ok, i thought that these little suckers would be easy to install b4 i had to deal with them, boy was i wrong! now there has been many diffirent ways that guys have got there fittings on, some work better then others. the most popular sizes are -6, -8, -10 and -12. -10 and -12 are pretty easy go. most of the time if u just lube up the fitting dick with some wd-40 or some sort of lube and push, they slip right on. the key to all the sizes are that once u start to push these thing on u cant stop untill u get it all the way on. if u stop u will have a crazy hard time to get it back off and pretty much forget getting it the rest of the way on. now -6,-8 are f***!! hard!! so what i did was search and try what diffirent guys said they did and some worked ok but still didnt get them all the way in to were the need to be. heres the list.
1. the best way for me, and u may think no way but dad always comes up with some junk. take your hose any size, u need a steel bolt or in my case i used a drill bit that is very close to the same size as the hose that u are working with. close enough to were it goes in but dosent touch the rubber. the important thing is is that the bolt or drill bit is at least long enough to go into the hose about 2" to 3" inches. then take your bit or ur bolt and stick it in your grill, yes ur outside BBQ grill and turn that sucker on high and shut the door. now my grill has a temp gauge but if yours dosent dont matter cause there going to get hot enough. after about 10min my grill was a little over 650 degs. take ur bit with a pair of pliars and stick it 2-3" inches down into the hose dont let it rest on the sides in the hole if so it may melt but shouldnt u just want to heat the hose from with in. hold that bit in the hose for 3-5 mins. the hose should start to smoke alittle and smell the hose getting hot. then pull the bit out and have ur fitting ready with wd-40 on it or in my case i used vasoline(sp?) now stick that fitting in the hose and the hose shouldnt be to hot to touch on the outside but use a rag just in case and push it against the floor or somthing that ant going to move, i put a towl down on the floor not to scratch the an fittings. now remember once u start to push u cant stop till u get it were u want it. you need to be quick with this process from removing the bit from the hose to putting to fitting in the hose to not let the hose cool down much. this worked like a charm and the hose will cool down and form even more tighly to the fitting. most guys have this stuff laying around the garage and bbq grill, well if u dont have one get one cause your missing out on more than putting on fittings lol.
2. boiling the hose in water. i tried this frist worked so so, but just couldnt get the hose all the way on to the rubber cap. and like i said in number 1 once you stop ur done. good luck getting the fitting to go on or off at that point. use big pot to get the hose 3-5" in the water and u have to let it sit in there for a while 10 min or so remember water boils at 212 and the water thats on the bottom of the pan is only at 212 the rest of the water is cooler. as far as fittings do the same have lube on the fittings wd, oil, vasoline ect.
3. heat gun 800 plus deg. the gun that i had was done so it wasnt working very well at all. so as a last ditch effort i ran out and bought a new gun for about 20-35 bucks. the one i got was 26bucks and had low temp of 600 deg. and a high temp of 1550 deg. theres a fine line when heating the hose w/ gun to close and u wil burn the hose to much and cook it makes it hard u dont want that. to far away and ur just wasting time.so judge it out u just want to heat the rubber enough to make it flexable. this is why i dont recommend this way the gun dosent concentrate the heat inside the hose were its needed and u cant get close enough to do so with out burning it. lube the fittings and push like all hell.
4. freezing the fitting and pushing like hell! this is the frist thing i did. im a big guy 6'3 280 pounds and it was like trying to push a mac truck (by your self) lol now you will try this. you prob. already did and this is why ur reading this haha. some guys say to do the same as #1 put towl on floor to protect fittings and lube fitting and push like all hell, some say to hold the fitting against your palm of ur hand and put ur elbos in between ur legs and use your legs and arms to push. one it hurts, two it takes a lot of pushing for along time and u may black out and spill ur beer. just dosent work i froze my fittings for about 3 hours. this is what i did tho for my -10's works pretty good for the big hoses.
5. give up and take it to a machine shop. after the heat gun i was about to give up on these things i had been working on trying to get just one fitting in all the way for almost a whole day. so that night i was talking to another forum member great guy (ironhand) i asked him what he did to get his fittings on as he pic some on a thread that looked great. he called me up and said that he tryed just about everything to and no luck. he took his to a local machine shop and they had a tool that helped and worked like a charm called a layth(sp?) now the only down side is that u have to have all your hoses precut to size u need and then carry them down to the shop and lay out some bucks for this. i dont know how much. and 45*and 90* dont work good for this tool i was told.
this is what i was going to do then the old man pulled up and i presnted the prob to him and told him every thing i tryed he looked at the hose and fittings and said come on as this is easy. then tryed #4!!! hahahah
after a few attemps and a few bad words he looked around and came up with #1 in all in all 3 minutes. so i spent 6 hours of work about 40$$$ on parts and 3.5 hours of searching forms and about a hour on the phone and this guy solves the prob in 10 minutes of working with them! hope this helps making these fittings a brezz if u all have anything to add feel free or if u disagree feel free as well. do any of the 5 ways at your own risk.:beer:
good luck
1. the best way for me, and u may think no way but dad always comes up with some junk. take your hose any size, u need a steel bolt or in my case i used a drill bit that is very close to the same size as the hose that u are working with. close enough to were it goes in but dosent touch the rubber. the important thing is is that the bolt or drill bit is at least long enough to go into the hose about 2" to 3" inches. then take your bit or ur bolt and stick it in your grill, yes ur outside BBQ grill and turn that sucker on high and shut the door. now my grill has a temp gauge but if yours dosent dont matter cause there going to get hot enough. after about 10min my grill was a little over 650 degs. take ur bit with a pair of pliars and stick it 2-3" inches down into the hose dont let it rest on the sides in the hole if so it may melt but shouldnt u just want to heat the hose from with in. hold that bit in the hose for 3-5 mins. the hose should start to smoke alittle and smell the hose getting hot. then pull the bit out and have ur fitting ready with wd-40 on it or in my case i used vasoline(sp?) now stick that fitting in the hose and the hose shouldnt be to hot to touch on the outside but use a rag just in case and push it against the floor or somthing that ant going to move, i put a towl down on the floor not to scratch the an fittings. now remember once u start to push u cant stop till u get it were u want it. you need to be quick with this process from removing the bit from the hose to putting to fitting in the hose to not let the hose cool down much. this worked like a charm and the hose will cool down and form even more tighly to the fitting. most guys have this stuff laying around the garage and bbq grill, well if u dont have one get one cause your missing out on more than putting on fittings lol.
2. boiling the hose in water. i tried this frist worked so so, but just couldnt get the hose all the way on to the rubber cap. and like i said in number 1 once you stop ur done. good luck getting the fitting to go on or off at that point. use big pot to get the hose 3-5" in the water and u have to let it sit in there for a while 10 min or so remember water boils at 212 and the water thats on the bottom of the pan is only at 212 the rest of the water is cooler. as far as fittings do the same have lube on the fittings wd, oil, vasoline ect.
3. heat gun 800 plus deg. the gun that i had was done so it wasnt working very well at all. so as a last ditch effort i ran out and bought a new gun for about 20-35 bucks. the one i got was 26bucks and had low temp of 600 deg. and a high temp of 1550 deg. theres a fine line when heating the hose w/ gun to close and u wil burn the hose to much and cook it makes it hard u dont want that. to far away and ur just wasting time.so judge it out u just want to heat the rubber enough to make it flexable. this is why i dont recommend this way the gun dosent concentrate the heat inside the hose were its needed and u cant get close enough to do so with out burning it. lube the fittings and push like all hell.
4. freezing the fitting and pushing like hell! this is the frist thing i did. im a big guy 6'3 280 pounds and it was like trying to push a mac truck (by your self) lol now you will try this. you prob. already did and this is why ur reading this haha. some guys say to do the same as #1 put towl on floor to protect fittings and lube fitting and push like all hell, some say to hold the fitting against your palm of ur hand and put ur elbos in between ur legs and use your legs and arms to push. one it hurts, two it takes a lot of pushing for along time and u may black out and spill ur beer. just dosent work i froze my fittings for about 3 hours. this is what i did tho for my -10's works pretty good for the big hoses.
5. give up and take it to a machine shop. after the heat gun i was about to give up on these things i had been working on trying to get just one fitting in all the way for almost a whole day. so that night i was talking to another forum member great guy (ironhand) i asked him what he did to get his fittings on as he pic some on a thread that looked great. he called me up and said that he tryed just about everything to and no luck. he took his to a local machine shop and they had a tool that helped and worked like a charm called a layth(sp?) now the only down side is that u have to have all your hoses precut to size u need and then carry them down to the shop and lay out some bucks for this. i dont know how much. and 45*and 90* dont work good for this tool i was told.
this is what i was going to do then the old man pulled up and i presnted the prob to him and told him every thing i tryed he looked at the hose and fittings and said come on as this is easy. then tryed #4!!! hahahah
after a few attemps and a few bad words he looked around and came up with #1 in all in all 3 minutes. so i spent 6 hours of work about 40$$$ on parts and 3.5 hours of searching forms and about a hour on the phone and this guy solves the prob in 10 minutes of working with them! hope this helps making these fittings a brezz if u all have anything to add feel free or if u disagree feel free as well. do any of the 5 ways at your own risk.:beer: good luck
