They look pretty good. No scouring, there is some wavy type wear at the end of the barrel toward the front . I just pulled the rams out the front. Removing the cylinders completely would be challenging. I feel pretty sure the seal kits will make an amazing difference considering how bad the old ones were.
So, for you Rayco owners out there, How do you know when the seal kits are on their way out?
Looking back, I now see that this has been a very gradual progression toward failure. It started with the cutter head speed varying on the uphill cut while on an uneven surface side to side. I always choose the most level approach but sometimes you don't have options. I started noticing a loss of power on the final cut when the head was in the lower position. This is also the only time the stump is contacting the bottom of the cutter wheel. Where I used to be able to force the wheel into the cut enough to bog the motor, now the swing would slow and continue slowly through the cut. My rear blade was slooowly dropping while cutting. The swing and the rear blade share the same lever/hydraulic circuit . I'm pretty sure the blade will no longer drop after the cylinders are repaired. I could be wrong, but that cylinder gets used so little compared to the swing cylinders. I can't see it also needing a seal kit. My final day running it was an 8 hour day, same address. The last stump was like a monkey humping a football. The swing speed control could hardly be used. I would need to have it in one position for left swing, another for right. No power in the cut. When I was not in the cut, I could see the cutter head moving to the side and I was not doing it. The oil bypassing the seal was so bad, when the machine was off, I could move the swing just by pushing on it.
Now I know that I had MONTHS of warning signs. Had I listened to what my sweet machine was trying to tell me, I could have made this repair when I had nothing going on in January... But nooo, I'm doing it now when I have $2,000 worth of work waiting for me. A job that is too big for my back-up machine. Fortunately the customer is waiting for me.
Grind on my friends!
