We regularly look at what types of articles draw the most visitors on our websites. One of the biggies is maintenance. What's interesting about maintenance of hydraulic systems is that even though many of the tools and instruments have changed dramatically during my 25+ years on H&P, many of the problems and their solutions are still the same.
Probably the most frequent cause of hydrauic system malfunctions continues to be contamination. But another is misapplication of products, especially hose. Hydraulic hose is really tough, and it seems to be almost indestructible when new. But after being subjected to the rigors of hydraulic pressure, flow, high temperatures, and wide swings in all these, hoses can suffer premature failure if not applied, routed, and installed properly.
If you're faced with a hose that is leaking or, worse yet, started coming apart, how do you know what the cause is? Discovering what wnent wrong can be a big step in preventing future failures. Detailed fialure analysis should be left to experts, but sometimes seeing the results of misapplication or improper installationg will aid understanding of why manfacturers have developed their recommendations.
I found an article that does just this. It covers more than a dozen hose failures, explains what the problem is, what caused it, and how to prevent it in the future. Click here to view the article.
The key to preventing these premature failures, of course, is training. We have dozens of articles on our website describing proper application, routing, and installation of hydraulic hose.
