Hydraulic Seals for Old Farmhand F10 Loader

prusaprinters

<p>I have an old 1954 Minneapolis Moline UB with a roughly equally old Farmhand F10 loader. The hydraulic cylinder seals I replaced just a few years ago blew out so I had to replace again. Seals for this are a bit of a pain to get and what I do get is a light weight construction and not a good tight fit so they don't do well.</p> <p>Tired of these garbage replacement parts, I thought it was worth trying 3d printing my own replacements. I used some old seals that fit correctly as a guide and designed in Fusion 360. I created both piston seals and a rod seal for the grapple fork cylinder. I have replaced the seals in 3 of the 4 cylinders so far. -The front grapple one and the two main cylinders.</p> <p>They have been working alright since I put them in summer of 2018. I did have to redo the rod seal once early on to a tighter fit as it was seeping. I only use the tractor maybe an hour or two every month, so that isn't a lot of use yet, but so far they are doing ok. I use this mainly to move around bales that are somewhere under 1000 pounds. It has been used in temperatures from ~95F (35C) to -15F (-26C) so far. They were a bit stiff and sticky at the cold temperature until things warmed up a bit.</p> <p>If you can get decent made seals, please do that. But if you struggle to find anything that works/fits right, then this kind of thing may be an option for you. I do not know how these will hold up, so be careful.</p> <p>I am not the first to post something like this. This guy in Australia has done something similar with success as well. His success gave me a little extra confidence that this could work.<br/> <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1392316">https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1392316</a></p> <p>FYI - The inner diameter of my cylinders was 3.0". If you happen to use these files please compare all the dims carefully.</p> <h3>Print instructions</h3><h3>Category: Replacement Parts Print Settings</h3> <p><strong>Infill:</strong> near 100%</p> <p><strong>Filament:</strong> Priline TPU<br/> <strong>Notes:</strong></p> <p>I used Shore 95A TPU. and printed near 100% solid with about a dozen perimeters. Also I set my seams to random so there wouldn't be a seam line that might be more prone to leaking or breaking. I suggest printing relatively hot with as little part cooling as you can get away with for strongest layer bonding.</p>