Blown Hydraulic hose, repair? Two post Bend Pak

[kcombs]

I raised my 1965 Skylark on the Bend Pak lift in my shop yesterday and it behaved weird when it made it to the maximum height. I was obviously resting on the safety stops that keep the lift from free falling and would not go up. I then noticed pink oil all over the floor by my feet. Seems it blew a hose about a foot about floor level that was probably rubbing on U shaped bracket/guide. These guides look useless and not big enough to bend over the hoses to retain them, but they must have some purpose. Problem is my lift is all the way up and I can't let it down. The broken hose can't be accessed with the lift up, it covers it in the post. I am either going to need to get a rigger in here to lower it or temporarily patch the hose and refill the fluid.

Pictures are of the backside of the hose where the hole is and the ninety degree fitting is on the other side of the post almost to floor level. I posted to show that the end of the hose can be accessed.

I have read a little here about how hoses are fabricated and am having little hope that there is a SharkBite type of repair that can be made with the hose still installed on the lift. Any ideas on a temporary repair hose or how to let the lift down?

 

[solo machinist]

No shark bites for hydraulics.
Can you access the fitting at the top? Then drop a new hose down?
Maybe somebody else will have an answer. That's a lot of pressure.

 

[jumbojak]

Could you crib high enough to raise the lift of the stop, let it down to the next pin and then repeat? It'd take a while and you'd need help to lower both sides at the same time but I think it could be done.

 

[bb29510]

my bend pak did that, take the hose off, go get one made, looking at two hours. car not coming off till you can raise it off the locks

 

[kcombs]

Could you crib high enough to raise the lift of the stop, let it down to the next pin and then repeat? It'd take a while and you'd need help to lower both sides at the same time but I think it could be done.

I thought about doing that with two floor jacks, but concerned about the amount of time the stops would be disengaged. I was thinking two 4x4's on jacks under each side of the lift and then letting it down and letting the stops take over when the 4x4's need to be shortened. Just not feeling comfortable with that. But, somebody on the V8Buick site suggested something that got me to thinking another way, I buy new hoses and disconnect the old ones at the pump and the cylinders and just run the new ones on the floor while getting the car down. Then I have access and I can do it the right way. $400 worth of parts, but it will work. I just need to find the T fitting to connect them as I can't get to the one of the lift.

 

[jumbojak]

I thought about doing that with two floor jacks, but concerned about the amount of time the stops would be disengaged. I was thinking two 4x4's on jacks under each side of the lift and then letting it down and letting the stops take over when the 4x4's need to be shortened. Just not feeling comfortable with that. But, somebody on the V8Buick site suggested something that got me to thinking another way, I buy new hoses and disconnect the old ones at the pump and the cylinders and just run the new ones on the floor while getting the car down. Then I have access and I can do it the right way. $400 worth of parts, but it will work. I just need to find the T fitting to connect them as I can't get to the one of the lift.

If you can do that, do that. By your description I thought you couldn't access the cylinder with the lift up.

 

[ez-duzit]

Replace all the hoses with better quality.

 

[bb29510]

i learned to keep a spare

 

[jsaw]

If the weight of the car is on the safety latches, there should knot be any pressure on the cylinders ,and therefore no pressure in the hose

 

[ez-duzit]

If the weight of the car is on the safety latches, there should knot be any pressure on the cylinders ,and therefore no pressure in the hose

If the hose is blown there is no pressure in it.

 

[Rusted Nut]

There are companies that have mobile hydraulic hose service vans out here in the PNW. Not sure if they’re any in your area, but worth a try. Our excavation subs use them, they can fix most any hose.

 

[rmmiller]

You need to know what hose to have to get the correct fitting but there are field attachable fittings that will do what you need. The hose series will be printed on the hose and will likely be 100R1, 100R2, 100R16 or 100R17.

edit.....I would bet it's 100R2 as Bendpack has it listed as 5700 PSI which rulles out 100R1 and 100R17. 100R16 is too high end for Bendpacks Ningjin China hose. Do not take my word for it, verify it by finding the layline on the hose. Worst case, make the cut where you need to repair it and take it with you to a hose shop.

 

[finn]

Cut the hose at the break, then install a temporary coupling, like above ( I think) To reconnec the two pieces.

 

[alfadan]

Oreillys around here makes hoses if you don't have a hydraulics shop around.

 

[nadogail]

While you are a replacement for getting your broken hose made, get a spare. Having a spare means you will be prepared for the next broken house or, because you have a spare hose ready it will never be needed.

 

[kcombs]

Thanks for all the replies, especially rmmiller. Napa Auto had the fittings in the pictures, but they were $24 apiece at the local store. The coupling required multiple trips to the local guy that makes hoses, he was not on the shop on two occasions. Today I scored all the parts in the picture and five gallons of ****** fluid will arrive in the next hour or so. If all goes well my Skylark will be on the ground by 5:00pm, Pacific Time.
I want to mention that this disaster was my fault not Bend Pak’s. While reading online manuals I noticed the U shaped pieces welded to the posts were supposed to be bent over to retain the fluid hoses, they were not. I guess I didn’t read the manual in 2008 when we installed the lift. The hose failed because it rubbed against the sharp edge of the U shaped retainer. My bad.

 

[Jswain]

It's better then not knowing why it failed anyways!

 

[nadogail]

You can add Hoist Repair to your resume.

 

[rmmiller]

Glad it worked out!

 

[ronr80]

I have a HD-9 same happen to me made a hell of a mess , went to a local Hydraulic shop and they made 2 hoses for me low cost and work fine. the fitting is what let go on mine .

 

[kcombs]

The Skylark made it back to earth, but the lift didn’t go all the way down. I used a floor jack to lift the car’s frame off the lift’s pads and swung the lift arms out of the way and backed the Skylark out of the bay. Ran the lift up and down and it made a weird sound and still wouldn’t go all the way down. I finally figured out that my fitting patch was rubbing on the lift and stopping complete travel. I ordered a new hose from BendPak and it came very quick and they were great to communicate with. So then I started researching how to change the hose and found very little information online. So here is how I changed the hose.
I ran the lift up to the first position where the lock would engage. I removedthe hydraulic line where it comes out of the pump to try to drain fluid that I assumed was just in the hoses, wrong. Then I removed the hose at the T on the outside of the lift (T is actually on the inside). This is where the lines separate and head off to the cylinders. One picture below is of my plastic bottle where I was letting the fluid drain. I thought at first I would just have to drain fluid until it stopped siphoning from the other column, nope. The fluid was being pushed through the lines from the other column’s cylinder. When I figured out what was happening I pushed down lightly on the cylinder to speed up the flow. When the cylinder stopped going down the fluid stopped. That left only the fluid in the hose I was replacing to deal with. If I would have know this my first attempt to drain at the pump would probably been fine. I put some old denim under the el coming from that cylinder and as soon as I loosened the hose I stuffed it in my plastic drain container, you can see that in a photo. I then tied a string to the hose near the T fitting and pulled the hose down and out. Getting the hose back up to the T was a little more frustrating.
I tried fishing the new hose up from the outside of the post through the hole at the bottom, I broke the string. I tied a 1/2” nut to the string and dropped it down in a straight line from above. Then I attached the string to the hose but the hose and string were not in a straight line so I used masking tape to correct the alignment. I was able to pull on the string and push the hose up at the same time. When it came out near the T fitting I was quite relieved. I started it on the T fitting only finger tight so I could spin the hose to align it with the cylinder at the bottom. At this point I ate lunch.
I tightened all fittings and watched the hose as I ran the lift up. I also watched fluid levels and added as needed. Once I was sure the line was in the correct location I bent the tabs enough to hold the hoses where they are supposed to be. The lift seems to work great now.
What caused the line to fail? My assumption is that the hose got between the U shaped sheet metal, that was supposed to secure it, and the part of the lift that goes up and down sheared it. This was not a worn out hose, it was severely damaged. In 2008 we missed bending the U’s because it has to be done with the lift in the air! We did bend the ones we could get to while doing the assembly. Lesson learned.

 

[nadogail]

Congratulations on your success. You can now add Hydraulic Lift Repair to your resume.

 

[kcombs]

I posted the details of the repair to help others who might have to make a similar repair. Not many YouTube articles on the details for novices to use.

 

[Rusty9313]

I'm about to tackle this exact hydraulic hose on my Bendpak lift.
First off, thank you for sharing your experience! As you stated there is very little info out there unless you're doing the install
My tabs are bent in to hold the hydraulic lines in place, guess they are just old and cracked a like
Would you know how easy it is to bend the tabs out to get the hose out?
Also, I want to replace all 3 hydraulic hoses to avoid another leak on aged hoses.
If I have a leaking hydraulic hose, would I need to pressure down the system to disconnect the hoses?
And If so, how would I?
I know this .ay be a lot, your the first person I found sharing the exact issue I'm having