Its that time of year - Repair time

[woodlandfarms]

OK. So this is the rub. How do I know how long and what size my hose is unless I pull it out? If I pull it out then how do I pull the other hose through?

Confused in washington.

 

[J_J]

If you want to check out just one hose. Here is a very good way to test a hydraulic hose or fittings for leaks. A hydraulic hand pump is used in this test. Plug or cap one end of the hose, leaving it loose for the time being. connect the hose from the hydraulic hand pump, which should have at least A 3000 psi gage, to the other end of the hose using adapters as necessary. Give the pump a couple of strokes to fill the hose and let all air out of the capped end which is not tight yet. Once all air is expelled from the hose, tighten the cap or plug, and stroke the pump up to the pressure rating on the hose. There should be a lockout valve on the pump to retain pressure. If the hose is intact, or not leaking, the test is over. release the pressure on the hose. Test complete. If the pressure drops off. there is a leak somewhere. This test can be done on the machine. The leak maybe out of site. If you have leak detector dye in the pump, an ultraviolet light will help pinpoint the leak.

Always be careful of high pressure spray, wear safety glasses, and do not run you hands along the hose. Hydraulic oil injection is a nasty situation.

 

[KentT]

OK. So this is the rub. How do I know how long and what size my hose is unless I pull it out? If I pull it out then how do I pull the other hose through?

Confused in washington.

Use the leaking hose to pull through some type of "snake" as you remove it. Then get a new hose made and pull it through with the snake you pulled earlier.

 

[MossRoad]

As KentT said, put a pull rope or wire on the first hose you pull out before you pull it out. Then use that to pull the new hose in, or an old hose out, etc... we do a lot of wire runs in our building. I have probably pulled in excess of 100,000 feet of network and phone wires in my 20 years there, plus another 35 miles of electrical inside of machinery when re-wiring a printing press. Pull ropes, pulling lubricant, etc.. really work wonders. My advice is also DO NOT TIE WRAP A BUNDLE OF HOSES TOGETHER AND PULL THEM IN TOGETHER!!! You will curse yourself silly when you have to remove one hose in the future and cannot reach the tie wrap to cut it because it is in the middle of the tunnel or some other inaccessible area. I curse the guys in our building that tape wire bundles together and then run them in a conduit. AAARRRGH!!!!

 

[SpringHollow]

I have no experience with them but it seems like making your own hoses with the reusable hose fittings would be ideal especially if you have right angle fittings on each end. If replacing lots of hoses, it might be nice too since it would save trips to the hose shop.

I really wish they made that tunnel a little bigger!!!

Ken

 

[ponytug]

I differ from JJ on loosening the wheel motors, but YMMV. I think they are too heavy, and are already out in the open.

I find that a package of colored cable ties lets you tag the port, the hose end, and the opposite hose end, and opposite port with one color cable tie. Just check that you have enough ties and colors before you start. I also find photos and notes to be invaluable, especially if the job gets interrupted. (Besides, it gives you a chance to write it up with diagrams and photos with lots of Xs and Os on the back for us!)

To get your 90 bends through is going to be a hassle, which was partly why I enquired whether you were going to do the whole set of hoses or not. If you do the whole set, you can do the 90 degree ends first, and the others later.

Can you rent a hydraulic hose crimper easily? Per other threads, the reusable thread on ends might solve your problems by letting you pull/push unterminated hose. I've never used them, so I can't comment.

All the best,

Peter

Carl.

It might be a good idea to remove or loosen the wheel motors to aid in removing the hoses. The wheel motors get heavier as the cu in go up. For example

12 cu in motor weighs around 35 lbs.
17 cu in motor weighs around 68 lbs
24 cu in wheel motor, weighs around 80 lbs.

As far as pulling the hoses through the tunnel, If one end has a straight fitting, it is an easy process. If your present hoses have a 90 degree fitting on both ends, it will be tough, if not impossible to pull through the tunnel. A way around this is to order the hoses with a 90 on one end and a straight fitting on the other, and add the 90 degree fitting after pulling the hose through the tunnel. Just tell your hose technician what you are trying to do. That wire pull lubricant might help in pulling the hoses. I would only work on one hose at a time so you don't cross connect something.

 

[woodlandfarms]

It is DONE. And thanks to all of you for all the advice.

First, I have to get over psyching myself out of projects. I have a college degree, I am handy and I have friends who will help me out as much as I hate calling in favors.

This said. I learned a lot.

Outside of all of this advice I have a few other notes.

yes, 4 wire hose is stiff. Maybe too stiff. I took everyones advice and decided to pull the hoses connected to other hoses (use the old to pull the new). To do this, I had to have straight ends on both sides. I deemed it easier to have someone (wife) push from the engine side while I pulled from the cab side.

I found that if you pull the hose into the cab (from the front wheel well) it will move fairly easy by using your foot (grab the hose, bend it back and put your foot on the crimp and push... 6" at a time but it gets through.

I found that no matter how clean things are there still is dirt everywhere. Keeping everything clean was a trial.

Finally, and this i big. On my 1850... Since I put straight connectors on the front end, I needed to get angled pipes that screw on. Problem is that this whole rig is much thicker than the original. I could not attach the pipes. I had to go back and but a hard 90 degree and that got one in closer to the wheel than the other allowing things to attach.

I will get pictures of this end result shortly.

I also have to do this to the other side but as it is not leaking at the moment I am going to hold off and regroup.

Thanks again to everyone for advice.

 

[J_J]

It is DONE. And thanks to all of you for all the advice.

First, I have to get over psyching myself out of projects. I have a college degree, I am handy and I have friends who will help me out as much as I hate calling in favors.

This said. I learned a lot.

Outside of all of this advice I have a few other notes.

yes, 4 wire hose is stiff. Maybe too stiff. I took everyones advice and decided to pull the hoses connected to other hoses (use the old to pull the new). To do this, I had to have straight ends on both sides. I deemed it easier to have someone (wife) push from the engine side while I pulled from the cab side.

I found that if you pull the hose into the cab (from the front wheel well) it will move fairly easy by using your foot (grab the hose, bend it back and put your foot on the crimp and push... 6" at a time but it gets through.

I found that no matter how clean things are there still is dirt everywhere. Keeping everything clean was a trial.

Finally, and this i big. On my 1850... Since I put straight connectors on the front end, I needed to get angled pipes that screw on. Problem is that this whole rig is much thicker than the original. I could not attach the pipes. I had to go back and but a hard 90 degree and that got one in closer to the wheel than the other allowing things to attach.

I will get pictures of this end result shortly.

I also have to do this to the other side but as it is not leaking at the moment I am going to hold off and regroup.

Thanks again to everyone for advice.

Carl,


The only advantage to 4 wire is the pressure rating. It is stiff as hel* and hard to bend which is what you want to do in the tunnel. You never did say if you cleaned everything, and used slippy slide on the hose. Did you ever put the leak detector dye in the hydraulic tank. You should have run some of those test on the other pressure hoses while you had some room in the tunnel, but at least you fixed one of those hoses. One of my wheel motor hoses burst while working, and I lost all control while rolling back toward a creek. I lucked out and rolled into a tree. I couldn't figure out what was happening because the burst hose was out front. It pumped out about three gal before I could think straight.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I cleaned as best I could but the tunnel shot the whole keeping clean idea. It was caked in crud. I did not use or need lube.

I am going to replace the other wheel hoses as they are definitly dead soldiers. I will use 3 wire hoses and see if that makes a difference in the pull.

I have not put in the leak detection stuff cause once I cut the tunnel cover open it was clear where the leak was.

I will take some pix tomorrow of the wheel connectors.

Carl

 

[woodlandfarms]

I just wanted to show you guys how I dealt with the hose ends. Because of the way the wheels set up I could not get the nice long bent 90 degree adapters on. So one is a short hard 90 and the other is long...