When it comes to purchasing hydraulic cylinders, you have two main options: custom-built or ready-to-ship cylinders. Sometimes tailored solutions are necessary, but other times ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders come with a range of advantages over tailored ones. Which one might you need? We’ll explore three pros and cons of ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders to help you make an informed decision.

Pro: Efficient Operations

Having no lead time means hydraulic cylinders are stored in inventory, which ensures faster delivery and minimal downtime, since they can be shipped as soon as an order is placed.

Having a reliable partner that can provide such equipment at almost any given time is crucial in a project-based environment. Delays can push back completion dates, leading to new sets of unnecessary issues.

Ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders are powerful assets for gaining a competitive advantage for companies that want to minimize downtime, potentially leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Pro: Saving Time and Smart Resource Management

Made in larger quantities, in stock hydraulic cylinders, allow manufacturers to buy materials in bulk, produce them at a lower cost with less back and forth between customers, employees and management. Such streamlined production enables customers to buy their hydraulic cylinders at a lower price compared to customized solutions. 

Custom solutions lead to numerous administrative costs and time necessary for communication. With ready-to-ship cylinders, businesses can order standard cylinders from a catalog, avoiding the lengthy back-and-forth often required for custom specifications.

At the same time, when it comes to equipment failure on the construction site, farm, industrial facilities etc., quickly ordering cylinders with no lead time allows maintaining continuous operations without wasting valuable time and other resources of the client, team and the company.

Pro: Reliability

Ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders are manufactured using standardized processes and specifications. Each unit has the same high-quality standards, leading to consistent performance. Such performance is often ensured through various testing and inspection processes that catch defects before the cylinders reach the market. The result is a more reliable product with fewer instances of failure or performance issues.

Cheetah Hydraulics ready-to-ship chrome-plated cylinder rods with black priming and painting

Fun fact: To ensure quality and performance, all Cheetah Hydraulics cylinders undergo a thorough 100% pressure testing process prior to shipping them to a customer.

Now let’s take a closer look at the cons and why customized solutions might be right for you.

Con: Lack of Customization Options

As ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders are made to standard specifications, they might not be suitable for specialized machinery or equipment which requires specific stroke lengths, bore sizes, or mounting configurations.

For example, if there’s only available a higher or lower pressure rating than necessary, such cylinder might lead to suboptimal performance or the need for additional components to regulate pressure.

Con: Branding Preferences

In some cases, hydraulic cylinders, besides their function, require specific design and branding when customers or end-users have an overview of the equipment. Then a certain amount of customization is required to fulfill both utilitarian and aesthetic needs.

Example: cylinders with customized color

Con: Integration with Existing Systems

Custom-designed systems often have specific space and other constraints, which can prevent standardized cylinders’ seamless integration. If that’s the case, customization is crucial for proper equipment functionality.

In summary, while ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders provide the convenience of immediate availability and cost savings, they often come with design constraints that may limit their suitability for specialized applications. However, customers looking for ready-to-ship hydraulic cylinders can rely on standardized production processes, rigorous quality control, proven designs, and strong manufacturer support.

For those looking for reliable hydraulic cylinders with no lead time, our welded cylinders’ bore diameter ranges from 1” to 2½”, with a maximum stroke length of 36” and operating pressure of up to 3000 PSI. With chrome-plated cylinder rods, honed tube, robust seal packages, and black priming and painting, the cylinders are strong and sturdy. See the full offer here.