[renfroe453]

I am wanting to dress up my power steering hoses to match the rest of the lines and hoses under the hood, but I find these "ready kits" very expensive, and not quite what I am looking for.
Has anyone used any of the braided lines and anodized fittings on their power steering hoses without any leaks or ruptures?
I see several different manufactures that sell these, but I am unsure of which are the better hoses to buy. There is a huge price difference between the manufactures, which makes it even more confusing. I would like to dress this up as inexpensively as possible, but I don't want to spray power steering fluid everywhere either.
Any information would be appreciated.

[powerrodsmike]

I've used a couple of the kits that you get from Heidts, as well as a set of hoses that the local industrial -performance automotive hose shop made up custom for me.

They use teflon lined SS braided hose and gold iridite (alodine?) mild steel fittings throughout, IIRC the Heidts kit has a couple of extra fittings that you wind up not needing, so that jacks up the price. (I have a couple of the old fittings still here that I got from heidts, they are corroded now after just a few years of sitting in my shop.. )

The Heidts kit you assemble at home, which makes it convienient. The local guy sent me back to my shop , which let me cut ,assemble and orient the ends, and then I brought the fittings back to be swedged on.

The local guy charged me about 150.00 for all the pieces, including the steering box adapters. The brand was Parker, a well know industrial brand. I even got a 3/8" compression fitting to # 6 JIC to put on the return line into the pump, so it all looks nice with no hose clamp on the return line end.

Keep in mind that JIC and AN are pretty much interchangable, and do seal and work just fine. (the main difference between JIC and AN is approx .002" in the tolerances specified by the class of fit, and the accountability that goes along with fittings supplied to the government ..you don't get that with many of the performance automotive suppliers anyway)

All of the kits I used worked fine.

I would not use the anodized aluminum ones, they will not take the pressure generated by a power steering pump, nor will the hose that is used with the aluminum ones.

If you do use the braided SS hose, try to find the hose with teh clear cover, or put shrink tubing over it..SS hose picks up dirt and oil and gets next to impossible to keep clean. Goodridge has the proper heat shring covering with a high heat rating, just for hoses like this.

Later, mikey

[renfroe453]

Thanks. This is helpful information.

[powerrodsmike]

BTW, the hoses and fittings in the pictures above are the Parker ones, from thier industrial hose line.

Later, mikey

[westmus]

I have used this on my car. No leaks or other problems.

http://www.russellperformance.com/mc...steering.shtml

http://www.russellperformance.com/mc...owerflex.shtml

[renfroe453]

Thanks. I will check this out as well. Hopefully this is not as expensive as some of the other hoses that I have found.

[S10 Racer]

Go to Summit website and look at their Russell fittings and braided hose. I just bought some hose and ends for the PS on my S10 drag truck and they work great. The ends are reusable and easy to assemble. Don't use the anodized fittings like you use for fuel or oil on the pressure side of the power steering pump, those fittings and hose need to be made for power steering.

[TheCiscoKid]

I used the Heidts kit, worked great and custom fit, The kit may seem expensive, but ordinary PS hoses aren't cheap.
I'm sorry I went with PS tho, had to buy a mount bracket, hose kit, used the Heits valve also. But had leaks, no space to get at it. I changed the motor and took the lines apart, actually had to as lines didn't want to just go back to where they were.Put some sealer on the threads and all was well until about a month ago when I noticed a line had leaked all the fluid out. grrrrrr Cisco