working temp!

I run equipment in -25*F and they don't leak from the cold. Just weld the rod, polish it out, put a seal kit ($20-30 area) and call it good.

Ya, agreed completely that it isn't that cold. It was a good working temp - kept the sweat down & the bugs away.

If that was a regular occurance (working in those temps), I would definitely get it fixed one way or the other. But since it's a rarity for me, with this splitter, I will likely see how it does in the spring before I look to taking it apart. I think though in the meantime I will hunt up a seal kit for it to have on hand.

 

[cantoo]

woodworker551, and the hydraulic shop will be wondering why they are bankrupt in a couple of years. Repair is more than new cost. Did you ask them for price on a replacement cylinder? We have a hydraulic shop near us and the place is always nearly deserted. I went in there to price a new cylinder for my small flatbed, guy spent 15 minutes looking for one in a bunch of books and finally said it would be around $2000. Seems pretty reasonable for a 1 1/2" rod 2 section cylinder, umm NO. They had Pioneer outlets sitting on the counter with a sale price of $50 for a 1/2" male and female. I pay under $20 at Princess auto for real Pioneer ones and the knock offs are less. I'll never be back there. Couple more years and they will disappear completely.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

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woodworker551, and the hydraulic shop will be wondering why they are bankrupt in a couple of years. Repair is more than new cost. Did you ask them for price on a replacement cylinder? We have a hydraulic shop near us and the place is always nearly deserted. I went in there to price a new cylinder for my small flatbed, guy spent 15 minutes looking for one in a bunch of books and finally said it would be around $2000. Seems pretty reasonable for a 1 1/2" rod 2 section cylinder, umm NO. They had Pioneer outlets sitting on the counter with a sale price of $50 for a 1/2" male and female. I pay under $20 at Princess auto for real Pioneer ones and the knock offs are less. I'll never be back there. Couple more years and they will disappear completely.

I see that a lot around me too. Some of those shops deal with big companies that don't price anything out, they just want it now. Having a line down is REAL expensive when people are sitting. The people who pay the bills in accounting think a fitting is to get your clothes right so there is no check system in place. They just put it in the repair column and go on. There comes a point where "big" is not better in a business but it has become that everywhere. Local Parker store here will no longer crimp a fitting on an old hose, they say due to liability. Thanks lawyers! I can see crimping machine sales are going to increase with that. Doesn't take long to pay for itself when dealing with long hoses that just need an end/swivel replaced.

 

[woodworker501]

This place has been in business for at least 35 years. and I was the only one there.
I went to their competitor a few weeks ago to replace the low pressure hose, they wanted $45 for it, I purchased it from the parts dealer for $13. go figure

 

[cantoo]

Kevin, around here we have Amish shops opening up on every corner. Some are reasonable and some are worse than lawyers. They sell everything and anything and have very interesting accounting (taxes) practices. They charge tax on everything but only remit a small portion, or so I've heard.
I'm lucky enough to work all over Ontario so I can usually buy what I need almost anywhere I want. I very seldom buy anything local because I'm never around home during working hours or want to take the time to shop local. Too busy buying crap at auctions that I'll never use. Speaking of which I bought a brand new 3 point hitch 7' blade yesterday, forgot about the 2 that I have on my fence line. Guess I better sell them as soon as the snow melts or she will see them.

 

[JeffHK454]

You've got to understand hydraulic shops don't make money selling a single line or fitting to a guy working on splitter....they keep a ton a stuff in house for businesses who don't care about shopping around and aren't looking to save $30-$40.

I've worked for a couple large hyd. shops who offer 24/7/365 service and can diagnose and repair any hyd/pneu problem with minimum downtime.

Custom work on specific hyd. components can be expensive and the shops I've worked at didn't have price breaks for Joe customer off the street.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

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I see that a lot around me too. Some of those shops deal with big companies that don't price anything out, they just want it now. Having a line down is REAL expensive when people are sitting. The people who pay the bills in accounting think a fitting is to get your clothes right so there is no check system in place. They just put it in the repair column and go on. There comes a point where "big" is not better in a business but it has become that everywhere. Local Parker store here will no longer crimp a fitting on an old hose, they say due to liability. Thanks lawyers! I can see crimping machine sales are going to increase with that. Doesn't take long to pay for itself when dealing with long hoses that just need an end/swivel replaced.

Ran into that earlier this week. Had a stick poke through the cover of the head of the delimber and break the fitting off a small hose. The hose just feeds hydraulic oil to some sort of accumulator that pressurizes the bar oil tank.
Line was only 3 yrs old, still looked new and was plenty long. Tried to get a new fitting and that was "crazy talk" $48 for a new hose vs $10 for a fitting.

That was at NAPA, gonna try a few other places. A waste to throw out a usable hose!

We spend probably 3-4k a year on hoses and fittings. The big hoses the run along the top of the boom on the delimber only last a couple years at best, they are 40 something feet each.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

You've got to understand hydraulic shops don't make money selling a single line or fitting to a guy working on splitter....they keep a ton a stuff in house for businesses who don't care about shopping around and aren't looking to save $30-$40.

I've worked for a couple large hyd. shops who offer 24/7/365 service and can diagnose and repair any hyd/pneu problem with minimum downtime.

Custom work on specific hyd. components can be expensive and the shops I've worked at didn't have price breaks for Joe customer off the street.

I guess I'm old school. Guys who work on stuff sometimes have day jobs at companies that have big dollar accounts and if they are treated with respect they tend to use those places. I know I do that with friends and such and several of those guys were head on maintenance or shop forum. I try to treat others the same, no matter who they are. Like I said, old school. You never know for sure who you are dealing with or what they will be in the future.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Ran into that earlier this week. Had a stick poke through the cover of the head of the delimber and break the fitting off a small hose. The hose just feeds hydraulic oil to some sort of accumulator that pressurizes the bar oil tank.
Line was only 3 yrs old, still looked new and was plenty long. Tried to get a new fitting and that was "crazy talk" $48 for a new hose vs $10 for a fitting.

That was at NAPA, gonna try a few other places. A waste to throw out a usable hose!

We spend probably 3-4k a year on hoses and fittings. The big hoses the run along the top of the boom on the delimber only last a couple years at best, they are 40 something feet each.

I had a 70 ft hose on our manlift give way at the basket knuckle due to UV and bending. It was on the rotater so it was not a critical line. I ended up using a short hose i had here and a screw on field repair link. I haven't had any issues with them. I'll post a link if you're not aware of them.

https://www.autohaulersupply.com/ca...4OVu9xrMXGn0Ei0NFXvDp0195i7XQ4oI0IxoCcmTw_wcB

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I had a 90 ft hose on our manlift give way at the basket knuckle due to UV and bending. It was on the rotater so it was not a critical line. I ended up using a short hose i had here and a screw on field repair link. I haven't had any issues with them. I'll post a link if you're not aware of them.

https://www.autohaulersupply.com/ca...4OVu9xrMXGn0Ei0NFXvDp0195i7XQ4oI0IxoCcmTw_wcB

The long hoses roll over pulleys as the boom goes in and out. Tried uses a coupler once, it didn't last.

 

[woodworker501]

I used those quick repair couplings before, along with swivel ends. The nice thing about them is you can reuse them. Well, most all my purchases are off the internet. That includes the big box stores.

 

[duckman]

Thanks, I checked on the Belzona, and it was over $100. The more I look at the rod, there is a lot of pitting like it was extended and left out in the weather. The more I think about it, my splitting is done for awhile, and I may just go with the 4 1/2 x 2 cyl.

DHT has 4" cylinders for $150.00 bucks.

 

[woodworker501]

DHT? what is that?

 

[duckman]

DHT? what is that?

dirty hands tools, the sponser

 

[woodworker501]

oh Ok, thanks

 

[cantoo]

JeffhHK454, I do understand that but I also look after most of the purchases for our highway tractors and trailers. We have 5 highway tractors, 5 custom built trailers that have hydraulic lifts ( approx. 400' of lines, 7 cylinders and 2 pumps on each) with 3 forklifts and multiple hydraulic systems in our factory. We're the 2nd biggest employer in town. I drove in with a company lettered truck. They won't get any business from us now. Granted the company I work for is rural based so most of us know the value of a dollar and we don't often waste money. Thread starter doesn't want to spend $350 - 400 to repair a cylinder that can be bought for under $200.

 

[JeffHK454]

JeffhHK454, I do understand that but I also look after most of the purchases for our highway tractors and trailers. We have 5 highway tractors, 5 custom built trailers that have hydraulic lifts ( approx. 400' of lines, 7 cylinders and 2 pumps on each) with 3 forklifts and multiple hydraulic systems in our factory. We're the 2nd biggest employer in town. I drove in with a company lettered truck. They won't get any business from us now. Granted the company I work for is rural based so most of us know the value of a dollar and we don't often waste money. Thread starter doesn't want to spend $350 - 400 to repair a cylinder that can be bought for under $200.

And that's why I suggested fixing the nicked rod with epoxy...moral of the story is ..don't take throwaway parts in to be rebuilt!

It's been almost 10 years since I built custom hyd. components and back then our shop rate was $90 a hour and when you add in the cost of hard chrome rod stock and new seals you're gonna have $350 in replacing a rod in 4.5x24 ram.

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

And that's why I suggested fixing the nicked rod with epoxy...moral of the story is ..don't take throwaway parts in to be rebuilt!

It's been almost 10 years since I built custom hyd. components and back then our shop rate was $90 a hour and when you add in the cost of hard chrome rod stock and new seals you're gonna have $350 in replacing a rod in 4.5x24 ram.

I suggested the same, then he came back that the rod was pitted/rusted. THAT's a whole different can of worms. He didn't give us all the info at the start. Bottom line, buy another cylinder when that is the case.

 

[muddstopper]

A new 1.75x24in rod will cost about $50-$75. The hyd shop then has to thread the end to accept the piston nut and the other end for a clevis or weld the clevis on. Seals about $30 or so. The cost in rebuilding the cyl is in the labor, not the parts. I paid $150 to replace the rod on my old fel. Dealer price was $700 for a new cyl. For a universal fit replacment cyl, bargains can be had if one looks, Specialty cyl, it is a whole new other matter. Its a special fit cyl and the dealer knows it and you cant just replace it with off the shelf parts. A hyd shp can tell a universal cyl from a speciaty cyl also, they know what replacement cost is new and I feel they adjust repair cost to reflect the price difference between ordinary and specialty. I know I had a electric motor repair shop adjusted his prices on a electric motor I needed rebuilt. He even made the comment that it would be a very high dollar motor to replace if I bought a new one. His rebuild price was half the cost of new. He used off the shelve parts to fix it. Kind of makes you want to choke the stink out of someone, but if you need it, you need it, so what do you do other than payup.