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Hi-pressure Hose

B

Bubbles Galore

Active member
I want to start crimping my own HP hose. A few questions though.

Is it cost effective to do this vs. buying it pre-made?

What are the up front costs for the crimping unit?

Is it really worth it?

Inquiring minds want to know :)
 
I've tried to use reusable hose ends around 6 times. Six times I failed to get them on and use them. I keep buying them, I guess, because it gives me a sense that I'm prepared for a hose failure on a weekend - the reality is that each time it has resulted in frustration and tools tossed so far I can't usually find all of them when the tantrum abates.
 
It?s going to cost you $1990.49 for the hose crimper, hand pump and a 3/8? hose die. We have a guy here that does it for us for $2.50 an end and he supplies the fittings, we supply the hose. We usually make up 5 or 6 hoses at a time. I don?t think I can justify spending $2K on a hose crimper. We have a hand crimper for our low pressure hose that we use to put the ends on, it makes a nice professional looking crimp. I think I paid about $100 for it.
 
You should be able to find a manual crimper or swager for around $300. I keep a manual one on the service truck and an air over hydraulic in the shop. To be honest by the time you buy the fittings and the hose, you don't save much. It's just nice to have if you need a longer hose or a special size. Hope this helps. By the way Sonny's has the manual crimpers.
 
I went through this two or three years ago. After many questions and suggestions of which type and whether to buy one or not I settled on a Parker KarryKrimp. Lisa Lyons has had this one and the "bottle jack" type and told me her guys liked the Parker better. I bought it on her recommendation. I found mine on ebay. It was brand new and I got it for $650. It came with dies from 1/4" to 1", a manual pump, and a black "pusher" plate. The only thing missing was instructions and the "silver" pusher. It was no trouble to figure out how to use it and the place where I get my fittings sold me a used silver pusher for $25. I have 17 SS bays and 7 autos so I am always in need of a hose and have not regretted buying this thing for one minute. I did tire of the manual pump and bought an air powered one last year. Now I don't dread it when I need to make several hoses at one time, especially the larger diameter ones. I use the blue goodyear 3/8" HP hose running to my bays as well. I also make my own brush hoses with it. I just crimp the HP fittings on the polybraid or pliovic hose. It's not made for that, but works great. I also like the fact that I can use up a hose that may just be damaged on the end or one that I had made up for a piece of equipment I no longer have. You can lop off one end and have a new hose made up for the cost of one fitting.

I buy a lot of my fittings from Universal Hose and fittings in Farmville, VA. They are very knowledgeable and accommodating. They also seem to have a lot of used equipment. Check out ebay or give them a call.
 
What about the 2 pc reuseable ends that thread onto the rubber on the braided line? All the lines to my booms are setup that way. I've never had a problem.
 
I.B. Washincars - Thanks for the advice. I own and 8 bay and I have a lot of main line HP lines that I have no idea when they were last changed or even IF they have been changed.
Something like this would make life quite a bit easier to handle when the time comes to change those out.
 
Instead of buying the hose crimper, have you checked out buying the hoses with the ends you want from Kleen-rite. I noticed that was where you were looking at buying the crimper. I get hoses from there all the time. I get special order with this end or that end cut to the length I want. I think I would have to make 1000 hoses to save money with a crimper.
 
FWIW I buy HP bay and Foam Brush hoses ready made from Kleen Rite (USe HP for foam brush becaus the low pressure may crimp and stop the weep. ) Cost of raw materials is virualy identical to buying ready made, and I already have an electric crimper. The bother of crimping isn't worth the nominal savings of shipping since I always buy about 6 hoses at a time and keep spares on hand. For a quick fix in the HP lines in the trough I use reuseable ends. Swivel ends make it easier.

In all I have 2 manual and one electric crimper i use for the 1/2 inch tunnel hydraulic hose because the sizes vary so much. But for the SS I buy ready made.
 
Reds said:
Most Napa stores can make up hoses for you in a jam. And many of them are open on Sunday.
Click to expand...

I got a hose from NAPA which costs $8 at Kleen Rite. It was $30 at NAPA. I had to get on my roof to replace it. The hose was sealed solid. I had to get back on my roof and remove the hose, take it back and get a new one then repeat.
 
Look for a "Couplamatic" hand swager, which you can get for around $200. It's obviously more work, than an electric-hydraulic crimper, but it will make a nice, neat fitting for a very small investment. I've had one for years to which I attached a 3-foot aluminum angle piece, and I can hold it on a ladder and repair an overhead line without taking it down, turning the screw with one hand. There's a lightweight all-aluminum Parker one in the Windtrax catalog that does work and uses the same fittings, pushers and dies, but I had one and it exploded on me while I was repairing a hose.

The one I have is at the bottom of this page:

http://www.centralstateshose.com/couplamatic.php

I prefer to order pre-made hoses from Windtrax over making them by hand - there's not much of a savings by doing that. I also tried the "reusable" fittings route, and it's much more work to tighten the fittings together than it is to turn the screw of the hand swager.
 
Indiana Wash said:
I got a hose from NAPA which costs $8 at Kleen Rite. It was $30 at NAPA. I had to get on my roof to replace it. The hose was sealed solid. I had to get back on my roof and remove the hose, take it back and get a new one then repeat.
Click to expand...

I buy my hoses from a local shop that makes them while I wait. NAPA is a backup source for when you need a hose on a busy Sunday and there is no other option. Every time I have a hose made at the local hydraulic shop I have at least a second one made made. The hoses that die most often are on the WW oscillating nozzles, and I keep 3 of each on hand (do not use wire braided hose for those nozzles).
 
Mep: I like that hand swager. I'm young and still prefer to abuse my body vs. spending money I could use elsewhere :)

Is there a better place(cheaper) to buy the hose than KR or Windtrax? Where is a good place to buy the fittings from?
 
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