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Re-packing Boom Cylinder on 230 JD

jlittle2212

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Dec 8, 2013
Messages
219
Location
The Mountains
What would be the quickest way to complete? This is in a field enviornment with no shop in sight! :Banghead

Any suggestions?
 

Paul Six

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Apr 8, 2014
Messages
69
Location
Belgium
I think a john deere excavator is made by Hitachi , we don't have John Deere here in Europe but we have Hitachi and we send the Cylinders to our dealer because you really need a torque bench to screw the piston off safely
 

excavator

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Oct 16, 2006
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Pacific North West
jlittle2212, what is your line of work? Owner, operator, mechanic? Just curious. As far as repacking excavator cylinders, the nut holding the piston on is torqued to somewhere over 6000 lbs. And it is not a standard 6 sided nut so I don't believe you will find a socket to fit it. Pretty specialized work which could get hazardous real quick. Search the forums and you will find threads that showed ways of doing this in the field but unless you are very mechanically inclined I would not recommend trying it.
 

jlittle2212

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Dec 8, 2013
Messages
219
Location
The Mountains
jlittle2212, what is your line of work? Owner, operator, mechanic? Just curious. As far as repacking excavator cylinders, the nut holding the piston on is torqued to somewhere over 6000 lbs. And it is not a standard 6 sided nut so I don't believe you will find a socket to fit it. Pretty specialized work which could get hazardous real quick. Search the forums and you will find threads that showed ways of doing this in the field but unless you are very mechanically inclined I would not recommend trying it.


I am a little owner and mechanic both. It comes with the territory. I understand about the nut. I have had a few problems in the past with them not breaking loose. I just was looking for some insight maybe on machine setup and so on.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,257
Location
North Dakota
Nige has posted pics where they are using a plasma cut wrench, and and excavator pushing the wrench. Looks like all they do is mark the position of the nut, and put it back to there.
 

mrh1966

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Jan 6, 2012
Messages
59
Location
UK
Hi. I have just done this job on an island in the Bahamas. No workshop or specialist tools. I had a 48" pipe wrench and a 10 foot tube to undo the cylinder head, once it has cracked it comes off easy, I pulled the rod out and put it back on the pin on the boom and done the same with the wrench and pipe to remove the nut. I placed the new seals in boiling water to soften them and reversed the proceedure to fit it back together again. I am feeling that if I can undo it that way, I can tighten it as well. When out in the field we have to make do with what we have to hand! Wrench was $90 and was brought over by a friend. Best $90 ever spent!!
 

mrh1966

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Jan 6, 2012
Messages
59
Location
UK
By the way, I forgot the mention it was a CAT 312B 1998. I have picked up the dipper Ram seals and bucket ram seals and will be replacing them when I go out next time.
 

Shimmy1

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North Dakota
Little bit different animals, a Cat 312 compared to a Deere 230. I'd say that nut is at least 50% bigger, maybe more.
 

mrh1966

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Jan 6, 2012
Messages
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UK
Just pointing out that it can be done out of the workshop if you have some appropriate tools with you. Cylinder nut on the CAT was a tad smaller than 6" maybe 5 7/8"
 

Mobiltech

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Jan 14, 2014
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Sask.
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Self employed Heavy duty mechanic
Hi. I have just done this job on an island in the Bahamas. No workshop or specialist tools. I had a 48" pipe wrench and a 10 foot tube to undo the cylinder head, once it has cracked it comes off easy, I pulled the rod out and put it back on the pin on the boom and done the same with the wrench and pipe to remove the nut. I placed the new seals in boiling water to soften them and reversed the proceedure to fit it back together again. I am feeling that if I can undo it that way, I can tighten it as well. When out in the field we have to make do with what we have to hand! Wrench was $90 and was brought over by a friend. Best $90 ever spent!!

Yeah the torque for a 312 boom cylinder is 2600 lb/ft which is probably doable with a pipe wrench. Once you get up in the 6000 lb/ft range you will need to build something a little stronger. Also breaking loose a nut that is torqued to 6000 with a nylock nut may take a lot more than that to break loose.
 

excavator

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I know it's nice to be able operate and repair your own machine but, there are some things that, if you value your life, are best left to others with the correct equipment. If you were on a small island in the South Pacific or the jungles of Brazil would be one thing. But stop and think what would happen if one little thing went wrong while trying to loosen a nut that is loctited on and torqued to 6000+ ft. lbs. Things fly a long ways and a body in the way will not win. Just don't want to see you get hurt. And yes, all Deere excavators since the late 1980's are built by Hitachi, look on the serial number plate on the lower right hand bottom of the cab. Should say right on there built by Hitachi. I'm somewhat amazed how many people own machinery and know so very little about it.
 

jlittle2212

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Dec 8, 2013
Messages
219
Location
The Mountains
I know it's nice to be able operate and repair your own machine but, there are some things that, if you value your life, are best left to others with the correct equipment. If you were on a small island in the South Pacific or the jungles of Brazil would be one thing. But stop and think what would happen if one little thing went wrong while trying to loosen a nut that is loctited on and torqued to 6000+ ft. lbs. Things fly a long ways and a body in the way will not win. Just don't want to see you get hurt. And yes, all Deere excavators since the late 1980's are built by Hitachi, look on the serial number plate on the lower right hand bottom of the cab. Should say right on there built by Hitachi. I'm somewhat amazed how many people own machinery and know so very little about it.

I think the people that are operators/attempt to work on their equipment are trying to make a decent living. Trying to save a few dollars if they can do the fix themselves! ;)
 

Volvomad

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Jul 13, 2011
Messages
476
Location
Ireland
I have done the dipper ram seals on a Hitachi 200-5 twice with a 4 foot pipe wrench and 10 + feet of pipe . The main nut is not a unlock nut , it is locked with a ballbearing and grub screw . The pipe wrench is probably close to its limit at that. It is difficult to secure the rod . I used a wheel loader fork (pike). Don't know how much bigger the cylinder you need to rip is . Seals can be tricky but it is not impossible . A heavy rag over the nut when opening to slow flying debris is a must . Extreme care is needed.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
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North Dakota
As it appears, it has a smaller nut with set screw. Won't be bad at all!

That nut according to the guys, is torqued to 6000 ft/lbs. That would be a thirty foot cheater with 200 lbs on the end. If something slips, which it probably will (see Murphy's Law), somebody is going to pay. I like to do everything I can too, but sometimes you just have to know when it's out of your league.
 

Delmer

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Jan 3, 2013
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WI
To me 6,000 foot pounds is safer than 500. You're not going to be hammering on the end of a pipe wrench for this. You'll make yourself a wrench and operate it from the cab of a machine out of the line of fire.
 

jlittle2212

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Dec 8, 2013
Messages
219
Location
The Mountains
To me 6,000 foot pounds is safer than 500. You're not going to be hammering on the end of a pipe wrench for this. You'll make yourself a wrench and operate it from the cab of a machine out of the line of fire.

lol... same thing i had in mind Delmer. :D
 
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