Once the contamination has entered the oil supply chances are it will damage the control valves. Salt damage is not a problem as we have been working with several large salt producers. Repairing the control valves on this equipment can greatly reduce your compaines operating cost.

Some of the equipment we have worked on include Joy, PHM, Dove and Komatsu. Mining equipment maintenance is hard work, let us help you make it a little easier. Instead of scraping your damaged valve let us repair them. Reconditioned spare parts can save time and money.

• Niagara
• HTC
• Chicago D&K
• Atlantic
• Wiedemann
• Wysong
• Promecam
• Amanda
• Guifil
• Adira
• Accupress
• LVD
• Promecam
• Primeline
• Ursviken
• American Hercules

Whatever the machine manufacturer we can help with the repair. Please call us for more information!

After we disassembled and inspected the valve we found that the chrome on the spool was worn and allowing the bypass. We carefully measured the tolerances between the spool OD and valve body ID. After our measurements were recorded we were able to hone the valve body ID to remove all wear and debris defects. We then removed the old chrome from the spool. The spool was then brought back to match the size of the bore to .0004/.0005 with new hard chrome. After the reassemble we tested the valve and then it was ready to be installed back on the customer's machine.

Since that first valve we have rebuilt valves from all over the United States. We have saved our customer's $1000's of dollars and weeks of down time. Please contact us to see how we can save your company time and money!

We have experience repairing hydraulic control valves from these manufacturers and others:

1. Caterpillar
2. Cessna
3. Commercial
4. Danfoss
5. DeMag
6. Gresen
7. Halla
8. Honeywell
9. Husco
10. Hydreco
11. Komatsu
12. Masoneilan
13. Nishina Kogyo
14. North Amerian Manufacturing
15. Oilic
16. Parker
17. Racine
18. TRW
19. Vickers
20. Yale

(Similarly, I'm sure there were more Caterpillar and Komatsu valve failures in the last 12 months than Hitachi valves...  The population of CAT and Komatsu valves is several times that of Hitachi.  We are talking about the number of valve failures, not as a percentage.)

Husco Valve in for Repair

Overview of Husco:

Husco is based in Wisconsin and is a "global leader in the development and manufacture of hydraulic and electrohydraulic controls for off-highway and automotive applications."  They employ about 900 people and are privately owned.

Husco valves can be found in all types of equipment markets including: Construction, Forestry, Mining, Agriculatural, Marine, Military, Utility, and many others.

Husco valves are sold through a network of distributors around the country and the world.

Husco valves can be found in many of the world's top construction and material handling equipment.  This list includes:

• Caterpillar
• CNH
• Crown
• Daewoo
• Deere
• Heil
• Hyundai
• JCB
• Jerr-Dan
• JLG
• Komatsu
• Kubota
• Letourneau
• Liebherr
• Nissan
• Manitex
• Manitowoc Crane
• MCFA
• NACCO
• Shin Cat Mitsubishi
• Terex
• Volvo

If you have a need for repairing, rebuilding, replacement, parts or service for Husco valves, please give us a call at 888-874-6694!

Contamination:

Contamination is a pretty straightforward problem.  The most common situation we see is a cylinder or other component fails, sending metal shavings and other debris into the hydraulic fluid.  If this contaminated hydraulic oil is then run through your valve, the metal shavings and debris are forced through your valve at high pressure.  With tolerances inside a control valve at 0.0005", any scoring of the spools causes problems.  If a spool is damaged slightly, the constant flow of oil at high pressure, over time, can make things even worse.

Fixing Valves that Fail Due to Contamination:

We can repair most scoring due to contamination on hydraulic valve spools.  The deeper the scoring, the more grinding and chrome buildup (and cost) it will take to bring your spools back up to tolerances.

Preventing Contamination:

You can prevent contamination by installing proper filters on your hydraulic system and changing them every 2 months (or more with heavy usage or extreme conditions).  You should also replace your hydraulic oil yearly.  If it is cost prohibitive to drain your fluid yearly, we can run a test on your hydraulic oil to detect the level of contamination. 

Cavitation:

Cavitation is a more interesting problem.  Cavitation happens when the demand for oil inside a hydraulic system exceeds the available supply of oil.  When this happens, a vaccum is created inside your system.  If this vaccum is strong enough, your hydraulic oil starts turning from a liquid into a vapor.  When these little bubbles of hydraulic oil vapor are compressed... they implode.  When these bubbles implode, they wreck havoc on the inside of your components.

Fixing Valves that Fail Due to Cavitation:

Akron Hydraulic can repair spools that have been eroded by cavitation.  We do this with hard chroming and precision grinding.  This process can usually save you $1000's versus repalcement with new.

We can also repair some valve body problems including washed out lands.  See these before and after pictures of valve body lands we have repaired.  Click on this link and you can read more about fixing washed out lands in a control valve.

Washed Out Land Before

Washed Out Land After Repair

Valve repair fixes a SYMPTOM of cavitation, not the PROBLEM of cavitation.  If you like, we can assist with fixing your hydraulic system so that cavitation doesn't occur in the first place.

Preventing Cavitation:

Cavitation can be prevented by a well designed hydraulic system that includes working load control and anti-cavitation valves.

Here is the washed out valve land before repair:
(tough to photograph but if you look close you can see the uneven surface of the first land)

Check out the after picture of a repaired valve land...

Unfortunately, there are no rebuild kits available at this time, that we know of.

However, if your spools are in good shape, we can usually assist you in finding the seals, springs and any other parts needed to rebuild your valves.  Some manufacturers are faster to get information back to us than others but we will work as hard as we can to get you the information you need.

If you are familar with a rebuild kit that we haven't found yet, please let us know and we will post it.

To correct this problem, we can do one of 2 things:

Find Replacement Springs:

Hydreco, Husco, Commercial, Cessna, Komastu and other valve manufacturers usually have replacement springs available.  We can help find these for you if we don't have them in stock.

New Springs for Out of Production Valves:

If your valve is no longer supported by the OEM, we can have new springs built for you, as long as there is one good sample or detailed specs available.