# Hydraulic ram piston diameter for 30 ton
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydraulic-ram-piston-diameter-for-30-ton/447808
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 2, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydraulic-ram-piston-diameter-for-30-ton/447808 "2008-05-02T21:16:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydraulic-ram-piston-diameter-for-30-ton/447808/1 "2008-05-02T21:16:23Z")
Hydraulic ram piston diameter for 30 ton push (we’re extending the ram) … assuming 2800 psi oil pressure, ton = 2240 pounds?
[ol]
[li]2800/2240 = 1.25 tons per sq inch[/li][li]30/1.25 = 24 sq inches required for piston[/li][li]Now to convert sq inches to a diameter[/li][li]24/3.14159 = 7.64 divide by pi to give r²[/li][li]sqroot 7.64 = 2.76 turn r² into r[/li][li]2.76\*2 = 5.52 turn r into dia.[/li][/ol]
So ram diameter is 5.52 inches? Yes, it won’t be excactly that, he’ll probably be obtaining something near-enough.
Don’t know what it’s for, a boss has just woken me up this Saturday morning to ask this question. Though he does split firewood as a sideline (what was fun was when we’d blast the logs into firewood. Though it was tedious collecting the firewood after. And fixing the damage. And paying to get the powerlines reconnected :eek: ).
I haven’t done this sort of calculation in a while, and it’s taken 4 goes to get two matching results. :smack: I’d appreciate a double check, it’s taken me an hour to do the calculations and this post!
Thanks
Dave
eta gah, just went into the kitchen for breakfast and coffee… somethings died in my ceiling and now there’s a rain of maggots
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### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydraulic-ram-piston-diameter-for-30-ton/447808/2 "2008-05-02T21:28:50Z")
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Quick check: 5 squared is 25, times 3/4 is 18 square inches, roughly; times 3000 is 54000 pounds, divided by 2000 is 27 tons, so my quick, do-it-in-your-head check confirms your detailed calculation.
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### Author:  [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydraulic-ram-piston-diameter-for-30-ton/447808/3 "2008-05-02T21:49:41Z")
Thanks for that **Rocketeer**. Much appreciated.
Dave