hydraulic leak/flattened metal hose

[deerehunter0327]

Was doing a little bush hogging and loader work on farm this evening when noticed leak from hydraulic hose. There was no obvious tear or puncture to hose. Removed hose and replaced with one from other side of FEL. The leaky hose performed well on the other side but the "new hose" leaked exactly like the old. Inspected the entire FEL and found that one of the the metal hoses was mashed almost flat just behind bucket. Also happened to be on the same line as the leaky hose. Looked underneath tractor and noticed that I had developed puddle of fluid coming from the rear of tractor. This leak seamed to be from the insertion of main line coming from hydraulic pump where it inserts into rear of tractor. Connection was found to be tight. I'm certainly not a mechanic as you can tell by my description of the above. Would have taken pics but it was getting dark. My question is could the flat metal hose/tube cause pressure to build in the hydraulics and thereby spring a fairly large leak as described. I'm hoping that by repairing the metal tube i can fix problem. Realize i may have to replace seal in main line from pump to rear. Tractor is a JD 5065e and has less than 12 hours.

 

[Mace Canute]

The flattened tube will have to be fixed of course, but it really shouldn't be the cause of any hoses leaking. Your pressure relief valve controls the pressure the hoses see and if it's set at the correct operating pressure, it should pop off first. You need to plumb a gauge inline to check it.

Where exactly is the hose leaking? Is it at the threaded connector or is it at the back end of the crimp? I can see a threaded connection being the problem since swapping hoses didn't change anything about the leak. Check for a very fine hairline crack also. Your leak underneath might just be a coincidence. Have a good look to see if there is any physical damage to it that might have tweaked it enough to compromise the seals. You may have unknowingly drove over something that the tire flipped up and hit it. It might also just be a poorly installed seal. If you can't see any physical damage on that line with 12 hrs of use it's probably covered by warranty.