Old old Didier splitter leaking from piston; diagnosis and repair cost?

[tomgabriele]

It's an old machine that was my neighbor's grandfathers. Great motor on it, still starts first pull.

But I think it's due for new rod and/or piston seals. Get a steady drizzle of fluid out from between the rod and barrel when retracting, or a full on squirt when it hits the stop for the auto-retract. It sounds like any OEM seal kits are long gone, so it'll be taking it into a hydraulics shop to have them match up parts. Should I leave the dis/re-assembly to the pros too, or do these old pistons come apart pretty easily? Then what should I figure for the repair cost, something in the couple hundred dollar range? Realistically, I'll pay whatever it takes since it's my neighbor's machine that failed while I was using it (regardless of whether anything was actually my fault), but just want a general idea what to expect.

Does anything about my diagnosis, prognosis, or expected cost seem off to anyone?

Thanks

 

[capetrees]

It's an old machine that was my neighbor's grandfathers. Great motor on it, still starts first pull.

But I think it's due for new rod and/or piston seals. Get a steady drizzle of fluid out from between the rod and barrel when retracting, or a full on squirt when it hits the stop for the auto-retract. It sounds like any OEM seal kits are long gone, so it'll be taking it into a hydraulics shop to have them match up parts. Should I leave the dis/re-assembly to the pros too, or do these old pistons come apart pretty easily? Then what should I figure for the repair cost, something in the couple hundred dollar range? Realistically, I'll pay whatever it takes since it's my neighbor's machine that failed while I was using it (regardless of whether anything was actually my fault), but just want a general idea what to expect.

Does anything about my diagnosis, prognosis, or expected cost seem off to anyone?

Thanks

I wouldn't take it apart trying to fix the rings with just the parts. Let the pros disassemble and inspect. Maybe the rod is scored by something. Maybe it's something simple. They'll know before I would know and I wouldn't want to spend the money on parts when the piston was scored.

 

[tomgabriele]

In-progress update: called a local hydraulics shop, they said to pull the whole piston rather than bring the whole machine, which was for the best...no way those old wheels are safe on the road anymore. The piston came off easily, mercifully. Two U-bolts and two flanged compression connections for the hydraulics, then just manually pump the rod to dump the hydraulic fluid into a catch basin. Barely spilled a drop.

The shop's ballpark estimate is $100-200, and they should have it done in a day or two.

My next question will be about reassembly. I'll just bolt everything back up, fill the hydraulic oil reservoir, then start cycling the piston (while topping off the reservoir as necessary) and it will work the air out on its own, right? Or is there some kind of priming procedure I need to follow?

 

[capetrees]

In-progress update: called a local hydraulics shop, they said to pull the whole piston rather than bring the whole machine, which was for the best...no way those old wheels are safe on the road anymore. The piston came off easily, mercifully. Two U-bolts and two flanged compression connections for the hydraulics, then just manually pump the rod to dump the hydraulic fluid into a catch basin. Barely spilled a drop.

The shop's ballpark estimate is $100-200, and they should have it done in a day or two.

My next question will be about reassembly. I'll just bolt everything back up, fill the hydraulic oil reservoir, then start cycling the piston (while topping off the reservoir as necessary) and it will work the air out on its own, right? Or is there some kind of priming procedure I need to follow?

I just changed all the fluid and filter in my splitter. Instructions show to fill it to full mark first, disconnect the spark plug and pull the engine to circulate the fluid a bit, re-connect the spark plug, start it and cycle the splitting ram full cycle 12 times to get the air out. You probably only dropped a small amount of fluid in the change so check for fluid, full cycle it a few times and the re-check the fluid level.

 

[tomgabriele]

Ah, nice. Thank you. Just pull the wire off the plug to keep it from sparking, and not pull the plug itself to relieve the compression, right?

You're right that I didn't lose much fluid, but I think I'm going to do a full change now. The fluid in it could very well be 40 years old; no one still living knows the last time it was changed.

 

[capetrees]

Ah, nice. Thank you. Just pull the wire off the plug to keep it from sparking, and not pull the plug itself to relieve the compression, right?

You're right that I didn't lose much fluid, but I think I'm going to do a full change now. The fluid in it could very well be 40 years old; no one still living knows the last time it was changed.

yes, so the engine doesn't turn over