Slightly off-topic - Hydraulic hose crimping

Hi all -

I looked for a newsgroup about hydraulics but didn't find one... so here we are...

We are in the process of repairing a truck mounted hydraulic crane (an old power company rig that digs holes, sets poles and generally does lots of stuff).

Yesterday I replaced two of the approximately 3,218 hydraulic hoses on the rig and paid about $100 for them. Since there will be more hoses to replace as we get into the project (and we also have a backhoe with aging hoses that will need some attention in the future) we are considering getting the tooling to do our own hoses.

The crimping machines seem godawful expensive - and there seem to be two or three manufacturers (Parker, Weatherhead, Gates, etc.) with apparently incompatible fittings and crimping dies...

Is tooling up for what we want to do reasonable for the amount of hoses we will be making or is it more cost effective to run down to the auto parts and have them made for us as needed?

Anybody do/done this and have any words of wisdom?

Thanks in advance

Carla

Pick at random any three letters from the alphabet, put them in any order, and you will have an acronym designating a federal agency we can do without. Milton Friedman

Reply to
Carla Fong
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You didn't really say how many hoses you expect to make in the end. If your project will be a lot initially and then only an occasional hose, you could buy a crimping machine, possibly even used, make all the hoses you need, then sell the crimper. After that, pay the $50 for the occasional crimp job. Mikek

Reply to
amdx

You are going to need to crimp a LOT of hose to make buying a Parker Hannefin crimper anything close to affordable!!!! However, there are hand operated units that could make sense - particularly if only 1 or

2 different size dies are required. What does it cost to have an end installed (not counting the end)? How many ends? Not hard to figure out how much you can afford to spend on a crimper and still come out ahead
Reply to
clare

Greetings Carla, I have made up a lot of hydraulic hoses using the fittings that screw into the hose. The fittings are more expensive than crimp fittings but you don't need a special machine to use them. You can use a lathe or a pipe threading machine to screw the fittings into the hoses if you are making up a lot of hoses. The fittings are re-usable so if a hose gets damaged you just unscrew the fitting from the old hose and put it on the new hose. See this link:

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It explains how to install them and shows what they look like. Cheers, Eric

Reply to
etpm

I was going to suggest this.

Additionally, where did you get the hoses made? Many auto parts stores make hydraulic hoses, the various Parker stores do, and plenty of others. Also if you have any friends that work at a place that services fleets of utility trucks or many industrial places you can probably borrow time with their crimper. Just buy the fittings and hose, pre-cut the hose to length and then visit the friend for a crimping party and bring pizza or something.

Reply to
Pete C.

You can rent those things, but you will also need to buy a huge variety of fittings. It is a pain in the butt.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus7492

On 07/14/2014 10:09 AM, Carla Fong wrote: ...

...

...

It's going to be pretty pricey one way or t'other--the only thing would be if you do buy tooling you have the possibility of recouping some of that cost later if you were able to resell it.

Depending on the length and size of the two you had made that sounds either about right, maybe, on cost or expensive...I'd check around locally for who else besides an auto parts place is handy -- ag dealerships or custom hydraulics repair guys may be significantly better deals as they do more routinely than any NAPA or the like I've ever seen.

We've got a zillion hoses here on farm plus I have a 40-ft JLG manlift that like your rig is a veritable forest of hydraulics and I still just use the locals; don't think the overhead is justified. Then again, I've not and don't intend to do any that don't or are obviously ready to fail except when they individually are needed; wouldn't consider on any of the gear here that wholesale replacement is needed. If it were, might change the thought process.

It's one of the few things I've not searched eBay for -- what luck you might find on recycled tooling there at reasonable prices I've no klew, but I'd surely be looking if were in the market.

Reply to
dpb

Don't forget to add the time to go down to the local store as part of your cost for having replacements made.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

A quick ebay and craigslist search seems to indicate you can get a used name brand unit in the $1k-$1.5k range. Might need to buy some dies as well if the used unit doesn't include the ones you need. The thing is these crimpers are everywhere, so if you hunt around you can probably find a friend of a friend with access to one you could use for an hour while they eat the pizza you bring.

Reply to
Pete C.

Hey Carla,

I forget where you are located, but if it's in Canada, then try Princess Auto. They make custom hoses on-site. Having then do it will also provide a modicum of scare relief too.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

XXXXXXXXX

Reply to
Brian Lawson

You will also need to buy a 500 ft roll of each size and pressure hose you will need. And boxes of 5 to 20 of each style fitting.

Reply to
Ralph

But there is the off-setting cost of eating the mistakes. If you order correctly, and the assembly is wrong [length/fittings/hose], most places will make it right at no cost.

There is also a learning curve, and the procedure is not as simple as it seems. [it never is] you will generate some scrap learning the tricks/process. One of the tricks is to make the longer hoses first, so you can cut them down to repair the errors.

FWIW: cut-rate hose and fittings almost never save any money in the long run when you are making assemblies for your own use. The loss from any down time far offsets any savings.

A suggestion: Make a list of ALL the assemblies you will need and take the list to several dealers, with the understanding you don't need these as a rush job. They will be able to use these orders as fill-ins to even their workloads, so you should get a better price. You have enough equipment that establishing a long-term supplier relationship should be profitable for both of you.

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

Others may have mentioned this:

20 years ago I did a hydraulics course. There are fittings that screw together and do not need crimping. Many of them are also re-usable.

The fittings probably cost more than the crimp style ones.

Reply to
DTJ

Izzat about a hunnerd?

Getting or fabbing, Carla?

Yes, they are.

I've always gone to the NAPA a/p for hyd hoses, but those were one-offs.

Buying all the dies might cost you as much as NAPA, but if you can fab most of them and use them in a 10k portapower or beefier press, you might be spending a whole lot less money. Then again, trial and error will cost you, too. Why not pick another pair and try to fab dies for whatever press you have? That's probably the way to go, if you have unlimited time and limited money.

DO let us know what you end up with, por favor.

Ain't dat de trufe?

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Don't fix it if it's not broken.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

I might consider buying the official dies I needed and fabbing the rest of the setup to use in a regular hydraulic H press.

Reply to
Pete C.

OK gang, thanks for all the great advice.

It's pretty obvious that with our NAPA store about 3 blocks away and the relatively small number of hoses we will need that having NAPA make our hoses as needed is the best route for our needs.

When you factor in buying a lot more hose than we'll need for the foreseeable future, add an inventory of connectors and then buying or fabbing a crimping machine it just doesn't pencil out for our volume.

Thank you again - you saved us a ton of $$$$...

Carla

It's all fun and games until she asks if you've ever seen "The Crying Game."

Reply to
Carla Fong

Pathology's definition is the study of disease.

So Liberalism is "the study of disease" according to you?

Reply to
mogulah

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com fired this volley in news:0c6adde5-f3a2-453b-948f- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Bad misuse of the term... it should have said, "pathological condition".

But, given its misuse, it would read better if it said, "Liberalism is a study IN the science of pathology."

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com fired this volley in news:0c6adde5-f3a2-453b-948f- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Bad misuse of the term... it should have said, "pathological condition".

But, given its misuse, it would read better if it said, "Liberalism is a study IN the science of pathology."

Lloyd

==============================================================

Which must make conservatism a study in the science of paleofantasy...

Reply to
Ed Huntress

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