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Calgary hydraulic cylinder shop recommend?

I have a friend that is a heavy mechanic instructor, and he tells me that it is well within most anyone's ability to do it yourself. You remove all the nonmetallic bits, put them in a sandwich bag, and take it to any one of the hydraulic places in town. Reinstall is just as easy. A huge number of 'rebuild hydraulic cylinder' vids on the 'tube. -- Sorry I'm not ready do do mine or I could give you a personal account and recommendation.

- I have 3 engine hoist cylinder/pumps to rebuild and a 10,000 PSI portapac/reservoir to rebuild - when I get better again, and I have gotten some of the A list things done that went on hold. Then I could name a supplier and give a review.
 
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I'm just not setup with heavy enough vises/benches to undo gland nuts/cylinder caps here at my home shop. I ended up at 'Red Dragon Hydraulics in Calgary.

The cylinders are off a liftgate on a 5ton moving truck.

Also, it turns out that the two cylinder rods have chrome flaking off, so its going to be rod replacements as well OR wholesale cylinder replacements. The cylinders are 1300 bucks each NEW from the liftgate rep here in Calgary (but shipping delay time from Ontario) OR the cost to reseal/re-rod the existing cylinders (minimum 500 each for the reseal +++ the rod replacements).

I've given the owner of the truck liftgate the info so they can decide what they want.
 
@calgaryguy I made some simplifying assumptions. Kudos on recognizing when the job is too big for a simple fix!!

For many of us that have a engine hoist or other simple hydraulic system, home repairs are practical. I have literally no free space, but I can jury rig a way to get the glands off, it will just take time. I'm not in the place where I'd tackle a rerod, though. Perhaps when I get my shop in better shape!!

I love watching Curtis at Cutting Edge Engineering do his fixes! Very inspiring...
 
Not that Im encouraging it but I know a guy that has a vise that slides into his hitch receiver, then uses a pipe wrench or pin wrench to tear them down in his gravel driveway. Ya a well secured press like Curtis uses is better/ideal, especially for bigger stuff, but the smaller ones are doable at home.
Also love CEE, always enjoy his videos.
 
I dont have any pin wrenches or sockets large enough for the gland nut in these culinders (its a 3" bore). And since its not mine, I didnt want to go to the big pipe wrench and snipe.

A seal kit in a simple pump jack or engine hoist cylinder is no issues for me. I needed to engage a professional shop this time, and Red Dragon Hydraulics in Calgary seems to be that place so far.
 
calgaryguy said:
Also, it turns out that the two cylinder rods have chrome flaking off,
Click to expand...
I have several times over the years re-chromed hydraulic rods ( hard chrome should not flake off ).
Would save a lot of rebuild cost to rechrome and replace tired Orings.

I can supply the name of an Edmonton shop if you want.

Gluck
 
Fyi, to re-rod and reseal + pressure test is about 700 each cylinder. Like I said earlier these are 1300 each new from the liftgate mfg'er, and are 'non-standard' in their shape/design so 'off the shelf' from PA wont work without a ton of labor. Given this is a commercial vehicle, I have chosen to stay OEM spec for liability reasons.

See page 8 of https://www.4qte.com/pdf/WaltcoGate/waltco-HLF-parts.pdf and the cylinders are part #12.

The re-rod procedure is just like 'Curtis From Cutting Edge Engineering' does (per Dabblers comment above) - machine off the rod end clevis, weld it to a new chrome rod, and machine gland nut threads/shoulders on the other end of the new rod, reassemble and pressure test. They also clean and prime/paint the reassembled cylinder at some point during the process.
 
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