Hydraulic Fix

So, I'm really failing at this blog posting stuff. I posted the wrong picture in the last email, so I'm going to have a bunch of posts to edit when I finally get back to the Internet to do so... Anyway, I trust you're all smart enough to take the picture from this post, and apply it to the previous post, then take the picture from that one, and read the
following:
Fixed it (2011-06-03)
We had several pressure and wiper seals failing all at once on the little tractor, so we figured we'd gotten some sort of containment into our hydraulic oil supply. Upon looking at the in line oil filter, it was discovered that the ends had cracked, and the filter it self glistened in the noon-day sun. Not a happy sight. Unfortunately a replacement filter could not be found, so we decided to make our own using a piece of plate steel and an off the shelf oil filter.
The process started in Mambis with Anton receiving the sizes of fittings that everything down here attached to, then he took his piece of plate steal and affixed it in the lathe. Many hours later, he emerged with an immaculately crafted filter assembly, minus mounting brackets, and proceeded to braze fittings together and then shipped it down to Kaiam where I had the pleasure of installing it into the existing system, replacing the fouled unit.
All in all, a good fix, and now our oil comes out as clean as it went in, unlike before when it looked like used engine oil. It has been pointed out that these are plumbing fittings, not hydraulic fittings, which would burst at most hydraulic pressures. However, this is an open system reservoir, and here it's only under the pressure of the oil and the atmosphere, so a little bit of thread tape makes the world go round.