Caterpillar Quick Attach Hydraulic cylinder replacement

[Hammerhead]

Hello,

It looks like both of my quick attach cylinders are frozen. The actuator button works fine, the hoses are good and there is hydraulic fluid movement, I can literally see the hose jerk when I actuate the button.
I removed them both today and cannot get either one to budge. And I mean no movement on the pistons. Drained out the hydraulic fluid and tried compressed air, nothing.
I tried putting a breaker in the eyelet on the piston and pulling the cylinder with it under my feet, not a fraction of an inch movement.

They do not leak and the seals look pretty good. The hydraulic fluid was clean that I drained out.
This is a 262C, 2008 model. It looks like the stamping on the hydraulic cylinders are from the same year. The model number on the cylinder is 192-2640 CNG L01. Cat Parts.com wants $422 EACH for these 8 inch long cylinders.
Does anyone know of a reputable rebuild vendor, or someplace I can obtain affordable aftermarket cylinders? There did not appear to be a rebuild kit for these.
Or, any other ideas to break these free?

Thank you for reading.

 

[Nige]

Try Offroad Equipment. www.offroadeq.com/

 

[Cmark]

If they are truly seized and you're really desperate to free them up you could chain them to something solid and give them a tug with the machine, or maybe adapt a grease gun to the head-end port fitting; a grease gun will make 10000psi which will either kill it or cure it.

On the other hand, what do you call affordable? $422 seems reasonable to me. How much would you want to set too and fabricate one of these cylinders? Fair enough, the cost of material isn't much but at a hundred bucks/hour, it would take more than four hours I'm sure.

 

[Nige]

I'd agree with CM. Make a hookup for a grease gun and try "greasing" them to get them to move.
Another question comes to mind. Did the performance of these cylinders deteriorate over time or have they not been used for a long time and when you came to use them they simply wouldn't move..?

 

[mikebramel]

Very strange. Tubes don't look dented. The rods look good, no corrosion. If the machine had the force to retract them, it should have plenty to extend them as the piston area is bigger. Did you try reversing the hose connection with the cylinder pins un attached?

AND DO NOT EVER TOUCH /HOLD ONTO /GET INTO THE PATH OF ANY CYLINDER AS YOU ARE FILLING IT WITH AIR