What's the secret. Those of you with a D7G or you mechanics. The tilt hoses run from what I'll call the valve bank next to the operator seat down to through the belly pan. The clamp seems to hold the hoses next to the semi sharp edge of the frame and as the hoses move when the undercarriage oscillates rubs a hole in the hoses. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about if you've seen this. The hoses are somewhat flexible I suppose only single braid but are cat hoses. My options? Heavier hoses? Protect the hoses with a wrap? Modify the clamp to hold hoses away from frame? Or do I even need the clamp? This is not an easy place to work and I'm in the middle of nowhere at the moment. New hoses will be made in the morning. One was a little long in my opinion. Neither are original of course so length will be measured against old hoses. I know this is an issue with these machines and am wondering what some of you have done to solve the problem. We already replace the hoses going out into the push arm and wraped them with a protective material. Any advice? I only want to do this once. Thanks, Jeff
It seems to me that you already came up with a few good ideas yourself. I don't have any experience with this machine, but I'd say you might be better off keeping the clamp. If you get rid of it, the hoses may flop around more and possibly cause chafing in some different location. If it isn't too difficult to work with, I'd say that modifying the clamp could be useful. Just make sure that you don't make your clamp become the next item that wears your hoses. I just recently replaced a hyd. hose on a JD backhoe which had been chafed through by the clamp itself. A wrap is always a good idea, especially if you have room enough for it. One other thing you might try, assuming you have enough room to work, is take a file and hone the edge of the hole down a bit. Round it off where the hose rubs to help minimize the wear. All of these ideas we have come up with are cheap tricks that can, in my opinion, go a long way towards solving your problem. I'd combine as many of these things as possible, every little bit helps.
Go with some metal hose wrap.