Righto boys - I need help.

longtime lurker · January 07, 2018, 09:04:51 PM

Blown the steer ram seals on the one Clark 666 and I need help finding some parts.
Machine serial number C9046 288
Seal kit is part number 1991084 per parts manual.

Shouldn't be too difficult right except -

My regular guy for this stuff has closed up shop.
I just got quoted $500 -yeah five zero zero dollars - from the only other mob in Australia that know anything clark ranger. I'm not paying that for a seal, a wiper and a packing set x 2. Yet :D
MinnPar who are my usual source for not in a hurry stuff arent showing the number in system.
Google aint telling me much.

The other part number for the mid series C9046's is 1991086. That seems to be available all over the place for about $40. The difference is... what?

Soooooooooo. Can anyone point me in a right direction. Got aftermarket parts numbers, got a source who knows their way around this old stuff.

Machines down, dozers in the shed pulled apart and I got orders to fill being held up for want of a seal kit. Tearing my hair out here...

Many thanks for whatever you can tell me.
John

4x4American · January 07, 2018, 09:32:47 PM

maybe just try the $40 one and see if it works eh?

longtime lurker · January 07, 2018, 09:55:56 PM

airfreight will turn $40 into $140, and still takes a week. I'm not stressed about getting it wrong and blowing my money, but getting it wrong and being no better off next week is a problem eh?

If I can't get something happening by Tuesday I'll have to swallow my pride and pay the domestic ripoff guy his $500 to ship it in for me. (He told me 10 days for delivery so he aint got it on the shelf either)

This here - this is why people buy Cat. :D

kiko · January 07, 2018, 10:46:15 PM

I often deal with cylinders that are obsolete or orgin unknown. Measurements can be taken and seals ordered from Hercules. Are there any Hercules dealers or a general hydraulic shop that may a similar type supplier? And oh yeah ,make your order times two so you have the seals for the other one.

kiko · January 07, 2018, 10:52:45 PM

A Google search found this: West Coast industrial supply. wcis.com.au , also Sealing Australia, just a shot in the dark.

4x4American · January 07, 2018, 11:00:51 PM

Ahh I gotcha. I'm with Kiko, I've had the hyd shop in town rebuild cylinders for me doing nothing but measuring and ordering from their supplier. IT CAN BE DONE!!!! lol

treeslayer2003 · January 07, 2018, 11:12:47 PM

yeah lurker, those are nothing weird and standard sae size stuff from any hydro shop will fix ya up. you dont need clark parts, in fact, i would prefer to use a modern quad seal in the gland than that funky step down ring with backers they used.

Skeans1 · January 07, 2018, 11:34:02 PM

Another good source for west coast guys is Seal Source in Portland, OR

longtime lurker · January 08, 2018, 12:10:47 AM

Thanks for the help guys.

The full story is as follows: the machine is in a relatively isolated spot, its about 5 hours round trip to get to it, and being a Clark I have to go back up with a crane truck to lift the winch out to get at these things and that cant happen until late in the week due to other commitments in the sawmill. I'm trying to but I got customers breathing down my neck and am really hopeful I can find one y'all that knows what size seals I need, or knows someone who knows someone. I dont need Clark genuines ... I do need to know the sizes, though.

Upside thing is that on a clark the blade rams and steering rams are interchangeable. I had the blade group about 3 months back which is why I know the aussie ripoff guy wants $500 and 14-16 days minimum to get the seals.

Downside thing is dumb bloke (me) didn't take part numbers or measure the last lot: because of time pressure I just dropped the rams on a local shops bench and picked them up when done. He's okay... its his supplier thats the holdup.

Upside thing is that thanks to the miracles called internet, amex and fedex if I can find parts that work I can shave a week of delivery by not having them go through the middleman in Sydney and the domestic post network.

Downside thing is that the wet approaches rapidly and I really need to shave that week off delivery. Once she starts to really rain we shut down for a few months. If I can order the seals without pulling them to get sizes I can just take the crane truck up once, pull the winch, reseal the rams, and drop the winch back all in one go. Otherwise the truck needs to go up twice.

Its never easy, never simple, and you can bet I'm ordering three sets of seals... one for each ram and a spare to hold for next time. As usual its not the price of the repairs its the downtime that kills ya.

Neilo · January 08, 2018, 05:38:59 AM

Swap the steer and blade rams. Chain the blade up and go skidding?

Firewoodjoe · January 08, 2018, 05:50:01 AM

What Neilo said

4x4American · January 08, 2018, 07:01:13 AM

X3 to Neilo...my buddy did that with his timberjack 460, chained the blade up, and its been like that for months lol. he has 5 skidders total tho so if he needs to do some blade work he can. But yea I say put the blade cylinders in there then bring the bad cyl to the shop abd getter situated

Weekend_Sawyer · January 08, 2018, 07:11:28 AM

Quote from: 4x4American on January 07, 2018, 11:00:51 PM
Ahh I gotcha. I'm with Kiko, I've had the hyd shop in town rebuild cylinders for me doing nothing but measuring and ordering from their supplier. IT CAN BE DONE!!!! lol

exactly what I was thinking.
I took an old ram off of my John Deere 1010 that they wanted an arm and a leg to rebuild it.
I took it to a local hydraulic shop and they got it done for a much more reasonable price.

I'm sitting here racking my sieve like brain trying to remember the prices and it just wont come to me. :

If I hadn't been this way my whole life I'd be worried. :D
Jon

mike_belben · January 08, 2018, 08:44:47 AM

My first thought is also to swap rams or gland nuts.

I dunno if it will help you, but crossville hydraulics in crossville tennessee usa is an excellent shop. Theyre smalltime normal dudes who fully manufacture cylinders. If you sent them a part that they didnt have a seal for you could say well make me another gland nut that accepts a standard seal pack. I know it doesnt help you a ton now but for future reference. Plus, we are in logging country and clarks were common. They MAY just know what parts you need. Id atleast call.

931-707-9110

I mean cmon, theyve got emergency right in their phone number. Its a sign.

mills · January 08, 2018, 11:55:23 AM

Neilo nailed the quick fix. ;)

There's a small machine shop near me that can almost repair a CAT cylinder for what it would cost me for the packing. And sometimes cheaper. And, normally get it done quicker than I can do it myself. 8)

treeslayer2003 · January 08, 2018, 07:04:08 PM

i just redid a steering cylinder on my 666B, you can get it out easily, turn it on a lock, knock out the rod end pin and then suck it closed. now take off the lines and barrel pin, it will slide out with a little wiggle. you aint gotta take the winch off.

62oliver · January 12, 2018, 06:25:38 AM

Quote from: treeslayer2003 on January 08, 2018, 07:04:08 PM
i just redid a steering cylinder on my 666B, you can get it out easily, turn it on a lock, knock out the rod end pin and then suck it closed. now take off the lines and barrel pin, it will slide out with a little wiggle. you aint gotta take the winch off.

Things are looking up lurker!!

Neilo · January 12, 2018, 10:37:03 PM

What happened?

Riwaka · January 13, 2018, 01:35:38 AM

You might see if you can find a whole ram off a wrecked 666 locally or further away.
https://lakelandheavymachinery.co.nz/collections/big-machines https://lakelandheavymachinery.co.nz/collections/skidder-dismantling
(customs would probably want to x-ray the ram and have the bow wow take a leak on it etc.)
That would enable you to keep a spare ram to put on the machine while you are waiting for seal kits to arrive/ the leaky ram to be repaired.

longtime lurker · February 26, 2018, 04:27:11 AM

Righto so... heres where we got to on this one.

I was time pressed and the machine was in a place that made everything difficult. It's a 50 mile, hour and a half drive back to the nearest place with anything resembling a nut or bolt for sale down a pretty winding mountain road, and a 5 hour round trip to and from home if you forget anything.

So, we couldnt pull the blade rams easy. This particular machine has a larger then normal fuel tank which partially covers the retaining nuts on the pins on the back end, and the retainers had been tacked to the pins to make sure there was no loosening available. To get the rams out meant pulling the winch to pull the fuel tank to pull the rams. Aint nothing in life is easy right?

Because I was low on logs and racing the weather I sent a dozer up to pull logs, with the intention of bring the skidder home on that truck... but then changed my mind and loaded logs instead and left the skidder lie there. End of the day I get paid for selling boards and I needed logs in the yard more then I needed another broken down machine in the shed that I didnt have much time to work on anyway.

She came home last week: first time this units been home in three years so she needs some love and I'm taking the opportunity to fix a heap of little stuff before she goes back out. So, she's currently spread across the shed floor. New rams, re core the radiator, new seat, lights, replace all the hoses, argue with the gearmatic some more, and a bit of touch up paint as well. I'd like to pull the trans and give it a reco too but... I got a sick loader parked beside it that needs love also and as we all know love and money are synonymous when they have yellow paint on them.

I can only love them so much at one time, and the last year has seen a lot of love given to a lot of machines. It will have to wait and its only really the hi/lo selector that needs fixing anyway. Got to pull the tranny to do that though and aint no way I'm pulling a tranny and not opening it up.

Anyway, once thats done she'll go back up onto her mountain and might not come back for a couple years unless something else needing shop time goes wrong.

I'd like to thank you all for the advice you gave, and a big shout out to Barge for putting me onto a parts guy who knows his stuff. Funny old thing the internet isn't it: you can pick up the phone and buy an obscure seal or a whole danG machine from the other side the world.

Cheers guys
John