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D8H ripper wont stay up, oil?

D8HCattle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Northeast
Rebuilt/sealed all four ripper cylinders, adjusted the linkage that the (4 way) accessory lever attaches to, and flushed all of the oil, tank included with SAE 10 cat equivalent. Now the ripper droops and needs to be lifted every other minute. Im leaning more toward oil or linkage. The cylinder tested good and did not droop prior to linkage adjustment or oil change. I have a hard time thinking it was the linkage because all i did was adjust the ball socket at the bottom of the lever so it would be centered in the cutout templet to move the ripper. Or maybe that is the problem, hoping some of yall can weigh in om that but the mechanical engineer in me say its not that. So how bout the oil? Book say use SAE 40 for temps about 90. Im in main… yes it does get above 90 but to that much. Any help ladies and gents would be appreciated. Thank you for your time!
 

Bluox

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Messages
1,960
Location
WA state
Rebuilt/sealed all four ripper cylinders, adjusted the linkage that the (4 way) accessory lever attaches to, and flushed all of the oil, tank included with SAE 10 cat equivalent. Now the ripper droops and needs to be lifted every other minute. Im leaning more toward oil or linkage. The cylinder tested good and did not droop prior to linkage adjustment or oil change. I have a hard time thinking it was the linkage because all i did was adjust the ball socket at the bottom of the lever so it would be centered in the cutout templet to move the ripper. Or maybe that is the problem, hoping some of yall can weigh in om that but the mechanical engineer in me say its not that. So how bout the oil? Book say use SAE 40 for temps about 90. Im in main… yes it does get above 90 but to that much. Any help ladies and gents would be appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Logic says look at the last thing you fixed before the problem started so redo linkage .
Oil is 10w up to 130 degrees'.
Did you check cylinders since this problem started?
Bob
 

D8HCattle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Northeast
Welcome to HEF, D8HCattle !

Thank you all!

I’ll reset the linkage and go from there. Guess there must be some worn out ball sockets under the tank. I am a little baffled why that would do it but it is an easy fix. There is no movement on that linkage unless i move the lever and it is a simple pivot set up. Then again cat engineers are a lot smarter than me. Ill update.
 

nicky 68a

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
1,164
Location
england
As stated above,I wonder why you went in there in the first place?I guess it wasn’t for the fun of it.
 

epirbalex

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
554
Location
Akitio
Occupation
peasant
Here's a link that may help you
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/1119/hydraulic-cylinder-drift
I think you may have damaged a relief valve or assembled it incorrectly on one of the pistons . I've got into the habit of taking photos when I disassemble gear , easy to go back and check . Helps when you are not able to keep working on a job . Of course, if the controls are not hooked up right there will be flow . That should be where you start to troubleshoot
 

D8HCattle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Northeast
As stated above,I wonder why you went in there in the first place?I guess it wasn’t for the fun of it.

ripper was off machine for a while, due to bad seals. No sense putting it back together with only the insurance of some cylinders being good for a while, so i had all rebuilt. The oil flush should seem self explanatory. The linkage adjustment was to take slop out. I figured thats one reason why there is linkage adjustment. Some suspect its the linkage so that what ill undue and go from there.
 

D8HCattle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Messages
47
Location
Northeast
Here's a link that may help you
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/1119/hydraulic-cylinder-drift
I think you may have damaged a relief valve or assembled it incorrectly on one of the pistons . I've got into the habit of taking photos when I disassemble gear , easy to go back and check . Helps when you are not able to keep working on a job . Of course, if the controls are not hooked up right there will be flow . That should be where you start to troubleshoot

thank you for the link!.. i do the same. Took pictures, label everything with permanent marker and numbered tape. Not my first rodeo, made that mistake long ago, don't need that headache again.
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
29,311
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Do you have (or can you get hold of) an infra-red temp gun.?
If so raise the ripper fully up at just off Low Idle RPM and hold the lever in the raise position. Point the temp gun at the approximate position of the piston in the cylinder, first on one cylinder, then the other. Keep switching back and forth from one cylinder to the other. Do you see a significant temp rise.? If you do then the piston seals on that cylinder are suspect. If you don't then you need to be looking elsewhere.
 

Puffie40

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2010
Messages
208
Location
Southeastern B.C.
Huh - that's interesting. In my area SAE32 seems to be the standard go-to for most hydraulic applications, but if thats what the manual wants, then it should be fine.

Cyilinders leaking down usually means either your piston packings are worn, or something is wrong with the valve spool.

You say you rebuilt the cyilinders. Did that include the piston packings? Nige's test will tell you if the cyilinders are at fault, or if you need to move up to your valve bank for the next round of troubleshooting.
 
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