At BNSF yard in Belen NM and the Cat forklift bounce up and down when carrying a heavy load. When he comes up or down it has a little bounce to it. On the side of the mast is this cylinder that says piston accumulator. I’m assuming there must be a piston pushing against a bladder. Like in a motorcycle shock pushing oil against a bladder. Anyone seen this before? How does it work?

Sorry I didn’t hold phone sideways

"Oil wrote:

I’m assuming there must be a piston pushing against a bladder. Like in a motorcycle shock pushing oil against a bladder

A piston accumulator does not have a bladder in it. It has nitrogen on one side at a set pressure and oil on the other side of the piston. They can be used for smoothing out shocks like the one on the forklift or they can be used to provide additional oil flow at controlled times. I think Cat uses them on the Fusion quick hitch to keep the lock pins tight. Depending on the application the accumulator can either be normally full of oil and the nitrogen under high pressure or empty of oil and the nitrogen at a lower pressure. Think of a hydraulic cylinder with no rod and pressurized gas on one side instead of oil.

Regards

Phil

We have used something very similar on bridge beams sitting on piers--they function to lock the two beams together in an earthquake so they don't slide off the beam bearings and pier

my skid steer has one of these. called ride control to take the bounce out while traveling fast with heavy load.

A little "googling".....explanation
www.hydraulicspneumatics.com/technologie...1883829/accumulators

They are common on many log skidder grapples to keep the grapple tight when the logs shift a bit during a turn. I added one to my old Ranger 666D and it works wonders not having to bump the close lever every couple seconds when taking of with a jag.