7-MAINTENANCE
Hydraulicandhydrostaticdriveuid
Contaminationinthehydraulicsystemisamajorcauseofthemalfunctionofhydrauliccomponents.Contamination
isanyforeignmaterialinthehydraulicoil.
Contaminationcanenterthehydraulicsysteminseveralways:
•
Whenyoudraintheoilordisconnectanyline
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Whenyoudisassembleacomponent
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Fromnormalwearofthehydrauliccomponents
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Fromdamagedsealsorwornseals
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Fromadamagedcomponentinthehydraulicsystem
Allhydraulicsystemsoperatewithsomecontamination.Thedesignofthecomponentsinthishydraulicsystemper-
mitsefcientoperationwithasmallamountofcontamination.Anincreaseinthisamountofcontaminationcancause
problemsinthehydraulicsystem.
Thefollowinglistincludessomeoftheseproblems:
•
Cylinderrodsealsthatleak
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Controlvalvespoolsthatdonotreturntoneutral
•
Movementofcontrolvalvespoolsisdifcult
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Hydraulicoilthatbecomestoohot
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Pumpgears,housing,andotherpartsthatwearrapidly
•
Reliefvalvesorcheckvalvesheldopenbydirt
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Quickfailureofcomponentsthathavebeenrepaired
•
Slowcycletimesareslow.Themachinedoesnothaveenoughpower.
Ifyourmachinehasanyoftheseproblems,checkthehydraulicoilforcontamination.
Therearetwotypesofcontamination:microscopicandvisible.
Microscopiccontaminationoccurswhenveryneparticlesofforeignmaterialaresuspendedinthehydraulicoil.
Theseparticlesaretoosmalltoseeorfeel.Laboratorytestingcandetectmicroscopiccontamination.Inaddition,if
youexperienceanyofthefollowingproblems,microscopiccontaminationcouldbethecause.
Examplesofproblemscausedbymicroscopiccontamination:
•
Cylinderrodsealsthatleak
•
Controlvalvespoolsthatdonotreturntoneutral
•
Thehydraulicsystemhasahighoperatingtemperature
Visiblecontaminationisforeignmaterialthatyoucanndbysight,touch,orodor.Visiblecontaminationcancausea
suddenfailureofcomponents.
Examplesofproblemscausedbyvisiblecontamination:
•
Particlesofmetalordirtintheoil
•
Airintheoil
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Darkorthickoil
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Oilwithanodorofburnedoil
•
Waterintheoil
Ifyoundcontamination,useaportableltertocleanthehydraulicsystem.
7-13