Detent valve lifespan?

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Brettl

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I have a DHT 28 ton splitter. It's been a great one but theres a few things that need done.Is there a ball park number of hours that a valve should be looked at for repair or replacement? The seals in the cylinder have gone out so I'll have it apart anyway. Are there other things I should look at? Thanks
 
I have a DHT 28 ton splitter. It's been a great one but theres a few things that need done.Is there a ball park number of hours that a valve should be looked at for repair or replacement? The seals in the cylinder have gone out so I'll have it apart anyway. Are there other things I should look at? Thanks
How old? How many cords a year?
 
You should be good other than leaking seals, they shouldn’t be bad but sometimes that happens. My 22 ton County Line is 8 years old and 20 cords a year and still going strong. Good luck.
 
that’s only 50 to 100 hours. If the cylinder rod seal is leaking it’s possible that the rod is getting a sideload somehow. that damages the bushing which in turn allows enough clearance to damage the seal.
If the internal seals on the piston are leaking it’s likely that there was damage to the inside of the cylinder tube when it was built or you got a piece of garbage went through and damage something.

The Valve should have an O ring or a lip seal on each end. The center between the ports is just machining clearances. Usually the spool will have to go in/out one direction if it’s a lip seal. If it’s an O ring it maybe can go either way. you have to be careful not to cut the O-ring when installing spool. there may be back up washers around the O-ring.
 
This is my first year with my countyline 40 ton that has split over 50 cords this year with no issues at all. My old Husky 22 ton split 50 cords a year for over 10 years, but I did have to replace the hand valve once and the carb once. No other issues.
 
Had a cross brand valve on a homemade splitter for 30 years handle broke a couple times but the valve was still working when it was removed to install a prince auto cycle valve a few years ago. I have had to adjust that auto cycle valve many times the detent return on the cross just worked with no problems.
 
My cheap valve stopped kicking off after about a year. I disassembled it, and after I located all the ball bearings that flew across my garage, I cleaned everything up, lubed it and put it back together and it is again working the way it originally did.

If it's still working, no sense touching it.
 
I split about 10-12 cord per yr and got about 25 yrs out of my valve. There was a groove in the detent so I just replaced it.
 
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