How to change hydraulic seals and change the oil.

I thought I would do a small right up on how to change your seals since there seem to bemore and more people swicthing to juice these days. A lot of people are first timers with hydraulics, so here is how you do it... the simple way.
 
Here is what it looks like when you should have changed the seals a little while ago.
Here is what it should look like normallyHere is the car.Lift the car up all the way then jack it up and throw some stands under itHere you can see the oil built up on the bottom of the ram.Unbolt the ram from the suspension and get your oil catcher out. You will want to make sure you release all the line pressure before you unscrew the collar to take the cylinder apart.The collar is now unthreaded and the ram is ready to come out of the cylinder.You may want to put some cardboard or a catch pan (or both) under the cylinder when you take the ram out.There will always be some residual oil in the cylinder. Once the ram comes out you find out why the carboard and catch pan are there.This is what the ram looks like once out of the cylinder.All the seals and scrapers are now off.Take your time and pay attention to which way the seals go back on.This car has been running on the same seals and oil for about 2 years. I decided to flush all the old oil out of the system as well. I used a transmission oil funel and got lucky with a tab on the funel and a factory screw in the inner fender. Here you can see the funel shooting straight into the catch pan.Hit the switch and here comes the old oil. Once the motor started running dry I added some new oil and flushed it again to make sure I got all the old oil out.In the front I removed the hose and placed it into the side of the catch pan. Once all finished with flushing the oil out of the system I started putting everything back together. Here is the cylinder ready to be bolted back in the car.
I originally juiced this car in May of 2008, so it has been 21 months. This is the first time it has needed any maintainence other than charging the batteries. Notice I didn't even have to take the cylinder completely out of the car. I changed the seals in about 30 min. per wheel, after having the car up on jacks and wheels off. Flushing the oil may or may not be necessary at this time, but now I know it is fresh oil and good for another 2 years.
Hope this helps anyone else out there who may need to do there seals in the future.

Nice write-up Jeremy.  A small price to pay to have a ton of lift, the lowest drop possible with any bolt-in, and the nicest ride. 

Great write up. I am hoping to be getting a kit w/ my tax money next month. Do you own that passat now? It is a bad ass car.

what do you guys use to get the oil off of everything? like cleaning wise, i have seen allot of rides at shows with oil in the spare tire well and stuff looks like a pain to clean.

I talked my brother into doing Hydro's on his Audi Wagon and he said there is no number to get a hold of someone.  I only have a few posts a month and have a few questions to ask.  Is there a contact number where either of us can talk to someone about some things so we can see if Hydro's are the right way to go for him.  Hit me back at drupru22@aol.com

I will let Derek or Aaron handle that one^^^  info@hydroholics.net They are the product guys, I am the installer guy. If you don't hear from them by tomorrow, shoot me an email tre5peter@cox.net Clean up oil??? Unheard of, right Jaden? (inside joke) Anyway, usually there isn't oil built up on a trunk floor if the install is done correctly and with proper fittings and such. You can see that when changing seals there is a small mess to clean up, but that's why I put the catch pan and cardboard down. I guess what I am trying to say that you shouldn't really be having to clean up oil on a daily or monthly basis, the setup shouldn't leak. If, however, you do spill some I would use simple green and some rags. Pretty easy and the oil I use actually cleans up pretty fast. I don't own the passat, it was sold to someone who now lives in AZ. I am also prototyping a new rear suspension mount specific for the passats of this body style. I will be sure to post pics of it when it is done. The rear end should go about 1" lower with a simple bolt on modification to the rear swing arm. If anyone knows anyone or has a passat themselves shoot me an email and I will get you pricing on the kit.

Good stuff to know that just helped me out a lot!

just curious, do you ever hone the sleeves when you do o-ring replacement? I've been using quad rings in my cylinders for a year or so with no problems. What do you usually repack them with? Standard o-rings? Slip rings?

just to add, i never had any experience with hydraulics before i had my car done, and changing the seals myself was pretty simple.

when i had my s-10 i had to replace them every 250 to 500 miles. what caused that?