Is it Time To Perform Preventive Maintenance on Your Hydraulic Pumps?
At this time of year even more so than ever!
With every type of mechanical and hydraulic equipment, it’s important to develop maintenance schedules to keep them in good repair. This is also the case with hydraulic pumps. By attending to regular maintenance tasks, it’s possible to not only secure safety for operators but it can also save on costly repairs.
Here’s what you can to do to deliver effective preventative maintenance for your hydraulic pumps.
Before you get started on any repairs, be sure to disconnect the pump from the power supply.
One of the most important and most regular of preventive maintenance tasks should be to regularly check the level of the hydraulic fluid. You may prefer to refer to your manual, but in many cases you should expect to see the oil level at ½ inch from the top of the level indicator. You will also need to check the reservoir oil level – keeping in mind that this will need to be drained, flushed and refilled with new high-grade oil on a regular basis.
A schedule for regular cleaning also needs to be devised as part of your hydraulic pump’s preventive maintenance work. To do this, first off you should seal the unused couplers through the use of thread protectors. Then check that all hose connections are clean of any grease, dirt and grime. The outer surface of the pump needs to be kept as clean as possible, as should all equipment that the pump is connected to.
When you drain, flush and refill the hydraulic oil reservoir, be sure to clean the exterior of the pump before you remove the pump interior.
You can do this by:
Removing all the screws that fastens the reservoir to the motor and pump assembly. Take care with the gasket and the filter so as not to cause any damage or movement. The pressure regulating valves are another area to be very careful around when you remove the assembly from the reservoir.
Now it’s time to clean the interior of the reservoir and fill it with flushing oil.
To make it easy to flush the reservoir, put the pump and motor assembly back into place on the reservoir. Now use just the screws that are in opposite positions on the corner of the housing. You should now run the pump. After several minutes it will have been flushed without you needing to attach the complete assembly. You can then detach the assembly again in order for you to drain and clean the reservoir. Finally, using a funnel with a clean filter, you can refill the reservoir with hydraulic fluid before rethreading each of the screws to keep everything firmly in place again.