Hello guys. I have a 1977 john Deere 410D with a small hydro leak in one of the metal tubes from the pump to what i think is the hydro filter. Im a novice with the machine Im learning as i go. I need to fix the leak. I want to repair it with a compression fitting. With the machine off can I splice this in or will there be to much pressure on the line to do this. The fluid does'nt spray out when running it drips out and it leaves a stain on the ground. thanks for the reply joe
My personal opinion would be not to cut the line splicing in a compression fitting, and to just replace it, I'll explain, there are too many variables to overlook before attempting that. Lets just say if it was a newer machine and the line leaked because it was worn against an edge and popped a hole in the line, so then you'll know the rest of the line is in good shape to fix, but first you have your work cut out for you, because until you know what the specific line pressure happens to be of that line your fixing you need to know the compression fitting can handle it, and then see if the compression fittings is rated for that high pressure of the line, the manufacturer should be able to tell you that, and by looking at the hydraulic line pressures in a shop manual should tell you if its a high, low pressure line. I know my lines when I replace them are rated for like 5000 per square inch, I'm not going to tell you any more numbers so not to mislead you. but I know the actual line pressure is not near that high. you have to be very careful dealing with hydraulic lines because you can cut your fingers off, take out an eye, if its a high pressure line it will for that hydraulic fluid out so fast it will cut anybody right open if they are close enough. If your machine is a nice unit you might want to fix it the right way and have a new line made up, I had all different lengths made up from $35.00 to $75.00, so if your time is valuable you might not want to keep messing with a splice fix, because if the surface of the line you want to cut and fix happens to be aged enough it might not take the crimping of a compression fitting, so you might be just wasting a lot of time and money before realizing to replace the line.... By the way what size is this line? is it 1/4 inch, 3/8 inch? Being the machine is a 1977 it looks to be better advice to just replace the line, if it's leaking in one place now there is a good chance its going to leak somewheres else, and like I was saying about the walls of the line can be deteriorated that won't make for a lasting repair.... Hope this helps... I just wanted to give you an ear full to let you know you really have to know what your doing to splice in a compression fitting.., Good Luck with it.
Joe the line looks to be coming from the cooler it has a rubber hose at one end. I think that should make it low pressure. the line had a hole in it before, I clean'd it and found it had been brazed, thats where the hole is. Its a odd size i don't think i can use a compression fitting im gonna take a pic and post it when i get a chance.
Oh okay so its a oil cooler line, yeah that hardly have 10 pounds of pressure, but I can be wrong, I'm going to suggest this fix by assuming you can use a rubber hose, if you do your homework and find out a rubber hose will do the trick then cut the metal line at the leak, then flare the edge a little on both sides so you can slide a rubber hose over it and clamp it down, by putting a flare on the cut edge it prevents the hose from sliding off, because the clamp alone can never be tighten enough so this way it stops sliding off the metal line when the clamp on the hose reaches the flared end. There are many ways to flare the edge if you don't have a flaring tool, take a tapered punch, a small ball peen hammer, you know what I mean, use anything that you can get the cut edge to flare out. But I just want to say make sure you find out if that line can handle a rubber hose, I hate for you to cut it and then find out its a little bit too much for a rubber hose, and if you do fix it with a hose get the hose rated for oil and fuel, don't let some auto parts store guy sell you vacuum line hose. Let me know how you make out which way you think is best, to braze or splice a hose?
In the case you don't find it possible to replace the hyd pipe, they do make a high pressure flareless compression union for hydraulic applications. I've obtained them from my favorite hyd hose/fitting supplier to get me out of a pinch more than once.