External Hydraulic Steering Hoses
 

Looking for hoses for my external steering.
Need hoses and fitting because someone replaced them before me and used hoses with steel fittings.
Local hose shop says they can’t get chrome brass or anything that won’t rust fittings.
Latham wants $100 each for the black hose and fittings.
Hardin wants $70 each for the SS braided hoses.
Any other places to look? I’m fine with the black hose, just don’t want steel or regular brass fittings.
#6 JIC fittings.

i think i have four imco hoses that i used for one year. didnt like the black hose so i replaced them with stainless braid. they are stainless with black hose. i'll see if they are still at my shop tomorrow.

On the Gulf coast (of Florida) I can get custom hoses (non-SS) and stainless steel fittings...but the prices are about the same as you are finding from the vendors.

Are you sure it's not -8 JIC?
I ordered these -6, 1.5 ft. (Mine were actually -8)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/303532728274?var=602750790833

We just replaced a couple fittings on the Bullet and they were JIC.

Have you received and installed them yet? What do you think?
We may have different systems. This is for a 99 32 fountain. I called Latham and sent a pic and told them what size wrench fits it.

Looked at the eBay hoses and they are 1500 psi. Anyone know what is required? Did not find a good answer from a quick google search.

Have you tried local hydraulic shops?

I did.
No luck.

Needs to be 2200+. I actually did mine this year with 4000psi. It was a little more rigid than the 3000psi.
Mine are Marine Machine and JIC-6 is stamped on the fittings. The fittings are reusable, but it was no easy task.

I could not use any stock length hoses because of my ext boxes.

Many of us in the Tampa Bay Area go to Amazon Hose to have hydraulic hose made up. No relation to Bezos.

Give them a call and tell him what you're using it for, length and ends.
http://www.amazonhose.com/locations/tampa/

I just replaced ours 2 years ago…I was astounded at the price of SS fittings. They were easily 2-3X more than brass. For me it didn’t make sense. I went with brass. As you stated many of the old hoses are chrome coated brass. If you want SS you have to pay to play. There are only a few manufacturers that supply them. You do realize that brass has excellent corrosion resistance qualities. Brass is probably already used elsewhere on your boat in the bilge. It just doesn’t look as fancy.

I also had a hard time sourcing the aerotec black hose that’s rated to 2200-2500 psi.

good luck

i have those hoses if you want them, just cover my shipping to you. four of them, #6 stainless fitting, about 17 inches long. let me know

This article gives reasons why not to use Brass below the water line in salt water.

https://www.cruisingworld.com/how/down-brass-tacks/

PM sent.

I'm headed to Amazon hose tomorrow for a hose for the Skater.

Most of the fittings used on hyd steering hoses are brass. They are just SS or nickle plated.

it’s done for aesthetic honestly. We had hydraulic hoses from factory that were coated…by the time the hoses dry rotted, none of them had coating anymore. The brass was showing thru and they were fine.

Duplicate

Here were the hoses after 13 years. Maybe more…as you can see the coating was long gone.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...f8ab0a8cb.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...27d2ecf52.jpeg

Here are the new hoses after 3 years…don’t mind the white crap we were wet sanding.

like I said I’ll be replacing hoses from dry rot before the brass gives up.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...a0c2d49cd7.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...ad5ec6b17.jpeg

Buy fittings here.
Take them to your local hydraulic hose guy and have them crimped on.

https://www.hydraulicsdirect.com/JIC.../ss-hy-fjx.htm

thats gets you back to 100$+ a hose lol

Yep. Latham sells them for $25 each. Then my local hydraulic shop says they don’t have hoses to fit.

Amazon hose only has brass ends. I called yesterday.

I just called Amazon Hose and talked with RON. Ask for him at 813-223-7554. If you didn't specify what ends you wanted, regular steel ends would be installed. If you wanted stainless steel ends, they would order them. All ends are crimped. Eaton hose. BRASS ends are for auto application. But if it's brass you want, brass you get........

Amazon hose is no different than any other hydraulic hose shop in the country. Everyone orders the same crap from the same vendors. It’s Eaton aerotec hose with JIC fittings. My guess is the prices already quoted here will be the same. Likely $30-40 per fitting plus hose and install. Making it a $100 hose.

I don't know if their parts are the same as others. Just like you don't. I can tell you that I've been going to Amazon Hose for 36 years. As a mechanic for a heavy equipment company and for my personal needs. I never had a problem with any of there quality parts or workmanship. And when it was said that they only carry brass ends, I knew that wasn't true and didn't want people reading this to get the wrong idea. With so many CRAPPY companies/personal out there, It's good to know that this particular place is stand up. As for price, Amazon couldn't give me one because I didn't know the hose length and size fitting or JIC/SAE. They typically are a bit higher in price. But so is their quality.

Now I'm glad that this subject came up because I'm interested in Full Hydraulic steering kit and reading this thread I had some questions. So I called Latham, IMCO and Hardin Marine. One of the questions I asked them was if their hose ends where Stainless at the outdrive ram section.
Latham ends are brass with a chrome plate they said.
IMCO ends are stainless JIC applied to a rubber hose exterior/interior reinforces with stainless steel in-between. Being that $100 was mentioned at Latham, I told Fred at IMCO that. He told me that was 4x IMCO's price. Fred also told me that they can make hose up.
Talked with Scott at Hardin Marine(owner I believe) His Mayfair product hose has the stainless Steel braid on the outside with Stainless Steel JIC ends. For their 16 inch replacement hose, $59. $75 for their 23 inch hose....

I've used brass Aeroquip reusable fittings on hoses on marine steering fo 30+ years. Non power hydraulic steering.
Copper tubing is common in this app,. certainly not 3000 psi.

A little advice on using SS hoses. If the hoses touch any of the gel, they will likely rub through the gel over time. Maybe not visible in the straight on position, but when turning, there may be some light contact. Even the rubber coated hoses over time will cause visible wear marks. Just FYI. For what it's worth.

See if you can get ahold of Zeiger Steering systems in Sandusky/Huron Ohio. Steve is the man and knows exactly what you need. I was just thru this with the special fittings, and he hooked me up with cloth braided Continental hoses and fittings made right to length. Quality stuff all around.

Also, I was hooked on SS hoses, but talked out of it for the reasons above. Glad I went with what I did.

Paul @ Everett Performance is the Zeiger rep. Went with same last year. 22" -6 chromed brass hp ends, continental cloth braid hose. $65 each.

man I couldn’t do the cloth braid…my local guys tried to sell me on it. Then I thought about all the seaweed and other crap that would get caught in it.

I went with the Eaton rubber hose.

The Continental hose is a very tight braid pattern. Really no way for it to catch anything.

Saber28 sent me some hoses. Put them on today. Thanks everyone.