How to Dismantle Hydraulic Cylinders

Hydraulic suspensions are often considered to be difficult to work on and use, but in reality, a well installed and maintained setup can be quite rewarding and reliable. One of the biggest things to do is to change the seals in a hydraulic cylinder, which requires dismantling them. To do that, follow along as we take apart a cylinder to access the seals.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bench vise
• Hydraulic cylinder
• Pipe wrench
• Small flathead screwdriver
• Crescent wrench
• Hammer
• 3/8-inch socket extension

1. Remove the cylinder from the vehicle. There are lots of different types of cylinder installs out there, so do your best to remove the cylinder from the vehicle. This will require you to remove the hose from the cylinder, so use a crescent wrench.

2. Hold the cylinder upside down so that all the fluid can drain out. This is just to make the process a little bit cleaner.

3. Clean off the cylinder and place it in a bench vise, across the largest portion of the cylinder. Clamp the vise to secure the cylinder tightly.

4. Using a pipe wrench, loosen the cap on the bottom of the cylinder. It's the only part of the cylinder that's threaded, so it's pretty easy to identify. Once it is loosened all the way, pull the cap off and place it to the side.

5. Using a 3/8-inch socket extension, place it inside the hole where the fitting is mounted. Use the hammer to tap on the end of the extension. This will extend the cylinder. Once the cylinder is extended out almost the full length, remove the rest of it by hand.

6. Now the cylinder is successfully dismantled. Reassembly in the reverse order of disassembly.