Wherever it is, there’s always maintenance to. Today I’ll mention some bigger maintenance projects that I did this summer.
Earlier this summer, one of the stabilizer cylinders on my backhoe started leaking badly. Unfortunately, the ~1-1/4″-diameter pin that holds the cylinder to the stabilizer pad was seized badly and confounded all my efforts to press it out. After a lot of pondering (and pounding), I came up with an improvised method for repairing it.
There was just enough space between the clevis and the rod eye to get at the rod with an abrasive blade. I put a 12″ abrasive blade on my angle grinder and cut thru the pin on either side of the eye. That freed the cylinder which I was able to pull off and rebuild. Between heating with a torch and drilling ~ 3/4″ holes in either pin half, I was able to press the remaining bits of pin out with a 20 ton bottle jack.
The new pin didn’t fit thru the clevis. Unfortunately, the bottle jack exerted so much force that it had splayed the clevis bushings out by 5-10 degrees, which was too much for a new pin to slide thru. I ended up cutting back much of the metal surrounding the bushings and then was able to draw them together enough with a few pipe clamps to align it for the pin. I then re-welded around the bushings. It worked!
The second big item that I repaired recently was my fire hydrant. It had been leaking around the valve shaft since it was installed and needed new o-rings. It took about 1500 ft-lbs of torque with a 2-1/8″ socket to loosen the packing nut! Once I got the packing nut loose, I pulled the hydrant (also lost some parts down the standpipe but thankfully was able to fish / wash them out!). Replacing the o-rings and reassembly was straight forward. Now I have a hydrant without leaks. 🙂
I will praise thee, O LORD among the people...For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. - Ps. 108:3-4
