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PSA: That 'simple' hydraulic line flush on the crane barge took us 8 hours

Everyone said it was a two hour job, but a tiny piece of O-ring lodged in a check valve had us pulling the whole manifold. We finally got it with a fiber optic borescope and a homemade hook. Anyone have a better trick for finding debris in a closed hydraulic loop?
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3 Comments
josephs26
josephs262mo ago
Tell you what, that's how everything breaks down. My phone gets a single grain of sand in the charging port and it's useless until I dig it out with a toothpick. Or a pebble gets stuck in the tread of your boot and throws off your whole walk. It's never the big, obvious parts that fail, it's always that one tiny, cheap piece you didn't even think about. Makes you wonder what little thing in the world's systems is gummed up right now.
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bailey.sandra
That "one tiny cheap piece" thing hit me. My buddy had an old Toyota that ran like a champ for years, then one day it just wouldn't start. Spent a week swapping out spark plugs and checking the battery. Turned out to be a five dollar relay switch under the dash. Car was totally fine but that little plastic box failed and stranded him at the grocery store. He kept the old one as a souvenir to remind himself not to overlook the little stuff.
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vera_roberts
Always the tiny things causing the biggest headaches...
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