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[robash9608]

I have an older Northern Tool brand splitter that has the 2 stage pump, I think it is a 11 gpm. About a month ago, the cylinder started to jerk. I thought the seals in the cylinder was going bad so, I replaced them. Sure enough it fixed the problem. Monday, I moved the splitter to another location (about 3 miles) and when I cranked it up, the clyinder started to jerk again.

It has a clear discharge hose and it looks like it has air in the fluid. Also, fluid/air is coming out of the breather cap. I thought I may have cracked the cheap plastic fittings and this was allowing the pump to suck air. I replaced with all new metal fittings, hydraulic fluid, cranked and still the same problem.

I noticed that a small amount of fluid is coming out of the pump shaft. Could it be sucking in air there? If so, can I replace those seals or will it force me to buy another pump?

Thanks in Advance

[mlappin]

If its a quality pump replacing the seal will be easy. If its a throwaway spending too much time on it is a waste of time.

Any brand name on the pump? Hopefully not "china".

[robash9608]

It is a Haldex. Thanks!

[mlappin]

It is a Haldex. Thanks!

Thats a good one last I knew, it's worth spending the time to fix.

[Wood Nutt]

Any chance water is getting in the system and the bubbles are actually water or part water?  Only thing that makes me wonder about that is you said it was spitting out the breather which would indicate there is more volume in the tank, the extra space being taken up by water?  Air wouldn't do that, just float to the top and out the breather.  Just a thought.

[robash9608]

I completely drained all fluids out of tank, cylinder and filter. I refilled and it was still having the same problem. After about 10 minutes of run time it would start to come out the breather.

[mlappin]

If it was water it usually make the hydraulic oil look cloudy. A tractor we used to have would get water in the hydraulic oil, once it was cloudy it stayed cloudy.

Do you have a filter in the system? Is the filter on the return from the valve body or is it in the supply to the pump? I haven't seen very many log splitters with a suction side filter but if it has and its starting to plug that will cause a restriction and cause the pump to suck air past the seal. Usually my experience has been a bad seal will cause it to seep some oil while not in use and leak oil out under pressure, but anything is possible.

[robash9608]

It does have a filter, it's on the return side of the valve body. I changed it when I had the cylinder repacked. Is it worth changing again? I believe I'm going to go ahead and order the seals for the pump.

[whitepine2]

I say it's sucking air and it is foaming up and coming out the fill after running as it is mixed with the air. Change the seals and you should be golden as lone as the shaft is true and not worn

     Whitepine2

[mlappin]

My bad, I missed the part about seeping oil when not in use. By all means re seal it and see what happens.

I had a PTO pump that would do the same when cold. Start tractor and let run at an idle with pump engaged for 10 minutes or so and no problems. If you had problems time to pop another seal in. Was easy, used the same seal as the torque converter seal on a 727 torqueflite transmission. Would do this even with new seals as it had a tiny crack in the shaft that slipped over the PTO stub.