Have Fun Pricing Hydraulic Hose

[D2Cat]

Popped a hose on my Ditch Witch trencher. It is a 1/4" outrigger hose. I decided I'd replace both hoses on both outriggers. I remove hoses and measure. Need 2 ea. 55 1/2" (total overall length) 1/4" hyd. hose with male NPT on both ends. Also need 2 ea. 42" (total overall length) 1/4" hyd hose with male NPT on both ends.

I call local OReilly Automotive because it's after 6PM and other sources are closed. The person puts me on hold, then after 4 minutes comes on to help. I describe what I need and am told the fabricator will not be in until next morning at 7:30. I ask for a price quote. Takes about 15 minutes, and the price seems ridiculously high. Next morning I call to get confirmed price. They tell me the 55" hose (2 ea.) will be $161.88, and the 42" (2 ea.) will be 227.66.

I asked a couple of times if this is correct? Why is the shorter hose more cost then the longer? They don't know, just is.

Called NAPA. 55" is $36.30, 42" is $39.30. The guy was doing some numbers in his head and kind of apologized for them not coming out right. He wasn't sure what he added wrong to get a higher price for the shorter hose, but didn't go back to find any error.

Well, I called Industrial Supply in Bellingham, Wa. (who I had purchased hose from before) and had them ship the four hoses to my mailbox for $63.96.

A bad example of SHOP LOCAL.

 

[Roadworthy]

Based on my local hose buying experience the $63.96 sounds about right for your four hoses. I usually have mine made up at J&L Hydraulics in Pasco, WA. They seem to run about $13 each for my loader hoses.

 

[cliffboyer]

An example of max gross profit & inexperienced staff. But more often than not, buying local works well.

Recently I sold my father's tractor. 20 year old B2400 in fine shape. But loader hoses were shot from age. He had replaced 4 in last 2-3 years. I had a local (3 miles away) shop make remaining 8 hoses. The gal that made them did fine job with correct size and fittings. Was $190 out the door. I thought that was a steal and most convenient.

 

[Daren Todd]

Len, I shy away from the auto parts stores. They have max profit in mind and sounds like they quoted the highest price. If you had a corporate account with them, you could probably get them for a 2/3 of what they quoted. But still extremely steep.

I had a local guy I used, but needed a day or two lead time to get them. He was the lowest around. But around 60 miles from the shop. So the two day lead time was where we could meet up to get the hoses. Unfortunately he was tied heavily with the oil field and closed up shop when the market tanked.

The next easiest place to get them from usually has to order fittings, and is 3 times the price. I only use them in a pinch. I need to find someone else locally.

 

[007kubotaguy]

D2
I make a lot of hydraulic hoses. I just checked my price for you hoses. $50.00 Your price is great. I have a hose machine in my service truck and we do a lot hoses on site. We can do up to 1”. Most of my customers have found they can have us come and replace hoses for about the same cost as them buying the hoses at Napa. In the last month we have done 2 old Case backhoes and replaced every hose on them. We like those jobs. Lance

 

[SidecarFlip]

Sounds like the first auto parts store was 'hosing you'....

 

[D2Cat]

Lance, I'd gladly pay you to replace all the hoses on the hoe. That probably takes more patience then I could muster! It's a model 140 Ditch Witch on an R 40 machine. Oh wait, your service charge would eat me alive!

It's an old machine with a Ford industrial 4 cyl engine. If the engine turns over one time it starts! Kind of amazing.

 

[michigander]

Did OReilly guy ask you to sit down before giving quote or did he just let er rip ?

 

[bluedunn]

Interesting... I had a very similar experience at my local O’Reilly. They wanted like $500 for two hoses for my grapple. It was two 1/4” hoses with a total length of around 72”. I just walked out.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I call the 'discount' auto stores Oh Really! and Auto Boned. If it's on the shelf, I'll buy it but I usually take a screen shot of a lower priced item elswhere that I didn't buy and put it in their face. They have to match the lowest price. Don't make them happy, but they do.

If I don't need it right away, I get it from Discount Hydraulics.

 

[D2Cat]

Interesting... I had a very similar experience at my local O’Reilly. They wanted like $500 for two hoses for my grapple. It was two 1/4” hoses with a total length of around 72”. I just walked out.

I bought 1/4" x 120" 2-wire hyd hose with male NPT from Industrial Supply for $50.69 shipped to my door (a year ago).

 

[torch]

Bear in mind that there are different grades of hydraulic hose. Number of wires, type of covering, type of material, etc. all have an impact on the price. It's possible that the auto parts store only carries a high pressure type of hose compared to a hydraulic shop that carries a variety of types and can sell you a less expensive type when appropriate.

 

[Palmettokat]

Bear in mind that there are different grades of hydraulic hose. Number of wires, type of covering, type of material, etc. all have an impact on the price. It's possible that the auto parts store only carries a high pressure type of hose compared to a hydraulic shop that carries a variety of types and can sell you a less expensive type when appropriate.

Very true. Have a friend who's business makes hoses. He only carries on the highest grade. He has pointed out to me the difference in fittings as to their cost also. NAPA told me they could bet his price...well they failed. Now if was smart enough and had time to order hoses they do cost less.

 

[tigerheel]

I replaced the backhoe boom hydraulic hose on my BT601 attached to a BX25. Ordered the OEM hose online for $25, and it looks to be higher quality than the old one. Only took three days to arrive. The dealer had a schematic which made it easy to order the right hose. My biggest fear was how to snake the new hose through the inaccessible boom, especially since the hoses are bound by a canvas sleeve at the bottom of the hoe. It was actually the easiest part of the project - just connected the new one to the old one and pulled it through. Maybe I was lucky the connectors matched but a bit of improvisation saved me a lot of time. Toughest part of the repair was accessing the fittings to loosen the broken hose. Flare nut wrenches help. Had to take several fittings off to get to the one I needed to replace. Had to remove the upper cylinder pin to get access to the upper fitting, but not a big deal. Just need to ensure there is no pressure on the pin before removing. All in all, very satisfactory outcome. Tractor is remote up on the mountains so hauling to a repair shop was not an option.

 

[greenacresnorth]

heck, I could build hoses on my service truck with Cat 2 wire hose and Cat fittings for half that!!!! and I thought Cat's stuff was over priced!!!