At times I am a bit gunshy when it comes to working on a piece of equipment. I sheared off the bolt holding the wedge on to the ram. BTDT This time when I got the broken bolt out the holes in the ram weren't lining up with the holes on the wedge, the ram seemed to have turned a bit. Not having much experience with working on hydraulics I was leery of trying to spin the ram. Spinning the ram was the only way line up the holes for the bolt. I stuck a rod thru the hole on the ram and gave it a little spin, just enough to allow me to put in the new bolt. If there are others here with limited working knowledge of hydraulics, knowing something like it being OK to spin the ram to allow for alignment of holes may come in handy.
Well you got me wondering so I googled it. From the couple articles I checked out they seem to just rotate as part of their design. https://www.quora.com/Why-does-a-hydraulic-cylinder-piston-rod-rotate-while-working
X3 You did just fine. Leverage has been used to fix many millions of pieces of equipment. Congrats on the diy. Makes ya feel all good inside, doesn't it?
I didn't know if I would mess up any seals in it or not and I wasn't in a position to stop and do a lot of research. It was hot out today and I wanted to finish what I had started. Thanks for the reassurance.
Do you know why the bolt broke? It shouldn't see a whole lot of stress if things are designed & working normally - mainly should just be bringing the wedge back with the ram when retracting. Unless the wedge is binding on the beam a bit or something like that. Or I suppose getting it jammed in a split really bad then trying to unjam it by backing it up against stops.
I usually break one every few years. It maybe nothing more than fatigue. The bolt usually breaks right by the beginning of the threads. I would like to find a 4 inch long hardened bolt, 1/2 inch thick with a 3/4 head with only about 3/4inch of thread instead of the inch and a quarter I am using now.
Has anyone used a piece of steel rod in place of a bolt to hold the wedge onto the ram? In my mind, you would need an appropriate length of rod with a hole thru it on each end to accomodate a cotter pin. Maybe I am out of my mind
Most steel rod isn't as strong as a bolt. What you want is a higher strength Grade 5 or 8 bolt. An ordinary Grade 2 bolt has a plain head, a Grade 5 has 3 "spokes" on the head and a Grade 8 has 6 "spokes". See this page. McMaster-Carr This link isn't taking me to the right place. You might find marked heads if you click around a bit. Pull strength for 1/2"bolts, Grade 2 - 5,840 lb. Grade 5 - 9,050 lb Grade 8 - 12,750 lb Grade 9 - Overkill Try a truck or farm machinery dealer if you can't get good bolts at a hardware store.
That's what I did on mine. Someone had a bolt (a little long), and would occasionally catch on the wood being split. I put a steel rod in it, and welded a flat washer on each side. If I need to remove it, I figure I can grind it as fast as I could have taken it off with a ratchet lol.
Replace it with the same grade bolt. It's designed that way so the bolt shears/wears instead of the ram end or the wedge plate wearing or cracking . Bolts are cheap . Keep a spare around. If you're shearing them frequently then something else is off in the linkage.
