Cylinder going?

[Lowdown3]

So I've been using a small bulldozer a bit more. I do regular maintenance on it, grease everything, etc. But I'm definitely no mechanic.

So lately I've noticed when digging/loading dig in a pit, that the one side feels a little, well wonky. Can't think of a better term. And it sometimes screeches just a bit on that side. Everything is greased well, hydraulic levels are good. It just seems week on that side.

The cylinder on that side LOOKS fine but I suspect it's fixing to break on me.

Better to pre-emptively pull it and get it rebuilt or wait till it goes? I've seen these go out on a backhoe but have not seen them go out on a small dozer.

And my shooting range was just starting to get a lot better looking too! Cut some space for a few old vehicles, some space for a small permanent shoot house, filling in lower areas with the cut.

A long term project for sure.

[RobertJ]

Dont know about hydraulics on heavy equipment per se, but the hydraulics on our lift gates get serviced/rebuilt/replaced at first signs of trouble. Some of the signs- Sluggish, noisey, seepage, excessive use of fluid,hydraulic pump making noise, etc.. Time down is lost money for us and you dont want anything going down in the field. Mr Murphy always pops up at the most inconvenient times. So as barney Fife would say "you gotta nip it in the bud". Just the way I was trained. Im also a stickler for PMs (preventive Maintenance).

Someone with more knowledge on hydraulic cylinders may correct me though.

[tech]

Short answer - fix it before it fails in a way that you have to cart the darn thing a half mile through mud...

[RobertJ]

Well Tech said in one sentence, what took me two paragraphs... sigh

[motesjm]

Most hydraulic cylinders are easy enough to just replace the seal kit yourself. If the rod or barrel are pitted or scuffed its a bit more involved to true them up. You can find a seal kit for just about any cylinder online.

[Lowdown3]

I will fix it either way, the point was more in not having experienced this before and knowing if that was what was truly happening. YDKWYDK know what I mean?