bent hydraulic lines

[allthumbs23]

I have a used tractor that I recently removed the bucket from, and noticed one of the hydraulic lines seems bent, or at least one of the lines has a fair bit of strain on it. I never noticed it with the bucket on. Is there a way to fix this? Everything works, but it seems wrong. See attached pic. Thanks

 

[Soundguy]

A rounded bend is ok, a kink is bad. Strain on a fitting is bad.. You don't want a qd setting odd, and you don't want to crack a hard line.

 

[allthumbs23]

What do you mean by "you don't want a qd setting odd"?
Do you see a problem with my photo if everything is working? Not sure how log it's been this way.

 

[Soundguy]

You don't want a qd setting odd.

exactly that.

A quick disconnect that is put under strain and perhaps cocked to one side can partially unseat and cause a flow stoppage. can heat the oil due to relief opening, causing pump wear, cavitation, whining, slow straining hyds, drug down engine, etc, etc. All bad things.. no good things.

 

[allthumbs23]

Has anyone ever heated one up with an oxy acetylene torch to bend them back?

 

[oldnslo]

All thumbs,
The line towards the front of the tractor will fail in a short time due the strain at the end of the hose fitting. You should be able to "Carefully" bend the steel lines without any heat. I say carefully because you do not want to kink them. Once kinked they are ruined and will require replacing them.

 

[Texas Fella]

All thumbs,
The line towards the front of the tractor will fail in a short time due the strain at the end of the hose fitting. You should be able to "Carefully" bend the steel lines without any heat. I say carefully because you do not want to kink them. Once kinked they are ruined and will require replacing them.

How many hours are on it? I would not be too concerned. But if it is bothering you, I would have a new (longer) hose made before I tried to bend the lines. Just seems like making a new hose would be easier and it would be almost impossible to make a costly mistake (unlike kinking the tubing or lighting your tractor on fire trying to heat it). Take the hose off, take it to your dealer, and tell them to make a new on +3-4". Just my two cents.

 

[allthumbs23]

I did try to bend them without heat, but chickened out somewhere between "too much" and "not enough" force. If I broke a line, I wouldn't have any idea what to do to get it to stop leaking. My hydraulic knowledge is non existent. Tractor has like 670 hours or so on it.

 

[mkr7734]

I would just hold it at the bottom of the bend and push them back to the proper upright position. Should not be that hard and they should be fine.
The pipe bent forward it should bend back. Keep in mind, when they were built they were formed in a bending machine. No doubt it was a mandrel bender to keep them from kinking but looking at what you want to do I don't think they will not kink. Just be sure to support the tube with your thumb at the original place they bent when you push them back. JMHO

 

[allthumbs23]

Anyone think of a good tool combination to try? I tried a crescent wrench but couldn't get a good hold on it. A mini conduit bender would be the ticket!

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Why not just loosen the other, non-visable, elbow ends and rotate them back toward the loader valve?

 

[carmedic310]

I would never put heat to a steel line with anything in it.i also agree with oldnslo that you should be able to bend the line by hand you dont actually want to bend it as much as you do twist it at the bend to make your lines point towards the way the hoses are heading.I make my own steel lines and form them the way they need to be steel lines can be bent by hand but be carefull because they can kink too.By the looks you will have to do something somewhere down the road your gonna have problems i would rather try to fix it now than wait for it to fail in the field

 

[kw22614]

Why not just loosen the other, non-visable, elbow ends and rotate them back toward the loader valve?

+1. If you loosen real slow and easy, just til you can rotate the tube, it prob won't even drip. Remember to tighten back when you set it.

 

[newbury]

Why not just loosen the other, non-visable, elbow ends and rotate them back toward the loader valve?

Yup. They don't look that bad.

 

[allthumbs23]

I managed to get them straight with my HE MAN strength. :laughing: Slow steady pressure. Thanks for the tips guys

 

[Hersheyfarm]

I would have zero issue grabbing and bending those lines back and inch or so.

 

[rScotty]

I managed to get them straight with my HE MAN strength. :laughing: Slow steady pressure. Thanks for the tips guys

Congrats, but you should know that you got lucky. I've worked metal all my life and done the same thing. For small adjustments I've been successful about half the time and the other half ended up crimping the tubing. But you may be better at it than I am.

Here's a picture of the tool used to make up the lines in the first place. The tool comes with a variety of small rollers and each one is carefully sized to fit a certain size tube. It's better, but no guarantee of success either.

Say, if those lines raise the main boom on your loader you should consider putting some sort of safety to prevent the loader from falling when you're working under it. Many loaders come with such a safety latch.
luck, rScotty

 

[mkr7734]

I managed to get them straight with my HE MAN strength. :laughing: Slow steady pressure. Thanks for the tips guys

Good for you, I knew you could do it. :thumbsup: