Wednesday, September 18, 2013

For the Overlanders, simple and effective tool

Yesterday I did some preventive maintenance on my truck and replaced some old fuel hoses. Since the main and the auxiliary fuel tank are full, I have used a tool that I had made myself at home which has proven extremley valuable. And I thought I share it here with the overlander community to be copied if you wish so.

This simple and easy to make tool allows you to cut off the flow of liquids anywhere where you have a rubber hose, i.e. fuel tubes, water cooling system or alike. This means you can i.e. work at the radiator or it's hoses without draining/losing all your coolant. Yesterday I used it to replace the fuel hose that was down in the chassis and is lower than the tanks, meaning I would have had a flow of fuel until I fittet the new hose. Or to be safe and not messy would have had to drain some fuel. Naturally you will need at least two of those to make it work. You can also use it to just cut some system off if you have a leak and get to the next place to get a permanent fix or replace the hose. 


On the left it is in use, on the right how the tool looks.


The metal tubes are from an old kitchen stool and a little less than a finger thick, the length is about 20 centimeters, at the fix end I just used two little flat metal piece drilled two 6.5mm wholes and used M6 screws with self locking nuts, since it needs a little play at that end. The other side is pretty much self explaining with the picture, 6.5mm whole as well and an M6 screw of sufficient length with a butterfly nut. You will open it entirely on that side, slip it over the hose and tie it with the screw to squeeze the hose.  


Caution with hoses that have a metal lining, like most brake or hydraulic lines hoses i.e. You might squeeze the metal net and it may not recover by itself. However for an emergency repair in the field or mud, still a suitable option. This also might safe you if you do not have sufficient of the liquied aboard that you need to replenish after your field repair. If you have a brake fuel leak at one wheel cylinder you can cut that one wheel of the braking system as an emergency repair in the bush and still have the other brakes working without loosing brake fluid.

Any questions? Leave me a comment! - Happy fixing!

2 comments:

  1. simple and effective, i like it!

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    Replies
    1. Thx, James, it is indeed. Hope all is well with the two of you.

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