We have been having problems with the stick cylinder on a cat 385, it worked well up to 4500 hrs after that its been failing repeatedly, we have had it repaired it fails again. Does any one know what would be causing these failures?
Worink in a high impact application, like rock excavation, will make the cylinder "bounce" up and down, fatigueing the metals, and leading to early failure. Poor operators tend to magnify the chances of this happening.
Might be a good idea to include an ISO Cleanliness Code test in your oil sampling, assuming you do SOS sampling. You should be aiming for ISO 18/15 or better. If the dealer does the repair for you insist that they bring a portable oil recovery unit and a particle counter to site with them and show you what the system cleanliness is before you finally sign off on the job. Also make sure whoever is doing the repair does a full system check & clean out. Not quick or cheap but prevents things like this.We stripped and checked the cylinder today. Looks like might have been a bit a contamination from the previous failure, maybe a good lesson for anyone with this type of failure make sure you clean your system or you might experience a very expensive repeat failure.