Small "nick" in splitter ram, how to fix

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jvpski

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I have a Swisher Log Splitter that a friend put a nick in the Ram with an ax. It is quite small nick but look like it has a small leak. Does anyone know how to repair it. I don't want to replace the whole ram. It is a fairly new Swisher splitter.

Thanks
 
Is the spot where the ax hit chipped of or did the nick raise the surrounding metal?
Use a straight edge to check.
Picture?
 
.If it has a bur he may of already cut the seal.

What we do is give it a light file to remove the bur then use metal putty to fill the hole. Once dry give it a light file to bring it down close to the level of the chrome. Then polish it up with a very fine file to make it smooth. I use a points file, I think its called that because people used it to clean up the points in there cars distributor.
I have done this twice to mining excavators when they some times hit the back of the truck trays while loading. The trick is to file it straight away before retracting the cylinder.
 
Use a mill or flat bastard file to level the nick. The chrome is very hard... either file will knock the high spot down. That's all you'll be able to do IMO.
 
If it has a small leak, the seal in the cylinder has already been cut. As for the ram, you could try a very fine file, or emery cloth to try to bring it down to 'even" with the rod.
 
my question is how does one go about hitting a ram accidently with an axe?

i'm trying to think of some scenario of using an axe around a ram........??
 
Thanks for the notes and did as suggested so I think I am in good shape.

As far as what happened, he was splitting sycamore and it was stringy and I guess he went to split it further and used an ax to lightly tap it and bingo. At any rate, it seems to be ok.
 
It's pretty common practice to use a hatchet or hand axe to sever "stringers" after the split stroke is complete. Yeah, elm is notorious for being stringy. I'm still trying to envision a stringer that far up the log, though... upstream of the wedge?
 
As far as what happened, he was splitting sycamore and it was stringy and I guess he went to split it further and used an ax to lightly tap it and bingo.

Come on, this crowd wants to know about the rabid Squirrel that suddenly came charging and had to be fended off with an axe...we'se like a good story :popcorn: Never let the boring truth stand in the way of an entertaining tale.
 
Come on, this crowd wants to know about the rabid Squirrel that suddenly came charging and had to be fended off with an axe...we'se like a good story :popcorn: Never let the boring truth stand in the way of an entertaining tale.

He has this new super hot girlfriend and she happened to come by while he was trying to get the ram out of the elm. She just opened the door of her car and let those high heels onto the ground, to expose those hot legs only covered by a mini skirt. And in that moment a physiological reaction happend that the blood in the body got diverted from the brain to another part. So the axe just fell out of his hand.

Ok! Ok! I'm getting kind of carried away. But who could be angry about that? :laugh:

Hope it polishes out nicely!

7
 
He has this new super hot girlfriend and she happened to come by while he was trying to get the ram out of the elm. She just opened the door of her car and let those high heels onto the ground, to expose those hot legs only covered by a mini skirt. And in that moment a physiological reaction happend that the blood in the body got diverted from the brain to another part. So the axe just fell out of his hand.

Ok! Ok! I'm getting kind of carried away. But who could be angry about that? :laugh:

Hope it polishes out nicely!

7

lol...nice try, but, i doubt some "super hot chick in high heels and a mini-skirt" would be around someone splitting wood.....uinless she was being paid to show up.

:)

nice fantasy tho.....when i'm splitting wood, i fantasize about some young chick stopping by and saying "hey..... let me do all that for you and you can take a break".

unfortunately, never happens....not even a guy shows up and says that!!

:hmm3grin2orange:
 
The best way to repair the nick is to leave it the way it is at first. Tig weld to fill the nick in. Then use a flat bastard file to smooth it out. Then take a good fine stone to it with some cutting oil or wd40. If the nick has ruined the seal, then you will need a new seal..

If the nick is too bad then take the cylinder to a hydraulic machine shop and have them machine you a new cylinder.
 
i'd just smooth it out with emory cloth and leave it be. the only time it MIGHT leak is when that small section passes the cylinder seal....and the amount of leakage is going to be so minimal you won't even notice it.

unless, of course, if the "nik" is a gouge.
 
I have a Swisher Log Splitter that a friend put a nick in the Ram with an ax. It is quite small nick but look like it has a small leak. Does anyone know how to repair it. I don't want to replace the whole ram. It is a fairly new Swisher splitter.

Thanks

I'm a hydraulics technician i've seen many people try to file the crome, all I can say is don't... Use a small fine grade stone to take the high spots off and that's it. If you are very game on bigger dents we use a hammer to punch back the high spot then stone the high spots. Hope this helps
 
If the nick is too bad then take the cylinder to a hydraulic machine shop and have them machine you a new cylinder.[/QUOTE]

What?
 
If the nick is too bad then take the cylinder to a hydraulic machine shop and have them machine you a new cylinder.

What?[/QUOTE]

If the shaft is damaged beyond repair a hydraulic machine shop can tear the cylinder apart and replace the shaft with a new one. Don't go to Swisher to buy a new cylinder. A picture would better help us out.
 

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