Ram issue

Blackwater boy

Moderator
06ABE816-C3B0-45CE-AC7E-1E10193092A4.jpeg 96FFD6AA-44DC-44B3-9060-13B0DED7EEB4.jpeg B088F7FC-57AB-40B9-8121-C4A2B86F22DC.jpeg 3232C9DD-99EB-4F26-A55D-A9ED6D169B8A.jpeg The crowd and tilt ram on the loader a 526-56 jcb is giving grief, where the steel pipe goes into the lower end of the ram it’s leaking oil, it hasn’t been welded 5 times now by a neighbor who is very good at welding but only lasts a Few days and it find a new hole somwhere else, above or below or out through the weld it doesn’t matter. Has it happened to ye before? How did you solve it? Is it a case of take it off and get a new outside(insert proper name) made for the ram. I know oil is cheap but it’s going to start flowing out the yard gate soon. It really only happened when’s tilting down towards the ground, very little to no leak while crowding back.
 
View attachment 75881 View attachment 75882 View attachment 75883 View attachment 75884 The crowd and tilt ram on the loader a 526-56 jcb is giving grief, where the steel pipe goes into the lower end of the ram it’s leaking oil, it hasn’t been welded 5 times now by a neighbor who is very good at welding but only lasts a Few days and it find a new hole somwhere else, above or below or out through the weld it doesn’t matter. Has it happened to ye before? How did you solve it? Is it a case of take it off and get a new outside(insert proper name) made for the ram. I know oil is cheap but it’s going to start flowing out the yard gate soon. It really only happened when’s tilting down towards the ground, very little to no leak while crowding back.

I seen where a lad welded in new threaded fittings into a ram, worked perfect after. AFAIK, they're specially for that job.

Would it be possible to cut off the pipe, weld in a fitting, and fit a flexible pipe instead?
 
I seen where a lad welded in new threaded fittings into a ram, worked perfect after. AFAIK, they're specially for that job.

Would it be possible to cut off the pipe, weld in a fitting, and fit a flexible pipe instead?
Today’s leak is about an inch or more above the pipe so I think the housing is all cracked. The leak was never in the pipe in the first place
 
View attachment 75881 View attachment 75882 View attachment 75883 View attachment 75884 The crowd and tilt ram on the loader a 526-56 jcb is giving grief, where the steel pipe goes into the lower end of the ram it’s leaking oil, it hasn’t been welded 5 times now by a neighbor who is very good at welding but only lasts a Few days and it find a new hole somwhere else, above or below or out through the weld it doesn’t matter. Has it happened to ye before? How did you solve it? Is it a case of take it off and get a new outside(insert proper name) made for the ram. I know oil is cheap but it’s going to start flowing out the yard gate soon. It really only happened when’s tilting down towards the ground, very little to no leak while crowding back.
Is it being welded in situ? would be very difficult to do in place with oil in the weld.
 
The ram would need to be empty of oil for a successful weld, the other concern is that there’s a crack in the cylinder. I’ve seen similar before in the main lift ram of a teleporter and it eventually failed spectacularly with a heavy load by splitting lengthways like peeling a banana. I’d take the ram off and test it with air pressure to determine exactly where the leak is. If the cylinder is cracked or leaking through pinholes not related to the union, get it replaced ASAP.
 
The ram would need to be empty of oil for a successful weld, the other concern is that there’s a crack in the cylinder. I’ve seen similar before in the main lift ram of a teleporter and it eventually failed spectacularly with a heavy load by splitting lengthways like peeling a banana. I’d take the ram off and test it with air pressure to determine exactly where the leak is. If the cylinder is cracked or leaking through pinholes not related to the union, get it replaced ASAP.
Get a new cylinder made so would be your advice? Where would a fella get that sort of job done?
 
Today’s leak is about an inch or more above the pipe so I think the housing is all cracked. The leak was never in the pipe in the first place

I think you need to do as @MF30 says. Given what you're saying that is a seam welded tube, ask for the new one to be made from seamless tube if available in that size.
 
Get a new cylinder made so would be your advice? Where would a fella get that sort of job done?
Most cylinders I have seen or used are made by Burnside Engineering in Tullow. Not sure of suppliers in your area but any decent engineering workshop should be able to make or supply you with one. Check if it is the cylinder giving trouble first but I wouldn’t mess around with a critical ram repair.
 
Today’s leak is about an inch or more above the pipe so I think the housing is all cracked. The leak was never in the pipe in the first place
Strange to see the ram crack like that but if there’s any trace of a crack or failure in the tube, throw it in the scrap heap, it’s too risky to do anything else with it.

Ive put new unions on a couple of rams here and they’ve stayed dry, tricky welding them as others say - any trace of oil and the weld will leak. Bought the unions from ramco. Always buy a few as one or two will be wasted trying to weld it properly. High pressure oil escaping can kill you if it hits your skin.
 
I have seen that before, the ball in the check valve was sticking so you will need to replace it too as it will crack the new ram again because it is building too much pressure
 
Strange to see the ram crack like that but if there’s any trace of a crack or failure in the tube, throw it in the scrap heap, it’s too risky to do anything else with it.

Ive put new unions on a couple of rams here and they’ve stayed dry, tricky welding them as others say - any trace of oil and the weld will leak. Bought the unions from ramco. Always buy a few as one or two will be wasted trying to weld it properly. High pressure oil escaping can kill you if it hits your skin.
Even when welding new unions onto a ram the new unions need to be cleaned with a grinder if zinc coated as the zinc won’t allow a clean weld. There’s a possibility that the hole for the union was drilled though the weld seam of the cylinder originally and this would be the weakest place to start a hole. I’d always drill a hole in a cylinder 90 degrees around the cylinder from a weld, not 180 degrees either as this can be a flex spot due to pressure surges. Just my opinion by the way.
 
Even when welding new unions onto a ram the new unions need to be cleaned with a grinder if zinc coated as the zinc won’t allow a clean weld. There’s a possibility that the hole for the union was drilled though the weld seam of the cylinder originally and this would be the weakest place to start a hole. I’d always drill a hole in a cylinder 90 degrees around the cylinder from a weld, not 180 degrees either as this can be a flex spot due to pressure surges. Just my opinion by the way.
Yes! I saw this too! I was wondering why they didn’t take weld well but as you say - once cleaned they go better.
 
Today’s leak is about an inch or more above the pipe so I think the housing is all cracked. The leak was never in the pipe in the first place
get a new body made up

try not to use it until you do as if it goes bigtime then something will get damaged as your check valves are further down the line
 
The ram would need to be empty of oil for a successful weld, the other concern is that there’s a crack in the cylinder. I’ve seen similar before in the main lift ram of a teleporter and it eventually failed spectacularly with a heavy load by splitting lengthways like peeling a banana. I’d take the ram off and test it with air pressure to determine exactly where the leak is. If the cylinder is cracked or leaking through pinholes not related to the union, get it replaced ASAP.
do not test with air!!
air is compressed and if the ram splits it will go with quite a bang

testing with oil is fine as there's only a few of ml of oil extra in the system at full pressure compared to no pressure PROVIDED you use a test pump,not the jcb hydraulics!!
 
do not test with air!!
air is compressed and if the ram splits it will go with quite a bang

testing with oil is fine as there's only a few of ml of oil extra in the system at full pressure compared to no pressure PROVIDED you use a test pump,not the jcb hydraulics!!
Agree with headcase here, or at most I would advise not going above 40psi if you do an air test. It is highly dangerous to use air at high pressure if you think there is a risk it could split.
 
do not test with air!!
air is compressed and if the ram splits it will go with quite a bang

testing with oil is fine as there's only a few of ml of oil extra in the system at full pressure compared to no pressure PROVIDED you use a test pump,not the jcb hydraulics!!
I'd only be talking about enough psi to get a few bubbles from a crack using some fairy liquid.
If it hasn't split with 3000psi of hydraulic pressure then 50 psi of air wont do any damage.
 
I'd only be talking about enough psi to get a few bubbles from a crack using some fairy liquid.
If it hasn't split with 3000psi of hydraulic pressure then 50 psi of air wont do any damage.
I know that but more unlearned people might see and try it
You just came across wrong,should have said to put air into it to see extent of the ceack
 
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