Seymour Snerd
Lifetime Supporter
Having made up some hoses with the usual Aeroquip fittings I was looking around for a way to test them for pressure and leakage without spending $thousands.
I already had a Summit Racing 221000 "Pressure Test Kit"
which contains a pair of AN male plugs in each size, where one of that pair has been drilled 1/8" NPT for a supplied schrader valve (like on a tire). The idea is that you plug both ends of your hose with these, and then pump it up with air to see if it leaks. That's OK as far as it goes, but it's not suitable for serious and safe pressure testing for a number of reason, the primary one being that such a hose pumped full of pressurised air with metal fittings on each end is a supremely dangerous thing. To do this right, we need to fill the hose with a non-compressible fluid and (by Aeroquip's advice) pressurize to double our expected working pressure for half an hour. For a typical oil system that's ~150 PSI. at least.
I researched hydraulic pressure testers and noticed that their core pump resembles the one in my $99 Harbor Freight clone of what is commonly called a "PortaPower" (a hydraulic pump along with a couple rams and a variety of fittings used for applying larges amounts of force to, say, straighten some bodywork).
This looked like a good start; the main issue would be how to connect that pump to the AN plug with 1/8" NPT hole.
On a "real" PortaPower, the pump connects to the ancillary devices with a hydraulic screw-type quick-connect fitting from the the Parker 3000 series. Specfically, the female fitting which goes on device receiving fluid is a 3050-2. The male fitting that goes only on the pump, is a 3010-2. These fitting screw into their devices via 1/4" NPT threads.
(Adapters Inc part numbers:
PORTAPOWER-BALL-04-04-C 1/4 Female x 1/4 NPT Male Threads $10.43
PORTAPOWER-BALL-04-04-N 1/4 Male x 1/4 NPT Female Threads $6.86.
Adapters Inc. has a $50 minimum order)
The HF version uses a smaller version of that fitting that I was not able to identify or source. So, having found both genders of the Parker 3000 fittings on Adaptersinc.com for a reasonable price, I ordered one male and four females, the intention being to convert over my HF set to the Parker fittings and leave aside two females to use with my favorite sizes of AN plugs from the Summit kits.
Also wanting to monitor the pressures being applied I purchased a 1,000 PSI pressure gauge wiht 1/4" NPT neck from McMaster-Carr, and a female-on-the-run 1/4" NPT Tee to mount it in (Aeroquip AQP hose is rated to 1,000 PSI).
After having switched in the Parker fittings in three places in the HF kit and verifying it still worked, I assembled the gauge to the side port of the tee, 1/4"-1/8" NPT reducer to the output side, and a female Parker fitting to the input side.
I then plugged one end of a previously untested 8AN hose with a blank plug and a "test" plug, the test plug got the output end of the assembled Tee, the Tee got connected to the pump output fitting. With the plugs installed finger tight, it leaked hydraulic fluid as expected. With the plug fittings properly tightend after bleeding the air out of the hose, I was easily able with wrist-effort to apply 300 lb and walk away for 30 minutes.
Aside from the $99 for HF "portapower", which I already owned and is a very useful tool in and of itself, the rest of this cost about $75.
A few side notes:
I already had a Summit Racing 221000 "Pressure Test Kit"
which contains a pair of AN male plugs in each size, where one of that pair has been drilled 1/8" NPT for a supplied schrader valve (like on a tire). The idea is that you plug both ends of your hose with these, and then pump it up with air to see if it leaks. That's OK as far as it goes, but it's not suitable for serious and safe pressure testing for a number of reason, the primary one being that such a hose pumped full of pressurised air with metal fittings on each end is a supremely dangerous thing. To do this right, we need to fill the hose with a non-compressible fluid and (by Aeroquip's advice) pressurize to double our expected working pressure for half an hour. For a typical oil system that's ~150 PSI. at least.
I researched hydraulic pressure testers and noticed that their core pump resembles the one in my $99 Harbor Freight clone of what is commonly called a "PortaPower" (a hydraulic pump along with a couple rams and a variety of fittings used for applying larges amounts of force to, say, straighten some bodywork).
This looked like a good start; the main issue would be how to connect that pump to the AN plug with 1/8" NPT hole.
On a "real" PortaPower, the pump connects to the ancillary devices with a hydraulic screw-type quick-connect fitting from the the Parker 3000 series. Specfically, the female fitting which goes on device receiving fluid is a 3050-2. The male fitting that goes only on the pump, is a 3010-2. These fitting screw into their devices via 1/4" NPT threads.
(Adapters Inc part numbers:
PORTAPOWER-BALL-04-04-C 1/4 Female x 1/4 NPT Male Threads $10.43
PORTAPOWER-BALL-04-04-N 1/4 Male x 1/4 NPT Female Threads $6.86.
Adapters Inc. has a $50 minimum order)
The HF version uses a smaller version of that fitting that I was not able to identify or source. So, having found both genders of the Parker 3000 fittings on Adaptersinc.com for a reasonable price, I ordered one male and four females, the intention being to convert over my HF set to the Parker fittings and leave aside two females to use with my favorite sizes of AN plugs from the Summit kits.
Also wanting to monitor the pressures being applied I purchased a 1,000 PSI pressure gauge wiht 1/4" NPT neck from McMaster-Carr, and a female-on-the-run 1/4" NPT Tee to mount it in (Aeroquip AQP hose is rated to 1,000 PSI).
After having switched in the Parker fittings in three places in the HF kit and verifying it still worked, I assembled the gauge to the side port of the tee, 1/4"-1/8" NPT reducer to the output side, and a female Parker fitting to the input side.
I then plugged one end of a previously untested 8AN hose with a blank plug and a "test" plug, the test plug got the output end of the assembled Tee, the Tee got connected to the pump output fitting. With the plugs installed finger tight, it leaked hydraulic fluid as expected. With the plug fittings properly tightend after bleeding the air out of the hose, I was easily able with wrist-effort to apply 300 lb and walk away for 30 minutes.
Aside from the $99 for HF "portapower", which I already owned and is a very useful tool in and of itself, the rest of this cost about $75.
A few side notes:
- Adaptersinc.com is a part of Murdoch Industrial, which also operates Aeroquip.cc. The latter is useful to know about since they sell genuine Aeroquip Performance fittings for around the price that Summit sells clone fittings. They also carry Aeroquip's industrial line which are often cheaper still although usually made of steel.
- It's too late for me, but if anyone can figure out what the HF quick-connect fittings are, I'd love to know. They're similar in concept to the Parker 3000 series, but rather than a 1" OD thread, they are about 0.8" OD. If we had a source for those the HF kit could go unmodified and we'd need to buy only one female quick connect fitting. Of course you could just sacrifice one of your rams and not buy any fittings.
- If you don't want to pay $90 for the entire Summit plug kit you have several alternatives: you can buy individual single-size pairs by Fragola for $10-20, or roll your own by buying the pair of plugs and drilling and tapping a 1/8" NPT hole in one of them. In fact, you could save yourself a reducer by tapping 1/4" NPT, although I have seen and purchased 1/8" NPT versions of the Parker fittings on Ebay. McMaster also sells aluminum AN/JIC plugs for $2-10 each. (2227K51 and its larger siblings).
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