Plowing, sweeping, mowing. One fleet works every season, and its cylinders have to keep up.
A single municipal truck may plow and spread salt through winter, carry a sweeper or patch body in spring, and run a mower along the right-of-way all summer. Its cylinders angle moldboards, raise wings, dump hoppers, and reach boom-mounted cutting heads over ditches and guardrails. Many of them also take a hit now and then from a curb, a manhole lid, or a stump hiding in tall grass.
The working calendar is unusual too. Winter equipment can sit for months and then run around the clock once a storm arrives. Summer equipment logs long days in dust, clippings, and brush. A cylinder that does well under one pattern does not automatically do well under the other.
Aurelius Manufacturing engineers and builds welded hydraulic cylinders for the companies that make this equipment. Our engineers begin with the attachment, the vehicle it mounts to, and the way public works crews operate it, and design the cylinder to suit.
Developing a plow, sweeper, or mower attachment? Involve Aurelius while the mounting and geometry are still open.
Municipal Applications
Public works equipment spans winter maintenance, street cleaning, and roadside vegetation control. The cylinders behind those jobs range from compact angle cylinders on a plow frame to long-reach boom cylinders on a roadside cutter.
Each example below lists questions that commonly drive the cylinder design. Municipal equipment outside this list gets the same treatment.
Many municipal functions can be handled more than one way. These configurations come up often, and the right choice depends on the circuit, the mounting, and how the attachment is operated.
Gravity or load return for plow lift and similar functions that only need hydraulic force in one direction.
Powered motion both ways for angling moldboards, folding wings, and positioning booms.
High lift from a short collapsed length for spreader bodies and high-dump hoppers.
Softened arrival at the end of travel for angle and fold functions that cycle quickly.
Relief, crossover, or holding valves in the cylinder body to protect plows and booms close to the load.
Sensing for moldboard angle, wing position, and boom placement on operator displays.
Design Considerations
Seasonal schedules, impacts, and de-icing chemicals shape these designs as much as force and stroke do. A plow cylinder and a mower cylinder may share a truck, yet face almost nothing in common.
Raise these considerations at the start, so the cylinder, mounts, and hydraulic circuit are designed around them together.
Tired of replacing the same plow or mower cylinder? Show us what is failing, and we will help figure out why.
Why Aurelius
Every season brings different work. The cylinder should be designed with all of it in mind.
Many plow, sweeper, and mower functions run on standard cylinders. A custom welded design becomes worth discussing when an attachment needs a mount or port arrangement a catalog part cannot offer, when a function keeps bending rods or cracking mounts, or when several parts could be consolidated into one well-engineered cylinder.
Aurelius engineers begin with the attachment and how crews actually use it, including the hits it takes and the months it may sit idle. Recommendations aim for a cylinder that holds up and stays sensible to build, and our team will say so when something can be simpler or less expensive.
Before machining begins, incoming tubes and rods are inspected, and anything with surface defects is turned away. Each finished cylinder is tested before shipping. The shop team is built for longevity, with training that helps people catch process issues before they reach a customer.
Founded in 1926, Aurelius has 100 years of engineering solutions behind it, and that history now supports equipment builders through development and recurring production alike.
Aurelius designs custom cylinders for companies that build or integrate equipment. If your company manufactures or outfits municipal equipment and needs a cylinder developed for a recurring application, share the details and the team will review the fit.
Planning next season's equipment? Bring Aurelius into the design early, while there is still room to get the cylinder right.