Almost rotted or rotted steel hydraulic lines

[lilb93]

I am sure a few of you have came across a rotted steel line on equipment. There is no need to go to Cat or John Deere or anyone for that matter of fact. You can make the yourself real easy.

On the bottom photo which is 3/8 steel line. You need a good tubing bending tools. Expensive NO. The best one I have found was from Harbor freight for 6.00 and yes I have hydraulic one's but the 6.00 one beats them hand down for ease of use. You will need a flaring tool for 37 degrees. 45 degrees will NOT work. You only flair then SINGLE seat NOT double seat.
You will need new nuts and Nut adapters. The nut Spacer or adapter is your second seat.
The nuts you can get from PARKER. For 3/8 line the number is 6 BTX-S. The seats for 3/8 line are 6 TX-S
All you have to do is change the front number if using other size lines.
4= 1/4", 6=3/8", 8=1/2", 10=5/8", 12=3/4", 14=7/8" 16=1"

 

[g_man]

You are right. They are not hard to make if you have a bender. You can also use flareless fittings so you don't need a heavy duty 37* flaring tool.
I remade these lines with Convert-A-Flare fittings.







I put an extra fitting on the female end so I could torque the flareless joint on the bench and not try to do it in the tight equipment space. Here is the male and female ends. They take up more room the way I did it.

 

[lilb93]

We use them here to repair a line thats broken in the field. I never had luck with then in the long haul. They either leaked by the crimp or came off all togther. The flaring tool from 5/16 to 5/8 is about 40 bucks.

 

[zbo2]

Where can you get the seemless steel tubing?

Thanks
Joe

 

[RBMcCloskey]

Thanks great ideas!

 

[kshansen]

Where can you get the seemless steel tubing?

Thanks
Joe

I'll butt in a little here. I am able to purchase the seamless tubing from the same dealer that sells hydraulic hose and fittings. They will also make the lines up for you if you wish. I have had good luck with the flareless fittings. might depend on the application. Last place I used them was the steel line from one side of the boom on a Case 1845 C to the other for the tilt cylinder lines. 1/2 od tubing

 

[zbo2]

The 2 local Hydraulic hose shops near me don't carry the tubing... one is a Parker store. Also there is a third that I deal with online, same thing though... they don't have anything for steel lines.

 

[maddog]

nice work, always good to see a way to make something that cost less.

 

[g_man]

McMasterCarr carries steel hydraulic tubing. 3' or 6' lengths.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-steel-tubing/=12r5qty

gg

 

[brianbulldozer]

For those small lines that run down by the belly pan and seem always to get buried in dirt and eventually rot away, I go to my local hydraulic shop and have them fabricate a replacement out of stainless steel. I have made my own lines before out of steel hydraulic tubing, but have not tried the stainless myself so don't know how much more difficult it is (if at all) to fabricate.

 

[zbo2]

Thanks, always forget about McMasterCarr................