Choosing hydraulic hose crimper

You are going to have to consider the types of hose as well as the sizes. All the sizes come in single wire, two wire, four wire and six wire hose. The flange fittings come in Code 61 and Code 62. Your mini excavator uses mostly British Standard fittings, the Komatsu uses Japanese Industrial hydraulic fittings but their flange fittings are basic to the standard flange fittings made in the US and all are code 61. The big Cat excavator uses a lot of six wire and may use some special Cat flanges but was mostly Code 62 when I was wrenching. I agree with Coaldust about dealing with the Cat dealer up there. I liked the Carrycrimp as well but it is a pain when you start working on the bigger sizes and four wires if it will even do them. I don't think it will do any six wire at all. The stuff that usually give you the most trouble is the small ones anyway. Learn how to measure and describe the fittings or use the parts books for the big machines and order them from the dealer. Good Luck

John C. said: You are going to have to consider the types of hose as well as the sizes. All the sizes come in single wire, two wire, four wire and six wire hose. The flange fittings come in Code 61 and Code 62. Your mini excavator uses mostly British Standard fittings, the Komatsu uses Japanese Industrial hydraulic fittings but their flange fittings are basic to the standard flange fittings made in the US and all are code 61. The big Cat excavator uses a lot of six wire and may use some special Cat flanges but was mostly Code 62 when I was wrenching. I agree with Coaldust about dealing with the Cat dealer up there. I liked the Carrycrimp as well but it is a pain when you start working on the bigger sizes and four wires if it will even do them. I don't think it will do any six wire at all. The stuff that usually give you the most trouble is the small ones anyway. Learn how to measure and describe the fittings or use the parts books for the big machines and order them from the dealer. Good Luck Click to expand... Makes sense and I will start looking at them and trying to figure that out and I will ask the rep when they call about what types that Karrykrimp will do

Like John said, consider the hose as well as the fittings. It's very rare i can put a new end on an existing hose. I must admit I have put slices in long hoses before. Local cat house stores the high pressure hose laid out straight in pvc pipes, so the setup can take a lot of room. It's been a while since I priced a set up, but I suspect a $10,000 bill will disappear and you still won't have all you need.

terex herder said: Like John said, consider the hose as well as the fittings. It's very rare i can put a new end on an existing hose. I must admit I have put slices in long hoses before. Local cat house stores the high pressure hose laid out straight in pvc pipes, so the setup can take a lot of room. It's been a while since I priced a set up, but I suspect a $10,000 bill will disappear and you still won't have all you need. Click to expand... Makes sense

We just had our closest hydraulic hose shop close up. I don't have a problem buying the crimper, it's the $20-$30,000 in fittings and hose that I would have to store and keep up with inventory. And probably still not have the right 60 degree heavy DIN fitting when I need it. We have heavy and light DIN on the liebherr s. All the other stuff is flat face oring, jic, and and bulkhead. But from 1/2" to 1 1/2" in two and four wire. By the time I add up all the possibilities of straight, 30, 60 and 90 fittings - well I'm still going to the hose shop. I know if I had the machine, we would probably preventively change more hoses that just "look bad" . I think my best bet is finding someone getting rid of a old one with a set of fittings, and then just keep adding. Because now I'm going to end up going a hour away for all my hoses. That or I'm opening a pirtek mobile franchise just so I have the access to the van and fittings. I'm surprised you guys in the field don't use the air over hydraulic pumps? That's what I grew up making hoses with.

Hydraulic hose has a shelf life too. I'm not sure if it's a big concern though. I've heard it's best to get hoses made at shops that are reasonably busy so you don't get old hose.

I bought a benchtop micrometor style hose crimper with dies for $1500 ten years ago. It will crimp up to 2" 4 wire. The ability to adjust the final crimp size allows me to crimp any manufacturer fittings as long as I can find the finished crimp specifications. Parker crimpers only crimp parker fittings and hose, same for all the other manufacturers. That said I've found it very rare to have a sudden failure of large hoses, outside of breaker hoses being crushed or drivers running over the dump bed hoses. Usually its 3/4 and below that fail and the carry crimp covers that range fine.

I ended up with my hose crimper, an Eaton weatherhead Coilimatic bench top, with the bench, that I watched on CL for 2 years. When he finally came down 2k, I called and offered him 500$ under that. He took it and it came with a cabinet 3/4 full of fittings. I had to add more storage bins, invest in some hose and have been making hoses for my machines and other locals on the side for 3 years. It’s already paid for itself and now I made and keep a full inventory list and between me and my brother, everyone knows we make hoses 24/7. I didn’t do it for the money, maybe a little, I was just upset at only having one or 2 hose places, with terrible off hours and the mark-up was insane. Not to mention, well we have this fitting but not the other, let me check the other store 2 hours away. Yep they got it, let me make the hose, put the one end we have on and pay and go to the other store. I have the best hydraulic shop and I consider the owner a friend but he is almost an hour away. When I need a hose, I need it then. Now I don’t have every fittings, just the normal stuff, I have all the 2 wire and 4 wire dies and if need an odd fittings, I can get it in an hour. A couple years ago, a company started up and all they do, is stock hose and fittings. It’s a great idea, wish i had thought of it. He’s got 4 30’ containers with every fitting ever made. You have to pay retail but for that convenience, it doesn’t matter that much. If I can wait, i can order it and have it in 2 days, at cost.