Hyd cylinder broken end

JerryLook

Member
I have this hydraulic cylinder on my wood splitter. The end broke off. What is my best option here besides buying a new cylinder?

It only needs to push. The force on it when retracting is very small. I think the side to side forces are what broke it. Like when a chunk of wood is slightly uneven it pushes to the side a little

65ED920D-290A-433E-A238-7E8C167EB62B.jpeg


Do they make ends like the one on this cylinder, that I could bolt or weld on?

4C68E7DC-1138-48A4-932C-01CD079FFC66.jpeg


I think my options are these…

-Weld the end back on. It probably wouldn’t last long though

-Find an end to weld/bolt on like the above picture

-Drill a new hole in the rod. I’m not even sure if that’s doable.


The rod is 1 1/2” diameter and the pin hole is 1”. It’s a Prince 3.5x20 cylinder

Thanks
 
I have this hydraulic cylinder on my wood splitter. The end broke off. What is my best option here besides buying a new cylinder?

It only needs to push. The force on it when retracting is very small. I think the side to side forces are what broke it. Like when a chunk of wood is slightly uneven it pushes to the side a little

View attachment 78161

Do they make ends like the one on this cylinder, that I could bolt or weld on?

View attachment 78162

I think my options are these…

-Weld the end back on. It probably wouldn’t last long though

-Find an end to weld/bolt on like the above picture

-Drill a new hole in the rod. I’m not even sure if that’s doable.


The rod is 1 1/2” diameter and the pin hole is 1”. It’s a Prince 3.5x20 cylinder

Thanks
What does the end that the broken rod connects to look like?
 
View attachment 78167
It had washers to take up the slack on either side of the rod and keep it centered in the pusher
Too much twisting of the head and the washers put extra twist on the pin/rod end. build up the side guides some to remove some of the play from the head. The stress on the rod would be less with a vertical pin. Weld the rod end up. If you can extend the end so it actually pushes directly on the head, leaving the pin free to float in all the holes. You should be able to use a 3/4" or smaller pin since it will only see pull back strain. My splitter runs the cylinder rod into a pipe sleeve on the pusher head, bottomed out, and a 3/8' bolt is used as a vertical drop-in pin, never broken one in 25 plus years.
 
Jim me has described what I would do except I’d go see what it takes to get a better rod at the local hydraulic shop one maybe with a slotted end. I think I’d use the existing hole in the splitter and do it horizontal but the same thought that pin is just along for the ride until the return stroke. No pressure applied this doesn’t happen twice.
 
Too much twisting of the head and the washers put extra twist on the pin/rod end. build up the side guides some to remove some of the play from the head. The stress on the rod would be less with a vertical pin. Weld the rod end up. If you can extend the end so it actually pushes directly on the head, leaving the pin free to float in all the holes. You should be able to use a 3/4" or smaller pin since it will only see pull back strain. My splitter runs the cylinder rod into a pipe sleeve on the pusher head, bottomed out, and a 3/8' bolt is used as a vertical drop-in pin, never broken one in 25 plus years.
Weld it up, but the real fix is all about what Jim said in his 1st two sentences. Rebuild the push plate per my ROUGH sketch. There should be about 8 inches of slide sandwiching the beam lip you might get by with as low as 6” but 8” is optimal.
IMG_4074.jpeg
 
Ok. So I’m adding the angles/sliders to the push plate to keep it from rocking forward and backwards, and hopefully take some stress off the hyd cylinder end?
 
Ok. So I’m adding the angles/sliders to the push plate to keep it from rocking forward and backwards, and hopefully take some stress off the hyd cylinder end?
Consider putting a strap over the broken end that is bent around the pin, the ends of the strap could be welded to the existing ram. the strap would only need to be 3/4 wide by 35/16 thick the tabs could extend (top and bottom) about 3/4 of an inch rearward to be welded in place. All force for splitting then on the existing remaining pin hole and retraction forces on the strap. Jim
 
I have this hydraulic cylinder on my wood splitter. The end broke off. What is my best option here besides buying a new cylinder?

It only needs to push. The force on it when retracting is very small. I think the side to side forces are what broke it. Like when a chunk of wood is slightly uneven it pushes to the side a little

View attachment 78161

Do they make ends like the one on this cylinder, that I could bolt or weld on?

View attachment 78162

I think my options are these…

-Weld the end back on. It probably wouldn’t last long though

-Find an end to weld/bolt on like the above picture

-Drill a new hole in the rod. I’m not even sure if that’s doable.


The rod is 1 1/2” diameter and the pin hole is 1”. It’s a Prince 3.5x20 cylinder

Thanks
A couple options come to mind from hydraulic cylinder repair experience....I might would see what a good local hydraulic / machine shop would charge to have a new cylinder rod turned. If so desired, the end could be threaded to accept a screw on clevis. However, do not let them talk you into using a smaller clevis than the rod diameter as this will cut into the rod strength where a shoulder would have to be cut to accept smaller clevis threads. BTDT. At this time it will be prudent to re-seal the old cylinder as it will have to be dismantled to get the old rod out and renewed.

The other option is to find a new cylinder like the original. Surplus Center may would be a good place to check on a price also if going this route. I think with the size of cylinder that you're dealing with, it's going to be close to a financial wash with either option since shop labor has gone up. In either case I would find a way to minimize the rod end from walking around while under a load.
 
Definitely rework the carriage to a proper design as noted. If buying a new cylinder look for one with a larger rod for more strength as the expense of pull force which you need little of.
 
I had a steering rod break just like that, mounted through the rod hole too. Since the rod was trashed I decided to weld a Heim joint on it for a temporary repair, 5 years and counting.
 
lots of ways to fix it, but if you are good with a welder you could grind the end down flat and weld a bolt onto the end, then screw a sperical rod end onto it and you wouldnt have to worry about the head twisting a bit. Some cylinder rods are made from 1045, so be sure use a preheat, slow cool procedure along with 7018 for the welding to be safe. Probably the best, but not the cheapest way would be to take cylinder apart so you can chuck it in a lathe face the end off and drill and tap for a male sperical or standard rod end. Depends on what you want to get into it. I would bet a lot of guys, maybe me included would dig up a heavy chunk of 1 inch flat bar or something drill a generously oversize hole in it to allow the head to twist a bit and weld it on the end. You got lots of time to think about it as its too darned hot to even think about splitting wood right now!
 
Ok. So I’m adding the angles/sliders to the push plate to keep it from rocking forward and backwards, and hopefully take some stress off the hyd cylinder end?
thats not gonna make the difference. The broken piece in your fingers is mushroomed… it was pushing on the plate with the pin , putting the rod in a bind so all the non-linear forces were transferred to the rod until the eye broke.

If you use the same rod configuration , whether you fix it or replace it, this will happen again unless you blow a hole in the plate for rod clearance so it is pushing on the pin ONLY.

So the nut idea I put forth earlier won’t work as there is no room in there for it. Your sliding assembly looks well built and and go without further modifications. 4play’s idea of the heim joint is the ultimate solution, if you can make room in there for it.
 
It also looks like the plate was hitting the cylinder on the back stroke , you should address that, one way would be take the cylinder apart and put a spacer under the piston.
 
thats not gonna make the difference.

Your sliding assembly looks well built and and go without further modifications.
I don’t agree that that push block needs NO modifications. I can’t see the front but I don’t think there is much there that keeps it from flopping around like a wet noodle without the cylinder connected. In my opinion so what if the actual ram end is doing the pushing. That set up is mostly relying on the ram to hold straight. If the wood you’re splitting gets off to the side like under where his thumb is the stress on the end of the cylinder through that bolt is extremely high. A bolt a size or to too small for the hole after it is welded back on would be best just enough to pull it back. The push plate needs something more to anchor it square and let it slide along the beam lips. The ram should only push, asking it to keep the slide square is asking for continued problems.
 
I don’t agree that that push block needs NO modifications. I can’t see the front but I don’t think there is much there that keeps it from flopping around like a wet noodle without the cylinder connected. In my opinion so what if the actual ram end is doing the pushing. That set up is mostly relying on the ram to hold straight. If the wood you’re splitting gets off to the side like under where his thumb is the stress on the end of the cylinder through that bolt is extremely high. A bolt a size or to too small for the hole after it is welded back on would be best just enough to pull it back. The push plate needs something more to anchor it square and let it slide along the beam lips. The ram should only push, asking it to keep the slide square is asking for continued problems.
“I can’t see” …”I don’t think “… that sounds like a rock solid assessment of the problem, worthy of wasting the guy’s time.
 
“I can’t see” …”I don’t think “… that sounds like a rock solid assessment of the problem, worthy of wasting the guy’s time.
How about:

"From what we can see in the provided picture the splitter carriage mechanism is very different from those commonly seen and appears to provide little support to prevent non-axial loads from being applied to the hydraulic cylinder rod"
 
Take your torch and cut off the remains of the eye until it’s square. Weld on a 1” hex nut for an eye.
He might be in trouble with this, as he needs to see how much of the rod is visible once retracted. Just clean up wha's left and weld to that. Also cover the exposed rod with wet heavy rag or angle iron to keep splatter off of it.
 

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