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l-o-n-g DIY ac recharge hose

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Tmoose

Tmoose

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Apr 12, 2003
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I just successfully recharged my daughter's Honda Accord 134 AC system using one of those DIY Interdynamics kits available everywhere.
My wife then announced the AC in her Mazda MPV probably needs recharge, too.

Unlike the convenient ports on the Honda, The Lowside port on the MAzda is buried way back by the firewall.
Before I consider just splicing a few feet of whatever in Is there a source for a DIY kit with a real long hose?
 
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You don't have to get the whole kit. Go to a wholesale A/C warehouse and you can buy just the low side hose. You may have to do some creative tubing adaptation to marry it to what you have, but if your store has much stuff you should have a good selection of tubing and/or pipe fittings to work from.

rmw
 
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Yes, but the a/c warehouse will charge you more for one hose and one quick-connect than the whole kit costs at Harbor Freight.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
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My "harbor fright" kit, identical to Rod's link, ( I only paid $39.95, couple of years ago) has hoses well over six feet.

How can they make this stuff, package & ship it over here at these prices?
 
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I bought a Robinair manifold hose/gauge set, very nice quality, for under $75. The hose rubber on the HF piece is not likely to last, nor would I expect the gauges to be very accurate, nor the valves to seat tightly. Why scrimp on your tools?
 
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I have to tell you, that as a professional Aircraft mechanic,40 years in the bid-ness, as well as a BSME (Louisiana tech, '64) I do not "scrimp on my tools". I have, for insurance purposes, approximately 60 large in hand tools & test equipment. I'm not even including the insane number of machine shop tools I own as part of my "Hobby".

My freon recovery unit, (in fact a 'Robinair' 12/134) shot craps six months after the warranty ran out. I actually bought it through the Snap-on jobber, because as a durable piece (HA!!) of test equipment I did NOT want to scrimp!

For Hobby, DIY, & occasional use, much, (but not all) of Harbor Freight tools are perfectly serviceable.

 
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There are several loooong threads about Harbor Freight on a woodworking site I'm on. The arguments usually start with two main viewpoints, "All HF tools suck" and "They work well for the price range you pay for them".

After the dust settles it usually comes down to "Excluding the occasional lemon, certain tools are well worth the money and some aren't worth the gas to pick them up." For example, one of the dirt-cheap clamps they sell breaks almost instantly with any pressure because they use plastic in the locking mechanism... people scream junk, but if you replace that piece with a $0.05 metal nut, it works as well as the best on the market. An air-powered cutoff tool cost me $20, and it has been through some extremely tough times (cutting hardened concrete, for example)... a similar tool from a good manufacturer would have cost me at least triple that, but this one is still going strong.

You have to look at it on a tool-by-tool basis with HF...

Dan - Owner
Footwell%20Animation%20Tiny.gif
 
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My acid test, is this a tool I will turn to all the time; I just bought a DeWalt Lithium Ion Drill and Impact Driver set and a Toro lawnmower for example, or a job I'm likely to do once in the ownership of a vehicle, then I'm off to Harbor Freight, etc.
 
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Y'all can say what you want about HF...and...I'll likely agree to some degree, one way or the other. HF is close by for me and I use many of their "cheap" tools. Most are at least serviceable for my intended use, many are not. My money, my choice. Generally speaking, I buy the best tool for the purpose. That means, I have my Ingersoll-Rand pneumatic tools in my shop tool box (Craftsman from the early 70's) along with a complete set of Mac and Craftsman hand tools. However, in the racebox (Kennedy set from garage sale) on the motorhome is an equal set of tools, HF make up the majority along with a bunch of odds and ends from a lifetime of automotive tinkering. Nothing expensive and nothing I cannot afford to lose.

As to some of the HF tools, one or two have outlived the high priced brand...My chop saw has aided in building several roll cages and has gone through probably 20 blades...still going as is my band saw. Most all my pneumatic couplers and hoses are HF and some are 20 years old. Your money, your choice!

Rod
 
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I agree with all of the above, but one of my criteria for avoiding HF stuff is high pressure components. Last thing I need is a hose blowing off a poorly crimped fitting, or the high-side hose splitting, etc. I've seen too many issues with chinese compressed air hoses.

I've always wondered why more domestic tool companies don't make economical, simple tools like HF sells. In their line of hydraulic tools, they basically have a couple of rams, and adapt them to dozens of simple tools like presses and lifts that are nothing but simple steel shapes cut and drilled to bolt together into different configurations. I can't believe the labor in these is such a huge chunk that a domestic couldn't come close on price.

On the other hand, nothing is as disappointing as a domestic tool that is a piece of junk.
 
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About the only thing I would consider HF tools good for is "loaners". If you lose it (don't get it back) it you have lost nothing and if they break it, they deserve it.

rmw

PS to Thru-the-fence, I likewise escaped from Lolly Poly but about 7 years later. I did get my senior ring while it was still an "institute" and somehow that has had a certain poignance to it ever since. I was one of Mr. Thigpen's boys too.
 
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Beating on this dead horse,
Tools are worth what you want to pay for them I have Binks, Devilbiss,and Harbor freight spray guns, the Harbor freight guns perform as well as the Higher end guns and since I shoot Gelcoat and 2 part Polyurethane with them, if one plugs up because the paint cured in the gun, the trash can is right there.
I have a manifold set for R12/R22that came from HF 10 years ago that has seen weekly use and the rubber hoses show no sign of cracking or flaking off inside.
I have CP air tools and harbor freight air tools, I just paid $150 to get a CP air tool repaired. The equivalent HF tool would go in the trash if it ever broke.
The scary thing is that HF has junk and good tools side by side on the shelf and you have to figure out which is which.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
 
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thruthefence,
So , you don't like the handwheel?
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor
 
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