Hydraulic Hose Repair

wbhf3

Member
We are wanting to put a hydraulic hose crimper, some hose and fittings in our shop at the farm. It seems like we always need hoses fixed at the most inconvenient times.

Do any of you have experience with Gates Crimpers? I am looking at a Gates Crimper but was told that you can't crimp certain fittings with a gates machine. I haven't made up hoses before so I am looking for some pointers. I was told it would be better to get a Weatherhead crimper because it will crimp any brand of fitting. Can you only crimp certain brand fittings with certain makes of crimpers?

Thanks.
 
There are different fittings for different brands. I have a Parker and there are different series ends for different crimpers.
Some hose ends are expensive, and there are a lot of sizes and styles. It is a pretty pricey investment, but getting back up and running can be worth a lot. Nathan
 
You only crimp the brand of hose and the brand of fittings that is the same brand as the crimper. Weatherhead makes a pneumatic crimper that you could take on a service truck that has an aircompressor
 
Our local O'Reillys has made up some odd ones for my dozers and skid loaders. I know this doesn't answer your question but my point is they do have odd stuff.
 
We have a Gates crimper in our engineering proto shop at work. From what I've observed the usefulness of having our own crimper is proportional to the amount of inventory of couplings we carry. We only do 100R17 hose in 1/4 to 3/4 size but we still have many thousands of dollars worth of couplings in stock covering a wide range of configurations. If you just have a few on hand you'll invariably not have the one you need and the value of your overall investment will be diminished. Granted, the number of different couplings you would need to carry to cover your on-farm requirements would most likely be far less than our situation but you'll still want to plan on laying out some cash to have a sufficient stock.
 
I am a die hard fan of Gates . Used gates when we had the two part fittings and now have a latter model machine. Have had gates machine for 40 years here on the farm. We make all our hoses including the late plastic / nylon looking hoses.
 
Fittings/ you start out with a lot of 1/2 inch stuff and add a few as you go. If you have a good dealer he can advise you on initial stock. Best thing is to look at what you have had made in the last year and then make your initial fittings order. We deal with Royal Brass in Knoxville Tn and they are first class.
 
I have the Weatherhead Coll-O-Crimp setup, manual variation, where you use a 30 ton shop press and a pusher with Weatherhead collets. I have the collets (dies) for 1/4" - 1" U-Series fittings. These work with standard R2 or R16 two wire braided hydraulic hose. The U-Series fittings have become generic so you don't neccessarily have to use genuine Weatherhead fittings. Places such as Discount Hydraulic Hose offer a full line of fittings at reasonable prices. Also plenty of Weatherhead U-Series fittings show up on Ebay, usually at reasonable prices. Power crimpers by Weatherhead show up regularly on Ebay but even used ones are kind of expensive (as are the collets).
 
If you have Gates hoses and fittings, you need a gates crimper. Same with weatherhead and any other brand. If you use a crimping press of a different brand than what the hose and fitting is,you could blow the fitting off the hose. The same goes for using a different brand of fitting than the brand of hose. It can cause problems. See what brand is most common in your area and who the best supplier would be.
 
I have a deal now if you buy 2750 in hose and fitting I will give you a crimper but you can usually find them used online ---I may even have an extra 1 for sale in 1 month
 
I'm not a fan of weather head hyd. fittings because they make that bell shape at the end and in tight spot it can cause problems.
I like the parker fittings as they are more compact. IIRC our IH dealer could even crimp battery cable ends with those.
 
I would stick with something common. Parker, Eaton, Gates, whatever. Look around your place and see what fittings you commonly need. 1/2" npt would by far be the most common. Some JIC is probably in use as well. Easiest way is stock the common npt fittings, and if possible buy/use adapters to go from your npt hose to your o-ring boss, JIC, etc. May depend on how much room you have for that.

If you have a cylinder that takes an o-ring boss but needs a 90 on it, that 90 fitting will cost you an arm and a leg and if it's on the hose it's a one-time deal. If it's a separate fitting, all you have to do is replace the cheap hose with cheap fittings.

For that matter, TSC and other stores carry cheap hose, although maybe not a specific hose or length you need.

Donovan from Wisconsin
 
You Should Never mix fittings and hoses. Gates on Gates, Parker on Parker. Different crimp spec, for different fittings and hose. Ask Gates correct crimp specs when using Parker fittings on their hose, or any others. How many hoses will you make in a year? How long will a reel of hose last? Consider shelf life of hose. Have you made hoses in the past? Too many variables involved, need to think this thru. Most companies will want an upfront purchase of $2500 to get "free" crimper. Then minimum order every year.
 

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