Hydraulic leak - Newbie question

[MikeOConnor]

I've developed what I hope is a minor leak at the place where the hose meets the cylinder on the gizmo that locks the implement in place. Not a real big deal, since it's only under pressure when you're actually locking or unlocking. But I decided to get in there and see what was going on.

Sure enough, things are a little loose. So I decided to tighten things up -- but I don't know which way is tight. I thought I'd ask you guys rather than taking the whole thing apart.

I've attached a picture of the offending connection. Here's the question; should I be taking the Hose Side nut *away* from the Cylinder Side nut, or should i be trying to draw those two nuts together? I'm having trouble figuring out what that part of the connection is doing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MossRoad]

Righty tighty
Lefty loosey.

 

[MossRoad]

But seriously, I would hold the cylinder side in place and tighten the hose side. Here's why... it looks like there are threads to the left of the hose side nut. If you turn the hose side nut, you may loosen that threaded side.

 

[Dusty]

Where he is pointing to the leak, there is no tightening that will resolve this. To me it appears that the crimped end of the hose is defective. The part of the hose that you tighten to the cylinder (marked with the 44) is tight, and the other hex is just to keep the hose from twisting when you tighten the upper part. I don't see how any more tightening of the upper nut will do anything, and the lower one has a seal inside that is leaking. It doesn't have any threads to it. Just my opinion.
Dusty

 

[MadReferee]

If the leak is truely at where you are pointing, it's at the swivel. There is no way to fix that. You will have to replace the crimped fitting on the hose with a new swivel fitting. That means a new hose.

You could try and tighten the fitting to see if that would help but I doubt it.

 

[Phils]

Mine has leaked there too and it just needed the nut tightened.

Phil

 

[KentT]

It's certainly worth a try to see if tightening will stop the leak. Tightening the connection pulls the beveled, male end of the fitting up tight and square against the beveled female coupling on the end of the hose.

 

[MadReferee]

If it's a JIC fitting tightening it up may make the seal better. However, if it's an NPT fitting then tightening will probably not help.

 

[MikeOConnor]

Which gets me back to the original question -- which way is tight? Do I want to make the two nuts further apart, or closer together?

 

[dirtworksequip]

Put a wrench on both nuts. Push up on the cylinder side nut to hold it in place and push down on the hose nut to tighten. If the hose nut doesn't turn. Hold it in place and tighten the cylinder side nut. If your leak doesn't stop after tightening you will need a new hose.

 

[MossRoad]

Which gets me back to the original question -- which way is tight? Do I want to make the two nuts further apart, or closer together?

Don't think you could put them closer together. What is under the geasy area to the left of the nut marked "cylinder hose" and the threads?

 

[MikeOConnor]

Don't think you could put them closer together. What is under the geasy area to the left of the nut marked "cylinder hose" and the threads?

yeah yeah... shoulda cleaned up before i took that photo.

That greasy thing is the fitting that goes into the hydraulic cylinder -- so the cylinder is above and to the left, and the plate that holds the attachments is behind the fitting. Just to the left of the fitting is the latch thingy that's being moved by the cylinder.

I was working on the "make the nuts further apart" theory, but the nut on the right (the one on the hose) was turning the whole hose as I tightened it and I ran out of twist-room. I'm thinking now that I'll take the hose out of it's little tracks so it can just spin freely and keep pushing down on the right-side nut and tighten it all the way up, the way DirtWorksEquip is suggesting. It was getting tighter when I did that, but I began wondering what I was doing.

Nice thing is, it'll be easy to replace the hose if it turns out MadReferee has the right of it. Anybody know whether this is a JIC fitting or an NPT fitting?

 

[MossRoad]

yeah yeah... shoulda cleaned up before i took that photo.

That greasy thing is the fitting that goes into the hydraulic cylinder -- so the cylinder is above and to the left, and the plate that holds the attachments is behind the fitting. Just to the left of the fitting is the latch thingy that's being moved by the cylinder.

I was working on the "make the nuts further apart" theory, but the nut on the right (the one on the hose) was turning the whole hose as I tightened it and I ran out of twist-room. I'm thinking now that I'll take the hose out of it's little tracks so it can just spin freely and keep pushing down on the right-side nut and tighten it all the way up, the way DirtWorksEquip is suggesting. It was getting tighter when I did that, but I began wondering what I was doing.

Nice thing is, it'll be easy to replace the hose if it turns out MadReferee has the right of it. Anybody know whether this is a JIC fitting or an NPT fitting?

O.K. I couldn't tell that was going into the fitting before. You need to tighten the cylinder side nut towards the fitting. That may seal up the area of the leak. Hold the hose side fitting still with a wrench, and with a second wrench, pull up on the cylinder side nut at the fitting. This will, in effect, make the two nuts move away from each other. As others have said, if the leak continues, you may need a new fitting on the end of the hose, or a new hose altogether.

 

[MadReferee]

You have a swivel fitting on that hose. You cannot make the nuts further apart as they both are part of the hose fitting. Hold the so called nut that's closest to the hose rubber with a wrench to keep the hose from swiveling. Tighten the nut closest to the cylinder fitting.

If you remove the hose fitting from the cylinder fitting you will be able to tell the type of fitting it is. A JIC will look like a nipple. An NPT will be all threads.