Home Made Hydraulic Hoses-How to Tutorial

I have some upcoming projects that will require a lot of custom length hoses, so I thought it would be a good time to give these a fair trial. I have always had hoses made locally at a fair price and in a timely manner, but I was always curious about these.

All parts (hoses and Fittings) where purchased from Discount Hydraulic Hose. I only needed the 1/4" hose and fittings for this project, but all the sizes are assembled the same way.

This is 30' of 1/4" SAE 100R2AT 2-Wire 5000psi hydraulic hose


Here are two types of fittings, 1/4" NPT on the left, and a -6 JIC on the right.


Better view. 1/4" NPT on the left and -6 JIC on the right.



Here they are with the inner stems removed from the outside collar.


A die grinder with a cutoff wheel makes easy work of cutting the hose cleanly.


Here is the cut hose, a straight clean cut is important.


The outside collar is threaded onto the hose. These are left-hand threads.


Turn it till the inside bottoms out on the hose.


Now, mark the hose/collar, and back off the collar 1/2 turn or so to create a gap inside the fitting for the hose to expand into. This is a VERY IMPORTANT step. Failure to do this will cause the stem to break (Don't ask how I know!)


Hold the collar in a vise, lube the stem and inside the hose with some hydraulic oil and start turning the stem in. This was the hardest part-pushing and turning till the threads engaged. If it starts to get real tight, remove the stem, re-lube and try again.


Here is the completed fitting. The stem should NOT be tightened to the collar-but rather a small gap left.


After assembling the hose, be sure to flush it with a solvent (like mineral spirits) and compressed air to clean it out. You don't want the crap from cutting the hose in your hydraulic system.

So, that is it. I hope this will help someone in the future...