At 07:16 PM 2/22/05 +0000, Peter Dubaldi wrote:
".... has anyone used Karp's resleeving service in Upland, CA? They use the "Hal-Ray" method with stainless steel material. Their website is at resleeve.com"

I have not used them, but thanks for the URL. It looks like a good source for stainless steel sleeving.

".... In lieu of sleeving, there was previous discussion regarding hard chroming and then resizing to standard. Has anyone else used this procedure in the USA? If so, were the results satisfactory and is there a recommended company?"

A word of caution is in order. Hard chrome is good for long term wear resistance. It is also expensive, so use your judgement if it is worth the cost. It will almost certainly be more expensive than sleeving.

If cylinders are not pitted they can be cleaned up with honing. The key to keeping clean cylinders is to flush the fluid periodically, at least every two years. If you do that you may never need any other cylinder service beyond honing and repacking. If the cylinders are already pitted, then they need sleeving. If you insist on never flushing the fluid, then maybe you should be interested in hard chrome.

To have hard chrome at the standard bore size the bore must first be enlarged slightly, then plated to reduce the bore slightly below standard, and then honed to finished standard size. If the standard size bore is plated and honed without enlarging first, the new chrome will be removed with the finish honing, or it will be extremely thin.

If you plate over a pitted surface you still have a pitted surface. If the bore is heavily pitted to begin with, then it will have to be bored out enough to remove all pitting before plating. If the bore is enlarged substantially to clean it out, then the plating thickness may be excessive and the cost prohibitive. Or you may have to sleeve it first and then plate it, which would be even more expensive.

For additional vendors doing hydraulic cylinder sleeving and rebuilds, see Links-Commercial_Sites-Hydraulics.