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Spent 9 hours chasing a hydraulic leak on a Liebherr 81K that turned out to be a $12 o-ring
Last Tuesday I noticed a small puddle of hydraulic fluid under the slew motor on the 81K we keep at the yard in Denton and figured it would be a quick fix before the morning lift. I pressure washed the whole area, ran it for 20 minutes, checked every fitting with a paper towel, and still could not spot where it was coming from. Ended up pulling the motor cover off, draining about 4 gallons into a bucket, and tracing the whole return line with a flashlight before I finally found a pinched o-ring on the pilot line that was seeping only under load. Nine hours of my Wednesday gone for a part that cost less than my lunch. Has anyone else had a leak that only shows up when the machine is working, and what is your go to trick for finding it faster?
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riley_west1d ago
Ever try the old cardboard trick under the machine overnight? I used to laugh at guys who did that, thought it was a waste of time when you could just crawl under there with a light. Then I watched a guy find a seep in ten minutes that I'd been chasing for a whole shift. He slid a clean piece of cardboard under the motor, let it sit under load for a bit, and the drip pattern pointed him right at the fitting. Now I keep a stack of flattened boxes in the truck and it saves me hours. That pinched o-ring deal sounds brutal though, those load-only leaks are the worst to track down.
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