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Aftermarket hydraulic seal kits vs OEM?

fastline

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
1,104
Location
OK
Looking for experiences here. I need to do a boom cylinder in a CAT excavator. I very much realize CAT does not make seals, just put their name on them, but I also don't want to gamble on inferior junk. I have built dozens of cylinders by spec'ing the seals and ordering each seal through a quality aftermarket. But on this boom, I really need to just get a kit so I don't lose down time measuring and ordering.

Costex is one aftermarket I feel good with but there are other seal kits out there even cheaper and I wonder if they are decent. I am not trying to penny this thing out, but I also don't like paying for a name.
 

cosmaar1

Senior Member
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
509
Location
Ohio
Looking for experiences here. I need to do a boom cylinder in a CAT excavator. I very much realize CAT does not make seals, just put their name on them, but I also don't want to gamble on inferior junk. I have built dozens of cylinders by spec'ing the seals and ordering each seal through a quality aftermarket. But on this boom, I really need to just get a kit so I don't lose down time measuring and ordering.

Costex is one aftermarket I feel good with but there are other seal kits out there even cheaper and I wonder if they are decent. I am not trying to penny this thing out, but I also don't like paying for a name.
Hercules
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
Yeah, Hercules or Bulldog. They might be the same and have good reviews. Would be good to compare the price with Cat though. The Cat seals will be of high quality but might be quite a bit more $$$$. Only a little more just go with Cat if they can get them quicker.
 

sfrs4

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2013
Messages
683
Location
Great Britian
Occupation
parts admin
Rule of thumb when buying anything, don't buy the most expensive, they're just ripping you off. Don't buy the cheapest, they're just making it to a price and the quality isn't there, buy the one in the middle of the price range, most often a company that produces the product for the expensive company but doesn't put brand names all over everything and then charge for the privilege
 

wlhequipment

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
489
Location
Sheridan, CO
Occupation
Mechanic
More and more these days, I'm finding aftermarket stuff is just a gamble. I have no particular experience with this cylinder, just a comment in general.
 

rmllarue91

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Messages
701
Location
northeast pa
Occupation
field technician
Did you price kit from cat i don't pay alot of attention to parts prices but i feel cat kits are well priced unlike komastu and Deere.... A days down time and labor got to be worth more than 3-500 bucks.... Post serial number and I'll look up kit and head bushing.
 

rmllarue91

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Messages
701
Location
northeast pa
Occupation
field technician
Had one last year bought aftermarket swing motor for 6k vs 12k from cat for first 3 months we thought we got a deal. Now what buy another 6k one hope it's better or pony up 12k for OEM. If you can't afford to do it right how you going to afford to do wrong.... Been working on more Deere and komastu lately and i can tell you i hope they are cheaper when you buy them because they aren't cheaper to fix.
 
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