[case680rob]

...When you use the wrong grade of parts.

As many of you read on the thread about testing and fixing up the hydraulics on my 190, I busted a fitting. It WAS a female flare to female flare union fitting. These are pics of that fitting.

This was purchased at a local hardware store along with a handful of other fittings, some brass and some steel, in order to adapt the newly pruchased pressure gauge to my tractor for testing purposes. All of the other fittings are either thick, solid brass one piece fittings or heavy steel pipe fittings. This fitting alone was the only thing avaliable at that store, and I was told it should work. It DID work, and fit just fine. Trouble is, the pipe between the threaded sections was made of soft COPPER and it was SINGLE flared, where it should have been STEEL and DOUBLE flared. I knew this, but took the salesman's word on it anyway, thinking he might know something I didn't. WRONG. This is what happened.

When I installed the fitting, it felt a little uh...SQUISHY. Ok, so I should probably get the proper fitting there before too long, I thought... I'd just get one on my next trip to town. Then I started my testing, and to my suprise it held, for quite a while. Then when I was testing the FCV, pressure became too great and POP! The fitting came apart. :facepalm:

Compare the areas circled in red and green. :headscratcher: The green is what the single flare copper piece should look like. The red is what a flare looks like after it is litteraly pushed apart by too much pressure. The excess pressure pushed the pipe through it's brass end, collapsing it down to it's original size. When it came apart the brass end was left on the valve port and the copper went with the other brass end and the hose, gauge, and mess of fittings in between.

The lesson here? I think you can figure it out, and I know ya'll will razz me on this one anyway. That's fine, GO FOR IT! :thumbsup:

Rob

 

[kubotakid]

I dont know what pressures your testing?.. But assuming you bought your steel fittings from the hardwear there black pipe? Most any hyd tech guy will warn you that black pipe is NOT rated for hy pressure. Ive used them before, but some of the crap we get from china is pretty scarry lookin... :thumbdown: jus sayin Eric

 

[case680rob]

Point taken...

Actually, none of the fittings were all that poorly made. Even the copper and brass union that blew apart was a well made part. It just wasn't made for hydraulics, as I knew when I bought it. The only fitting they had to offer me to tie together two male flare ends was the one that came apart. All the rest are likely interchangable between hydraulics and other applications. They are either high quality brass or heavy galvanized steel, not the cheaper black iron. I have seen water pipe fittings used before, and they work, but I have no intention of using these parts in permanent applications. The pressures I am testing are not too high, my releif should be set somewhere near 1500psi, and the union fitting came apart at around 2000. Only reason it got that high was because of testing the FCV, which I'm done with. The gauge is only temporary, all the non-factory fittings will be gone when I'm done with the hydraulic work.

Rob