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Nitrogen counterbalance recharge

MarkJB

Aluminum
Joined
Jul 1, 2006
Location
CT
Have any of you guys done this yourself? Is there anything special required? I don't need anything else done to the machine so i hate to have a service call just for that when it always seems to leak slowly.
I tried a search but it didn't work
thanks
Mark
 
Have any of you guys done this yourself? Is there anything special required? I don't need anything else done to the machine so i hate to have a service call just for that when it always seems to leak slowly.
I tried a search but it didn't work
thanks
Mark

I think I found a short section on this in the manual.
Other than making sure you have the right fitting to screw on, nothing special.
I forget what they call it, but it looks like a typical schroeder (sp?) valve, you know, like a tire valve.
You might even check with some tire stores, they are now putting nitrogen in tires in place of air.
To DIY, you might have a N2 tank for welding, I don't know.
 
nitrogen recharge.

It is not to hard. We have recharged our VF6 and VF9 a couple of times.
It is a Schrader valve, but you have to have a screw on type. not the push on
style. Your tanks that you are going to use to recharge the machine has to a good amount more than the machine tanks. Our VF6 and 9 I think are set to
750. Most VF9s are more but ours is only a cat 40. :( so it only requires 750.

You should have no problem.
A.J.
 
Forget about any thing your going to find at a tire store. Your dealing with 3000 psi bottle pressure and 750 PSI in the accumulator vessel.

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What you need is an accumulator charge valve. $195 bucks, cheaper than a service call. Complete kit with hose and bottle adaptor here.</SPAN>
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http://www.hydracheck.com/accassy.html

I’ve bought from Hydracheck before. They could do a M28 x 1.5 metric euro version way cheaper than any thing I could find down here. Good people to do business with.

Your playing with high pressures there, usually with out a pressure regulator fitted to the bottle. So you have to be careful.

You need to release the discharge from the bottle as slowly as possible. Two reasons, it only takes seconds to overcharge a small accumulator, and you need to charge the accumulator as slow as you can. The gas will expand and heat up in the accumulator, giving a false pressure reading. You want to charge it, then go make a coffee. Then check the pressure again when its cooled back down.

The other trick for young players is to ensure that the hydraulic fluid pressure is discharged, before you check the gas pressure.

If you only have a slow leak, you might think about totally discharging the gas and charging the valve and putting a new cap on.

Regards Phil. <o:p></o:p>
 
Well, if you know any Caterpillar mechanics...all the haul trucks take nitrogen charge in their shocks, so any heavy duty Cat man would have what you need. The fitting that screws onto the machine is way more than a tire chuck, it should also have a valve on it, ie you screw it on, screw the thing, charge, close the valve, and disconnect. It's not actually a valve per se, it just actuates the schrader valve in the charge fitting, so you don't loose your charge when you disconnect your charging equipment. Dune buggie shops should have this stuff too, as the dune buggie shocks are usually nitrogen charged.
 








 
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