jhedmonton
Member
I am new to this, but just bought a Hitachi EX150-1991 excavator. It is leaking from 2 of the boom cylinders. What kind of effort and cost is involved to get them sealed?
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Hitachi EX150 cylinder leaking
- Thread starter jhedmonton
- Start date
I am new to this, but just bought a Hitachi EX150-1991 excavator. It is leaking from 2 of the boom cylinders. What kind of effort and cost is involved to get them sealed?
Dave Neubert
Senior Member
if you take it to a hyd shop 150-200 for kit and a couple hundred per cyl to pack. The nut on the back of the piston is several thousand lbs of torque so if you don't have a means of breaking it you will have send it out. I have a 48 inch pipe wrench and use another piece of equipment to break them loose
Biggest cost will be labour.
For those size cylinders I’d estimate $500-600 usd.
Buy genuine seal pack, I wouldn’t trust Chinese aftermarket.
To get cylinders off machine all you need is a strong piece of rope or strap long enough to attach to top of cylinder rod, run over the boom and down to a suitable weight bearing device. In my case I used a tractor tow hitch. You could use a winch or better still a chain block above the machine. What ever method you need a way of safely lowering cylinder down.
Before you do anything take hydraulic pressure out of the cylinders. If machine had been sitting a while should be fine, if has been running turn off a jiggle joysticks for a while. I did this but then let sit over night before cracking the hydraulic lines as I didn’t want an eye full of hydraulic oil.
Fix (lasso) said strap/rope and tension up, knock boom pin out half way so it still supports the other cylinder. Lower gently onto supporting beams (ideally wood planks) strewn across the tracks. I dropped mine straight into my Ute tray, but if you do it this way park machine perpendicular to the tracks, like you would be side-loading. Get Ute alongside tracks as close as possible.
Crack hydraulic lines and have plenty of containers to catch the oil. I shoved a hose in the oil port and then into a bucket a slowly pushed cylinder rod back into barrel thus draining the oil. Go slow otherwise you’ll have oil going everywhere. Having 2nd person as support will be much desired.
Once oil purged, knock out bottom pins and jimmy cylinder out.
wear gloves and have plenty of odd sized small planks of wood to use a supports.
To reinstall fix cylinder back in place, bottom pins in and hydraulic lines connected. Measure distance between cylinder barrel eye and boom pin bushing. With both cylinders connected, turn on machine, idle rate only and gently push rod out to measured distance so that when lifted back up you can drive the pin in. Have another person on tape measure, save you getting in and out of machine.
There’s probably better ways to do this but this method worked for me with the tools I had.
For those size cylinders I’d estimate $500-600 usd.
Buy genuine seal pack, I wouldn’t trust Chinese aftermarket.
To get cylinders off machine all you need is a strong piece of rope or strap long enough to attach to top of cylinder rod, run over the boom and down to a suitable weight bearing device. In my case I used a tractor tow hitch. You could use a winch or better still a chain block above the machine. What ever method you need a way of safely lowering cylinder down.
Before you do anything take hydraulic pressure out of the cylinders. If machine had been sitting a while should be fine, if has been running turn off a jiggle joysticks for a while. I did this but then let sit over night before cracking the hydraulic lines as I didn’t want an eye full of hydraulic oil.
Fix (lasso) said strap/rope and tension up, knock boom pin out half way so it still supports the other cylinder. Lower gently onto supporting beams (ideally wood planks) strewn across the tracks. I dropped mine straight into my Ute tray, but if you do it this way park machine perpendicular to the tracks, like you would be side-loading. Get Ute alongside tracks as close as possible.
Crack hydraulic lines and have plenty of containers to catch the oil. I shoved a hose in the oil port and then into a bucket a slowly pushed cylinder rod back into barrel thus draining the oil. Go slow otherwise you’ll have oil going everywhere. Having 2nd person as support will be much desired.
Once oil purged, knock out bottom pins and jimmy cylinder out.
wear gloves and have plenty of odd sized small planks of wood to use a supports.
To reinstall fix cylinder back in place, bottom pins in and hydraulic lines connected. Measure distance between cylinder barrel eye and boom pin bushing. With both cylinders connected, turn on machine, idle rate only and gently push rod out to measured distance so that when lifted back up you can drive the pin in. Have another person on tape measure, save you getting in and out of machine.
There’s probably better ways to do this but this method worked for me with the tools I had.
Tugger2
Senior Member
Take some time before you start to find the proper fittings to cap the lines and the cylinder ports. You can whip a cap or a plug on a line a lot quicker than chasing leaking oil and it has the added benefit of keeping dirt out of important places. Then you will only need one bucket.
jhedmonton
Member
THANKS guys! Dealer has no seal packs in stock, cost per kit CAD$ 950.-... expensive but Hitachi
That’s a ridiculous price. I’d shop around. My genuine Volvo kit for a bigger machine than yours was 1/3 of that price delivered to my door.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
I'd strongly suggest talking to Sterling Hydraulics in Edmonton. They got into doing cylinders a few years ago and do a lot of work for the oilsands. They have been by far the best to deal with for hose, steel lines, fittings, cylinders and custom making some swing post pins. Any reputable cylinder shop will warranty their work and pressure test the cylinders. Beware that some shops will try to pad the bill for stuff you don't necessarily require. Some depends on how you are using the machine. If it's a full time production machine by all means do a complete cylinder overhaul. A farm machine with weeping seals may only require seals, visible inspection and/or light polishing. I wouldn't worry too much about OEM seals if they are $950 a set. There are some good aftermarket seals that will likely drop a zero of that price. I took the rods from my 4 in 1 bucket in just to have the seals replaced. I was fine they couldn't warranty them because I only brought the rods. They said the rods looked good and charged me $95 each for the seal kits and an hour labour each to change them. Obviously a little more time to take the complete cylinders in but they've always been very reasonable and I don't think would add stuff that isn't required. They have a 5 star review online.
Home - Stirling Hydraulic
Home - Stirling Hydraulic
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jhedmonton
Member
Thanks. Will definitely give them a call. Called Brand Tractors, basically same pricing. Online aftermarkets kits are around USD $ 50.- to 100.- ! https://tornadoparts.com/products/john-deere-at192075-hydraulic-cylinder-seal-kit 2nd partno is AT194335 at USD 102.-: https://tornadoparts.com/products/john-deere-at194335-hydraulic-cylinder-seal-kit
Does anybody have experience with these aftermarket kits? Really don't want to save at the wrong place here, but 900.- for a seal kit seems HIGH.
Welder Dave
Senior Member
Sterling had their own seal kits for my Cat but don't know where they get them from. Hercules are generally good and there's some other good aftermarket seals too. They have their own branded hose too. If OEM seals were around $200/kit I'd consider them. $900 for that size machine is ridiculously high.
jhedmonton
Member
Pricing on herculesca.ca are MUCH better. CAD$ 287 for BOTH seals. Thanks!!