Woods BH-90X backhoe JIC won't stay tight

[JeffInCO]

I blew a hose for the first time on my Woods BH-90X. The blown hose was one of the two connected to the bucket cylinder.

The owners manual gives a description of the hose: 3/8", 127" long, 9/16 JICF fitting.

I went to a local hydraulics shop and had a replacement hose fabricated. I installed it, cycled the bucket slowly 4-5 times with no load (to get air out of the system), then checked for leaks. There were none. I then tried running the bucket all the way to the end for a second or two, opening the overpressure valve. Still no leaks... so I went back to digging. Within 5 minutes, I was leaking fluid all over the place. Turns out the JIC on the new hose was very loose at the valve/manifold end (I had definitely tightened it the first time). All of the hoses connecting to the manifold see quite a bit of flexing, as the backhoe swings left to right.

I repeated all of the above and tried again, with exactly the same result. (Note that I had to loosen up a few of the other original hoses in order to get to the one to be replaced... no leaks on those after reconnecting.)

I suspect that I could keep cycling the bucket forever with no leaks, until I start swinging the backhoe left to right.

The JICF fittings on the new hose definitely *look* different than the original fittings from Woods. The nut is longer, and (in hindsight), they appear by construction to be more susceptible to loosening up by flexing.

Before I head back to the shop the made the hose, is there a particular type of JIC fitting that I can request by name? I.e., is there a special variation of JIC that is made for this application?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[bigdeano]

Do you have any Locktite thread locker? It's probably worth a try. Clean any oil off with gas or brake cleaner first.

Maybe it just needs to be tighter. Just guessing though.

 

[JeffInCO]

Do you have any Locktite thread locker? It's probably worth a try. Clean any oil off with gas or brake cleaner first.

Maybe it just needs to be tighter. Just guessing though.

I tried tightening more than seemed good (my understanding is that 9/16 JIC-6's are supposed to be torqued to around 25 foot pounds). Tightening didn't help.

Locktite might help, although the original fittings don't need it.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[RickB]

Put a wrench on the fixed hex of the crimp fitting on the hose and hold it counter- rotated about 1 flat when you tighten the JIC ‘nut’ on the fitting. Do this on both ends. By not holding the hose itself you are inadvertently putting a slight twist on the hose and as it ‘unwinds’ it loosens a fitting. Skip the loctite.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Also...
Are you absolutely, 100%, sure both fitting are JIC? There are other very similar fittings with silghtly different bevel angle/dimensions... Maybe the hydraulic shop accidentally put the wrong one on?

 

[100 td]

X2 with Luke on the possibility of a different hose fitting
SAE are 45 degree flare, JIC 37 degree, see if there is a part number stamped into the flare nut and check it online, just in case.

 

[JeffInCO]

Put a wrench on the fixed hex of the crimp fitting on the hose and hold it counter- rotated about 1 flat when you tighten the JIC 創ut on the fitting. Do this on both ends. By not holding the hose itself you are inadvertently putting a slight twist on the hose and as it 爽nwinds it loosens a fitting. Skip the loctite.

This seemed to work! This morning, I re-tightened the fittings on the new hose while preventing the hose from rotating during the final tightening, then operated the backhoe for about 15 minutes with no leaks. (Never made it even close to that long on Saturday.) I re-checked the nut after operating, and found that it is still snug.

I'm also going to double-check the fitting type as suggested by Luke and 100td; haven't done that yet.

Thanks all who replied.

Jeff