Fuel line fittings - ARGGGGG!!!

Just finishing up my H restoration. Put gas in the tank for first startup. Opened petcock on strainer, and all 4 fuel fittings leak.

I have an aftermarket distillate strainer and two aftermarket steel fuel lines that came with the farmall type brass fittings. So far I have been successful in getting one of the four to actually crimp the ferrule onto the fuel line, while basically wrecking the other three.

What the h**l am I doing wrong? Let me say I have worked with compression fittings for the last 30 years with hardly a failure I can remember. These are obviously a different animal.

I am trying not to tighten them to much at the strainer. It seems that trying to crimp a brass ferrule onto a steel line in a aluminum strainer is asking to ruin the strainer casting.

Are they supposed to be tightened until the ferrule snaps off the fitting, thus being properly crimped unto the line? I tried this on the brass carb fitting and thats how the one actually crimped, but the other three basically overtightened and destroyed the ferrule (due to overtightening) before the ferrule separated from the fitting.

Anyway I have four more fitting ordered from rusty, maybe some advice before they arrive and I wreck them too!

I just put two new IH style nuts with ferrule on the other day and really had to tighten them hard to seat them. Seems harder than they used to be. For a while, IH was using one with a teflon liner inside ferrule and I really liked that fitting. Main problem I ever saw people having was not keeping the line fully pushed into the carb or sediment bowl while tightening them.

you said aftermarket did you meen china? i havent had much luck from there. i use steel line from auto parts store and fittings from dealer and hasent failed yet. good luck with it, stumper

You need to buy good quality fittings. You can buy complete new pipes, as I did, because the originals had been cut off at each end and rubber hose fitted, or just the fittings and olives if the pipe is good. There should be no need to crush the olive down hard. Once fitted, the olive will be difficult to remove from the pipe without damaging it, but you should not need to tighten it excessively as this may result in distorting its shape (making it oval instead of round), distorting the pipe itself, distorting the fitting(s) or stripping the threads in the fittings. I use an 'open ring' or 'c' spanner and tighten the nuts until they just bind firmly. If you go further, the nut will distort and the joint will leak. You can use an open jawed spanner, but it does increase the risk of damaging the nut. Good luck,
SadFarmall

first off, let me warn you, I am a bit "old school", but I prefer the double flare fitting for all things like brakes, fuel, etc. I invested in the tool and I don't have a lick of trouble. You will need to convert the fittings but that is what I use. I make all my lines from steel, and the type of brass wedge-shaped ferrule that IH used on the F and letter series is no longer available (at least that I know of).

I got so frustrated with the steel line and fittings that I abandoned that "fix" altogether and went with a rubber hose and two barbed fittings. I don't have 2 lines to contend with since my H is a gas model, and I know it doesn't look "right" but at least it doesn't leak. BTW, I painted the hose red and it's hardly noticeable. My F series tractors all have steel lines and the ferrules were attached to the line, NOT the fitting, and I've never had a leakage problem with them.

I just bought new lines complete (my Farmall H is petrol / kerosene). Fittings were all as per original parts list.
SadFarmall

Bruce, if I don't get these to seal soon I'm gonna go with rubber hose also. I'm not trying to win any "totally original" awards with this tractor anyway. It seems my next problem however will be finding a barbed fitting with the proper thread to fit the strainer and carb.

These were fittings that came with the new fuel lines. It could well be that the quality of the fittings is poor. The "olives" (ferrules) and threaded nut are one piece. It appears they are made so the ferrule should snap off from the nut when tightened. This doesn't seem to be happening without overtightening them. I fail to see how the ferrule is supposed to seal to the pipe if it isn't seperate from the nut. Especially if the fuel line is ever removed for any reason, the ferrule will spin on the pipe. If it's loose enough to spin, how is it gonna seal?

Easy to get at your local napa store. Threads are 5/16" and will go right on to your fuel bowl and carb.

Exactly all the problems I had. I junked the first two fittings that came with the line. Not the fault of my supplier; he can only get whats available, and what's available is all aftermarket stuff, not the original. If it were the original setup, it would be fine.

Well i have not done a fuel line in a couple years so i will not say that i have used any of the new fitting as i also use to get them from Case I H and the had the teflon or nylon inside i never had a problem as i make up my own fuel lines out of steel . But if they are getting harder to to get the Farrel to snap off then don't try and get it to seat in the alum. fitting as it will be softer then the brass use the brass end to seat and if ya mess it up it would be cheaper to replace.

Exactly what I thought. Seat ferrule onto each end of pipe using brass carb fitting. That's how I ruined the three fittings. Getting them tight enough to crimp ferrule onto pipe and snap it off the nut wrecked the ferrules (split them).

I would use braided hose and JIC tube fittings.
These will seal using flared fittings. I made this hose using a vise and reuseable fittings.
The fittings come in pipe to tube sizes. These are 5/16 jic. Hal

Out of interest, where are people buying new fuel lines? I had none of these problems. Just bought them and fitted them. The line from the main fuel tank threaded through the hole in the tank support perfectly and everything did up and sealed easily. No need to snap ferrules off nuts at all. I did have to spend $60 for the privilege, but when you are a long way from easy sources of parts it is often better to spend more money once than less several times.
SadFarmall