When Should You Replace Your Hydraulic Hammer?

Like all heavy-duty mechanical devices, hydraulic hammers or breakers have a lifespan due to wear and tear. And when the breaker starts to have performance issues and damage that can’t be repaired, then you should start figuring out how to replace it. Because if you don’t take steps to do so, accidents can happen during the operation. These are some signs that will tell you when you need to replace your hydraulic hammer.

Oil Leaks.

Hydraulic breakers require oil to lubricate parts, and also serve as the working fluid for the hammer’s hydraulic system. Due to poor maintenance or just wear from the continuous heavy impacts and overheating, the seals holding them can start to break. 

These seals are responsible for housing the lubrication oil and hydraulic oil, and when they start to break down, leaks will happen. With these leaks, the efficiency of your hammer will start to reduce, and jamming might occur in the tool bushing, making the breakers incapable of moving. You could replace the seals themselves, but those will eventually deteriorate too, so it’s best to just replace the entire thing. 

Excess Vibrations.

It’s common for heavy machinery to vibrate vigorously, but excessive and resonant vibration is excessively dangerous as it can damage the internal components of the breaker. This is why there are various ways of reducing the vibration created during the operation of the hammer. But when your hydraulic breaker is at the end of its rope, you will begin to notice it produces excess vibrations during heavy impacts with structures. This can be either due to depletion of the gas or problems with the vibration-damping system. If it’s a gas problem, then you can simply re-gas it by topping up the nitrogen gas in the breaker accumulator, but if the pressure begins to reduce again, then you’ll need to replace the entire breaker.

Vibration problems in your breaker can also be caused by missing bolts or alignment issues, both of which can be very dangerous and lead to accidents.

Performance and Operation Issues.

Whenever your breaker starts exhibiting significant performance and operation issues, you should start taking steps to replace it. Breakers make use of gas to aid the heavy impacts on the rocks they intend to break. But once your breakers start hitting with less force than normal or start to blank fire, then there’s a problem. The former is a performance issue, and the latter is an operations issue. If the breakers hit with less force than the pressure of your gas is either low, there are some blockages in the pipe, or the valve setting is off, affecting the operation of the directional control valve. This problem with the directional control valve can cause blank firing and even cause the breaker to sustain the heavy load for too long, leading to overheating.

General Wear and Tear.

A simpler way to determine if your breaker needs replacing is by looking at the general condition of the device. This device utilizes heavy impact to break rocks and can run continuously for a while, which is so heavy that it will experience a lot of friction and overheating, which will cause its machine parts to slowly wear and tear. Once a breaker is at the end of its life, then you’ll start to see wear and tear of the upper and lower tool bushings, bolts, and nuts.

Jamming of Parts.

Hydraulic hammers work by using constant heavy impact to break rocks, and sometimes due to the problems with the directional control valve, parts misalignment, poor lubrication, and excessive wear on the tool housing, it can start to seize. If your hammer starts to consistently seize, then it might already be a lost cause.

Overheating.

All heavy machinery such as this produces a lot of heat, but in a perfect condition, the hydraulic oil should be more than enough to lubricate and cool the affected parts. But with oil leaks and excessive friction in some parts, this doesn’t pass, and those critical components will begin to overheat. In some cases, the directional control valve issues can cause the breaker to not retract on time, causing it to spend excess time on impact. This excess time leads to overheating of the tool and tool housing, which can cause it to chip off.

Choose Gorilla Hammers For Your Hydraulic Hammer Needs

When it comes to choosing the best hydraulic breakers, don’t settle for less—go with Gorilla Hammers. We offer top-tier breakers and reliable maintenance plans. Contact us today at 888-814-6745.