Hydraulic Pump Rebuilders at Ames Hydraulics
When a pump starts whining, losing pressure, or just quits moving oil the way it should, you need hydraulic pump rebuilders who’ve actually got their hands inside the housing — not someone reading a manual for the first time. We’re those hydraulic pump rebuilders, working out of our shop at 210 Freel Dr in Ames, and we’ve been pulling pumps and cylinders apart for skid steers, excavators, lifts, and ag equipment for years.
A lot of folks call us thinking their pump is toast when the real problem is a scored cylinder bore or a blown seal further down the circuit. That’s why our shop doesn’t just swap parts blind — we trace the whole hydraulic system before we start cutting into anything. If you need hydraulic pump rebuilders who’ll tell you the truth about what’s actually failing, that’s the job we do every day.
How We Rebuild Hydraulic Pumps
Every rebuild starts the same way on our bench: pull the unit, inspect the housing, and check for scoring inside the bore or on the gear faces. Scoring is common — we see it on cylinders constantly, and pumps aren’t any different once metal shavings start circulating through a system. Here’s roughly what our process looks like as hydraulic pump rebuilders:
- Remove the pump or cylinder from the machine and bring it into the shop (or handle it on-site if it’s a bigger unit)
- Tear it down completely and inspect housings, shafts, seals, and bores for wear or scoring
- Replace seals and worn internals — we keep common seal kits like head seals, piston seals, U-seals, and wiper seals in stock
- Rebuild and reassemble, then pressure test before it goes back on the machine
- Install and bleed the system fully so there’s no trapped air causing spongy or delayed response
One thing we tell every customer up front: if a rebuild doesn’t hold because the scoring was too deep or the housing is warped, you’re looking at a new unit instead — and that’s a real cost jump, not a small one. We’d rather tell you that before we start than surprise you with it later.
Common Failure Symptoms We See
Most calls we get as hydraulic pump rebuilders start with one of these symptoms:
- Whining or cavitation noise — usually low fluid, a clogged filter, or worn internal gears letting air in
- Slow or weak cylinder movement — can be the pump losing volume, or it can actually be a scored cylinder bore leaking past the piston seal
- Overheating fluid — internal bypass from worn components makes the pump work harder and run hotter than it should
- Leaking at the shaft seal — a common early warning sign before full pump failure
- One cylinder blowing out right after another gets rebuilt — we see this a lot; if one cylinder or pump has been running compromised, it stresses the rest of the system, and the next weak link tends to fail shortly after
That last one is worth repeating because it catches people off guard. We’ll rebuild a cylinder, get everything running, and then the other cylinder on the same machine blows out a few weeks later because it was already worn and just hadn’t failed yet. It’s not us doing bad work — it’s the system finally showing where it was weak all along. This is exactly why hydraulic pump rebuilders who know what they’re doing check the whole circuit, not just the part that failed first.
How Much Does It Cost
Pricing depends heavily on the size of the pump or cylinder, how bad the scoring is, and whether seals alone will fix it or the whole unit needs replacing. Based on real jobs we’ve run:
- Standard cylinder rebuild (seals, inspection, install and bleed): typically starts around $300–$600 depending on size and access
- If scoring is bad enough that a rebuild won’t hold and a new cylinder is needed instead: add $300 to $800 on top of labor
- Smaller lock or specialty cylinders: parts alone can run around $145 plus labor
- Shop mileage for on-site work: we charge for round trip mileage within 40 miles of our Ames shop, and that’s separate from the rebuild labor itself
- Pump rebuilds run in a similar range to cylinder work once you factor in seal kits, gear or vane replacement, and testing — bigger pumps with more wear naturally cost more
We put together a full breakdown of typical costs on our hydraulic cylinder rebuild cost guide if you want more detail before you call. And if you’re outside Ames proper, we cover a wider service area too — check our page on hydraulic cylinder rebuild service across Iowa to see if we’re already working near you.
We also handle related failures that often show up alongside pump and cylinder issues — worn final drives being one of the more common ones on tracked equipment. If your machine’s acting sluggish across the board, it might be worth having us look at more than just the pump; see our final drive rebuild service too.
If you’re searching for hydraulic pump rebuilders because something on your equipment just isn’t moving oil right anymore, don’t guess at it. Give us a call at 515-292-2599 and describe what the machine’s doing — we’ll tell you honestly whether it sounds like a pump problem, a cylinder problem, or both, and what it’ll likely cost to fix it right.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you rebuild hydraulic pumps or only cylinders?
We rebuild both. A lot of our real-world jobs start as a cylinder rebuild and end up including pump inspection too, since the two systems work together and wear tends to show up in more than one place at once.
How do I know if it’s my pump or my cylinder that’s failing?
Slow or weak movement, whining noise, and overheating fluid can point to either. We run pressure tests to isolate exactly which component is losing performance before we quote any repair.
What does it cost to have a hydraulic pump rebuilt?
Most pump and cylinder rebuilds run in the $300–$600 range for labor and standard seal kits, though bigger pumps or units with heavy scoring can run higher. Call 515-292-2599 and we’ll give you a real number based on your equipment.
Can you come to my location or do I have to bring the equipment in?
We handle a lot of jobs on-site within 40 miles of our Ames shop, and mileage is billed round trip. For bigger teardown work, bringing the unit into our shop on Freel Dr is often faster and cheaper.
What happens if the rebuild doesn’t hold?
Occasionally scoring inside a bore or housing is too deep for a rebuild to seal properly. If that happens, we’ll walk you through replacing the unit instead — we always tell customers about that risk before starting the job, not after.
Written by Josiah Ragsdale, Ames Hydraulics