Hydraulic System Testing and Repair: It’s All About The Bench

Cylinder benchA cylinder bench is an essential tool for hydraulic system testing and repair – it enables a hydraulic repair facility like ours to test, repair, and maintain well-used and worn-out hydraulic equipment of all sizes, industries, and applications.

A cylinder repair bench is key for the disassembly, diagnosis, repair, lubrication and re-assembly of hydraulic cylinders. A good cylinder bench is the backbone of any cylinder repair project – it can unscrew and pull apart any nut, gland, or tube that would simply be impossible to do by hand.

Cylinder benches come in all length and sizes, depending on the type of hydraulic work a facility does. Ours happens to be a monster – THIRTY FEET long. It sports up to 65,000 lb/ft of torque, enough to handle even the largest jobs in our area. That gives us plenty of capability to deal with cylinders that experience an extreme amount of stress and abuse. And because hydraulic cylinders are designed to take shock loads that can often run into the millions of cycles, it’s absolutely critical to reassemble them precisely and torque them to the specified industry standards to maximize their performance and lifetime, considering the tough life most hydraulic systems have.

Continue reading “Hydraulic System Testing and Repair: It’s All About The Bench”

Bring us your worst and we’ll do our best

hydraulic failuresLet’s be honest. Some hydraulic failures are real monsters. They can strain even the most skilled, experienced, and patient hydraulic repair specialist. Most times the problem is in the pump because that’s the component most subject to wear in a hydraulic system. You probably know all the signs – increased noise, increased heat, erratic cylinder operation, difficulty or inability to develop full output, decreased cylinder speed or hydraulic motor speed, or just plain system failure altogether.

Other times it might be an unusual or exotic hose assembly – some odd metric size, or something. In any case, we might just happen to have a replacement in our inventory or stuck in a drawer somewhere from another repair project. Other times we can scrounge up a replacement product that works or figure out a perfectly suitable work-around that gets you up and running with minimal down-time and expense and without having to resort to a full custom-fabricated assembly.

Continue reading “Bring us your worst and we’ll do our best”

When ordering a part takes too long

hydraulic custom partsThere is nothing more frustrating than having a critical hydraulic system you depend on fail. No, wait, there IS something more frustrating – not having the necessary parts available to repair your hydraulics.

Hydraulic system failure is a fact of life. Commercial and industrial hydraulics take an incredible beating every day. Eventually a hose will burst, a fitting will fail, or a cylinder will crack. And while we take great pride in our comprehensive parts inventory, occasionally circumstances beyond our control can impact parts availability.

Fortunately, there’s a convenient solution – we can simply make your part for you.

Continue reading “When ordering a part takes too long”

What are Hydraulic Powerpacks?

Hydraulic PowerpacksBeing in the hydraulic equipment repair business, we get asked a lot of questions about the various systems, components, and uses of hydraulic equipment. One of the basics is the hydraulic powerpack. So what exactly is that?

Hydraulic powerpacks are stand-alone hydraulic systems that are used to power machinery such as lifts, pumps, presses, and other equipment. Hydraulic powerpacks pump fluid from one place to another to power that separate piece of equipment. They can range in size from something that can be picked up by a couple of guys and transported in a pick-up or van all the way up to an installed piece of machinery that’s stationary and would need a crane to move.

Regardless of size and use, all hydraulic power packs have essentially the same components:

Continue reading “What are Hydraulic Powerpacks?”

How much power does a hydraulic power unit have?

hydraulic power unitEven if you own a lot of hydraulic equipment, you still might not really know what a hydraulic power unit is – hey, just because you own it doesn’t mean you know every component and system that’s in it.

Technically speaking, hydraulic power units are the main driving components of hydraulic systems and include a motor, hydraulic pump, and reservoir for the hydraulic fluid. The fluid is put under pressure and is used to move mechanical components such as arms, blades, brakes, buckets, and more. Working in harmony, these elements make up a hydraulic power unit and can generate a tremendous amount of power to run a wide range of hydraulic equipment, such as machine tools, construction equipment, material handling systems, food processing machinery. You get the picture.

Continue reading “How much power does a hydraulic power unit have?”

Maintenance now saves on cold time disaster later

Maintenance now saves on cold time disaster later
Maintenance now saves on cold time disaster later

It’s hard to believe winter’s almost upon us. With cold weather just around the corner, now’s the time to pay attention to your hydraulic equipment and prepare it for freezing temperatures.

Regardless of what kind of hydraulic equipment you use, if you have hydraulic machines that operate outside or in unheated buildings all winter long, a little pre-season maintenance will go a long way in preventing cold-weather disasters that can cause serious damage and sideline your equipment.

Like many liquids, lubricants and hydraulic fluids can thicken in cold temperatures. Instead of flowing easily through your systems, these liquids can turn to sludge that barely moves. In technical terms, this increased viscosity can result in high fluid and mechanical friction and prevent machine surfaces from being lubricated. You know what that means. Parts overheat, seize up, and stop working. Ouch.

Continue reading “Maintenance now saves on cold time disaster later”

3 Things to Prevent Machine Downtime

3 Things to Prevent Machine DowntimeLife for hydraulic machinery is tough enough without having to suffer the abuse that occurs with lack of attention from owners and operators.

If you have hydraulic machinery you rely on day in and day out to earn a living, here are three things you can down to keep your hydraulics happy:

  1. Operate within the manufacturer’s guidelines

Everyone is guilty of occasionally pushing their equipment a little too hard, but if you’re constantly operating beyond the manufacturer’s specs, sooner or later, you’re going to pay for it. Excessive wear and tear on machines not only shortens their life and increases expense, it can also put workers in danger, and nobody wants that. Operating safely means operating within guidelines.

Continue reading “3 Things to Prevent Machine Downtime”

From Logsplitters to Giant Excavators: We’ll Keep You Running

From Logsplitters to Giant Excavators: We’ll Keep You RunningLet’s face it – nobody likes to spend the time, money, and effort it takes to properly maintain hydraulic equipment. Many business owners like to think, “hey the equipment’s designed to take a beating – how much maintenance does it really need?” The truth of the matter is that a little preventative maintenance can go a long way.

Here at Bay State Hydraulics, we’ve put  more years than we like to think about  into performing planned maintenance for dozens (maybe hundreds) of companies on thousands of pieces of heavy equipment, from logsplitters to giant excavators. In that time, we’ve learned a few things we think all our customers should know about taking care of their equipment so that it lasts as long as possible and costs as little as possible.

We’re talking about planned maintenance and we want to share some thoughts about the things you should pay attention to and have serviced regularly, to avoid unpleasant and potentially expensive surprises:

Continue reading “From Logsplitters to Giant Excavators: We’ll Keep You Running”

What you should know about our in-house machine shop

Baystate HydraulicsOver the years that we’ve been in business we’ve built up a pretty solid reputation as a leading hydraulic service and repair facility. There are very few pieces of equipment that we won’t tackle if it’s got a hydraulic system in it. In fact, we can’t think of any.

Still, there are companies out there that rely upon commercial and industrial hydraulic systems to make a living that are tempted to go elsewhere for fast and cheap fixes. Yet the very nature of the work they do means those hydraulics take a beating, day in and day out. That’s why it’s puzzling that they will risk their equipment and livelihood trying to get it repaired on the cheap at some “machine repair shop.”

Perhaps it’s because they don’t understand what it takes to tear down, inspect, diagnose, and repair hydraulic systems. Besides training, expertise, knowledge, and experience, there can be a lot of specialized tools and equipment involved in hydraulic repairs.

Continue reading “What you should know about our in-house machine shop”

Proper Maintenance Makes All the Difference

Hydraulic MaintenanceHydraulic equipment can be funny. It’s used in a wide variety of punishing applications and subjected to some of the most harsh conditions and work environments in the world and yet it can be, well, almost sensitive. In other words, it needs proper care, especially because of how badly it can be treated.

Having said that, it should come as no surprise that we see all kinds of used and abused hydraulic equipment come through our doors to be repaired. Often it’s brought in by a concerned customer who can’t understand why a particular piece of equipment failed after a relatively short time in service. Unfortunately, they’ve mistakenly believed that because hydraulic equipment can be a big, heavy, rugged piece of machinery, it doesn’t really require any special kind of attention. The result? Out-of-service equipment that ends up costing the company time, money, and even work opportunities. And just as often it turns out to be the same problems, over and over again:

Continue reading “Proper Maintenance Makes All the Difference”