Hydraulic Line Wrench Size

[CDG]

Hi Folks,

Apologies if there is a thread somewhere here that provides this information, but after a long search, I simply could not find what I was looking for.

Question: What is the wrench/nut size of the hydraulic fittings on a Kubota LX2610, main hydraulic block leading to the loader.

I have to snug up the fittings on the hydraulic block for the loader and don't know if they are metric vs. imperial. There are three nut sizes as well, the largest SEEMS to be 11/16". Picture attached, three colours are the three sizes.

I also find it really difficult to get in there with a standard wrench, so assume you'd use angled wrenches for such a difficult spot. Maybe flare nut wrenchs for the flar nuts in there. Other suggestions are welcome.

Secondary Question: The smallest fitting, closest to the hose LOOKS like it may just be a type of "swivel" fitting that allows the nuts to be tightened without twisting the hoses. Just want to confirm that is the case and those do not need to be tightened.

Thanks!

 

[TheOldHokie]

A flare nut wrench id i ntended for tube nuts and will not fit over the hose ends.

Those hose ends appear to be JIC female swivel and 11/16 is the correct size for a #6 fitting. The bulkhead fittings may be a little larger. A couple good imperial open end wrenchs should be all you need.

Dan

 

[whitetiger]

A flare nut wrench id i ntended for tube nuts and will not fit over the hose ends.

Those hose ends appear to be JIC female swivel and 11/16 is the correct size for a #6 fitting. The bulkhead fittings may be a little larger. A couple good imperial open end wrenchs should be all you need.

Dan

The adapter fittings you have marked RED are probably where your oil leaks are at. It is an adapter that screws onto a 3/8" pipe thread and changes it to a male #6 JIC. It looks like there was no sealer put on the pipe threads prior to assembly, so you will need to remove the hoses, remove, clean, seal and reinstall the adapters, then reinstall the hoses.
Setting the loader off will give you a lot more room to work.

 

[Chanceywd]

A flare nut wrench id i ntended for tube nuts and will not fit over the hose ends.

Those hose ends appear to be JIC female swivel and 11/16 is the correct size for a #6 fitting. The bulkhead fittings may be a little larger. A couple good imperial open end wrenchs should be all you need.

Dan

Maybe a crowfoot wrench would work in there.
Bill

 

[TheOldHokie]

The adapter fittings you have marked RED are probably where your oil leaks are at. It is an adapter that screws onto a 3/8" pipe thread and changes it to a male #6 JIC. It looks like there was no sealer put on the pipe threads prior to assembly, so you will need to remove the hoses, remove, clean, seal and reinstall the adapters, then reinstall the hoses.
Setting the loader off will give you a lot more room to work.

I went back an looked at the picture again. I think those adapters are solid male JIC bulkead fittings with lock nuts to secure them to the bracket. The only potential for leakage there is at the JIC male flare/female swivel and no need for sealant. The swivel may just have worked loose. The other end that we can't see may well be female pipe and also a potential source for the leak.

Dan

 

[CDG]

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated. I did manage to tighten them up with the wrenches that I have (they felt almost loose to the touch), and for the moment, the leak seems to have stopped.

@whitetiger the suggestion to remove the loader is a good one, but even after doing that, there's still little space to work with. I'm going to try a set of imperial angled open-end wrenches.

If the leak reappears, I'll take everything off, clean it, wrap it with some white teflon, and reset everything one at a time. That would allow for good access and tightening.

Thx!

 

[TheOldHokie]

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated. I did manage to tighten them up with the wrenches that I have (they felt almost loose to the touch), and for the moment, the leak seems to have stopped.

@whitetiger the suggestion to remove the loader is a good one, but even after doing that, there's still little space to work with. I'm going to try a set of imperial angled open-end wrenches.

If the leak reappears, I'll take everything off, clean it, wrap it with some white teflon, and reset everything one at a time. That would allow for good access and tightening.

Thx!

Those are JIC fittings - NO SEALANT NEEDED - it will do nothing except make you look foolish.

Dan

 

[lugbolt]

no sealant whatsoever on jic and an fittings.

welcome to wrenching sometimes you gotta make due with what tool you have or what you can make to fit. I have an entire toolbox full of that kind of stuff. Homemade box end "crow foot" wrenches, injector line wrenches, etc

 

[whitetiger]

I went back an looked at the picture again. I think those adapters are solid male JIC bulkead fittings with lock nuts to secure them to the bracket. The only potential for leakage there is at the JIC male flare/female swivel and no need for sealant. The swivel may just have worked loose. The other end that we can't see may well be female pipe and also a potential source for the leak.

Dan

View attachment 90515

You may want to look at the picture again, there is pipe thread on the tube. I performed this very hydraulic leak repair less than 2 weeks ago.
Check the pdf.

 

[TheOldHokie]

You may want to look at the picture again, there is pipe thread on the tube. I performed this very hydraulic leak repair less than 2 weeks ago.
Check the pdf.

I appreciate and respect your experience as a tech working on these machines day after day but I did takle another look and I don't see what is in your PDF. The PDF is Swift-tach kit only and shows Faster HNV male coupler tips with 1/4" female NPT ports screwed directly onto the male NPT end on the pipe. His picture is not Swift-tach and shows direct hose connections with female swivels to the end of the pipe. Looking at this closeup of the joint I see no room for or sign of an intermediate adapter.

So I see two possibilities:

1. It could be the tube fitting on the pipe in this non-Swift-tach kit is male JIC with locknut and the hose has a JIC female swiviel end in which case no adapter or sealant needed.
2. Its also possible the tube fitting is male pipe with locknut and the hose has a female pipe swivel on it but again no adapter or sealant needed.

I guess we would have to be there to make a definitive determination.

Dan

 

[Pau7220]

If pipe thread is there as Whitetiger says, do yourself a favor and DO NOT use Teflon tape as sealant. Use a liquid thread sealant (pipe dope). Teflon leaves little bits that can float around in the hydraulic system causing problems. Problems won’t usually show until the next disassembly / reassembly.

As others have said, NO sealant on JIC threads.

 

[TheOldHokie]

If pipe thread is there as Whitetiger says, do yourself a favor and DO NOT use Teflon tape as sealant. Use a liquid thread sealant (pipe dope). Teflon leaves little bits that can float around in the hydraulic system causing problems. Problems won’t usually show until the next disassembly / reassembly.

As others have said, NO sealant on JIC threads.

Also no sealant on SAE, BSPP or female pipe swivels.

I have used PTFE tape on hydraulics for decades with no problems and that is what Kubota suggests in their WSM's. But after several reccomendations here I recently switched to Loctitie 545 which is designed specifically for pneumatic and hydraulic systems. I did not switch because I was concerned about contamination but because its a lot easier to use. Just a few quick drops on the threads and you are good to go. Every other liquid sealer I have ever tried made a nasty mess both during and after installation but the 545 wipes right off.

Dan

 

[lugbolt]

Also no sealant on SAE, BSPP or female pipe swivels.

I have used PTFE tape on hydraulics for decades with no problems and that is what Kubota suggests in their WSM's. But after several reccomendations here I recently switched to Loctitie 545 which is designed specifically for pneumatic and hydraulic systems. I did not switch because I was concerned about contamination but because its a lot easier to use. Just a few quick drops on the threads and you are good to go. Every other liquid sealer I have ever tried made a nasty mess both during and after installation but the 545 wipes right off.

Dan

NPT yes. JIC no. JIC does not use sealant nor should it ever have sealant-or thread lock. I've had to disassemble things while working at the kubota shop and every once in a while something comes through that had sealant or thread locker on the JIC fittings. Sometimes they'd be stuck with no amount of heat (other than burning them) would loosen it either. In those cases the owner got to buy a new fitting and usually the hose too, unless the fitting was part of a hyd cyl then they got to buy a barrel. You get the idea.

 

[TheOldHokie]

NPT yes. JIC no. JIC does not use sealant nor should it ever have sealant-or thread lock. I've had to disassemble things while working at the kubota shop and every once in a while something comes through that had sealant or thread locker on the JIC fittings. Sometimes they'd be stuck with no amount of heat (other than burning them) would loosen it either. In those cases the owner got to buy a new fitting and usually the hose too, unless the fitting was part of a hyd cyl then they got to buy a barrel. You get the idea.

That's what I said.

Dan

 

[number two]

After a couple stints in the trucking industry,18 years,tape is a no-no for air brakes.
I don't even have any!
Liquid on everything here.

 

[whitetiger]

I appreciate and respect your experience as a tech working on these machines day after day but I did takle another look and I don't see what is in your PDF. The PDF is Swift-tach kit only and shows Faster HNV male coupler tips with 1/4" female NPT ports screwed directly onto the male NPT end on the pipe. His picture is not Swift-tach and shows direct hose connections with female swivels to the end of the pipe. Looking at this closeup of the joint I see no room for or sign of an intermediate adapter.

So I see two possibilities:

1. It could be the tube fitting on the pipe in this non-Swift-tach kit is male JIC with locknut and the hose has a JIC female swiviel end in which case no adapter or sealant needed.
2. Its also possible the tube fitting is male pipe with locknut and the hose has a female pipe swivel on it but again no adapter or sealant needed.

I guess we would have to be there to make a definitive determination.

Dan

View attachment 90553

There is only one option for the pipe, it has a bulkhead connector, tapers down, and is threaded to 1/4" male pipe. The tube can have a pipe thread quick coupler screwed directly on or it can have a pipe thread to JIC adapter screwed onto it. Either way, the pipe threads need a thread sealer.
This picture shows the exact same assembly as I had apart several days ago, It is a JIC hose end screwed onto an adapter which is threaded onto pipe threads.

 

[TheOldHokie]

There is only one option for the pipe, it has a bulkhead connector, tapers down, and is threaded to 1/4" male pipe. The tube can have a pipe thread quick coupler screwed directly on or it can have a pipe thread to JIC adapter screwed onto it. Either way, the pipe threads need a thread sealer.
This picture shows the exact same assembly as I had apart several days ago, It is a JIC hose end screwed onto an adapter which is threaded onto pipe threads.

I hear what you are saying and i don't doubt you when you say you serviced what you describe,. I just put the combination you are desribing together and took a picture of it below for comparison.

I am not being diffiult just to be difficult but I still fail to see any adapter in the OP's picture. I see the locknut on the tube fitting and I see the swivel nut on the end of the hose. They look to be right up against one another. Where is the hex on the female pipe x male JIC adapter?

Dan

 

[whitetiger]

His picture is not Swift-tach and shows direct hose connections with female swivels to the end of the pipe. Looking at this closeup of the joint I see no room for or sign of an intermediate adapter.

You are reading the pdf backward, the tractor comes with female coupler tips on the end of the tubes. When you add the swift tach, you remove the couplers from the tubes and add a female pipe to male JIC adapter. A hose then runs from the adapter to the female coupler in the swift-tach coupler assembly which is mounted on the outside of the RH loader bracket.
If the OP's tractor did not have swift-tach, there would not be any hoses in the picture.

What I said was there should be thread sealer on the ends of the tube to seal the pipe threads, not to seal any JIC connector.

 

[TheOldHokie]

You are reading the pdf backward, the tractor comes with female coupler tips on the end of the tubes. When you add the swift tach, you remove the couplers from the tubes and add a female pipe to male JIC adapter. A hose then runs from the adapter to the female coupler in the swift-tach coupler assembly which is mounted on the outside of the RH loader bracket.
If the OP's tractor did not have swift-tach, there would not be any hoses in the picture.

What I said was there should be thread sealer on the ends of the tube to seal the pipe threads, not to seal any JIC connector.

That make perfect sense and I apologize for my lack of familiarity with that option..

But I was still confused and started editing on a blown up copy of the OP's picture and realized I was misidentifying the individual pieces. I was mistaking the adapter body for the hose swivel. I must have looked at that a half dozen times at least -I wish I could blame it on old age and bad eyesight but more likely too many dead gray cells.

I now see the pipe thread joint you are concerned about - clearly no signs of PTFE tape but perhaps a liquid sealer? Certainly a possibilty if the leak continues.

Thanks for your kind patience

Dan