Stretching a Plastic Replacement Gas Line

Why not live with it as is? Is a hedge trimmer mission-critical?

I could have a hay day with this one!

I've always used boiling hot water to soften the tubing and a small amount of vaseline or KY jell on the barbs. I never tried Prep H, even tho they can be a pain in the a$$. Otherwise, if you can't pull the tube off the first barb, I'd let'er buck and keep the Mrs's happy

Are you insinuating that Lyn is a bigamist?

The Grocer just called about those stray apostrophes. Can they go back now, please?

Nice catch, I will give you one style point for that one.

Oh you lucky dog...

Snap ring pliers....$12

Problem: OD of tubing is .133. ID, ? can't measure accurately. The brass tube on the carb end it goes over is .117.

Can't get a ball point pin in it, let alone snap ring pliers, assuming I could find mine.

I may go with some good two part epoxy (I have) and try that.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fuel-line-works-on-Homelite-Trimmer-Blower-115-ID-205-OD-/130694091691

Thanks but, I had to heat and stretch the .133 OD line to get it through the tank opening.

I considered drilling the tank out and epoxying the line in.

So far I'm thinking epoxy on the barb and going with that.

I have one tree that I trim once a year.

I gas, trim, drain and store. Done that for 10 years now.

As Tornado said, not mission critical for sure.

JD weld fails in gasoline. It was a few years ago, but memory is that ethanol was the problem.

I found some 2 part epoxy that was in 35mm film canisters that worked and still is (~5years). I can't recall the brand, but local hardware store carried this. The manufacture of this slid the 2 film canisters into a cardboard tube, so I hope this description helps.

My repair was to an auto gas filler tube, that rotted from road salt. I glued the filler neck to a new piece of 1.5 inch muffler tubing. Fairly high stress repair.

Maybe this stuff...

https://www.amazon.com/PC-Products-Two-Part-Multipurpose-Adhesive/dp/B000BOHJJ0/ref=pd_sim_328_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=419%2BIMhY2ML&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=VFFYF17F17DAXC4A6QBN

That is it.

I think it say's it's gasoline compatible.

They do...

..."

• Bonds many materials, including fiberglass, wood, concrete, many metals, brick, glass, ceramic, and rubber
• Seals oil, gas, and water tank leaks, as well as plumbing and masonry cracks "...

"And can leap tall buildings in a single bound".

There's bonding, then there's BONDING.

I spend many years developing, specifying, testing and applying adhesives and coatings to satellites that had to survive a rocket ride into orbit and then 10 years in a hard vacuum, exposed to intense heat and cold.

Bonding "many materials" is fine if you're gluing two sticks together.

I'm sure it's as good as the next general purpose adhesive.

Get one of the jeweler's screw driver to fit the opening then push it inward towards the taper end ....it may do the trick of stretching your tube!

good luck!

Well, they do make filters with smaller barbs, but since this is what you've dealt yourself you might be able to do what I did once. If you're lucky, you can use a short piece of slightly larger tubing that fits reasonably tight on the barb and reasonably tight over the small fuel line. I'm not really too sure how well this will hold up long-term since the Tygon(?) tubing doesn't seem to be dimensionally stable in gasoline, but it has worked a while on a POS TroyBilt 4-stroke weed trimmer.

Otherwise, it looks secure enough the way you have it.

There is also a kind of internally gooped heat-shrink tubing that forms an adhesive bond. I used to use it over 40 years ago for 4" and 6" round duct joints.

This sounds like a good idea, just cover the connection...maybe a couple of layers

http://3mcollision.com/3m-eps-300-thin-wall-flexible-polyolefin-adhesive-lined-tubing-36593.html

In small sizes, boating stores are a likely source. It's great for water-resistant wire splices.

No water in a gas tank.

It's not worth the bother to look for a long term solution.

I'm going to slather some epoxy on the fitting and trim the tree.

Next year, we'll see where we are.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Would it be possible to reduce the barb with a little 60 grit sandpaper?

Maybe what you need is a reducing fitting plus a short piece of tubing to connect your filter to the reducing fitting.

I'm going to slather some epoxy on the fitting and trim the tree.

Did that last night. We'll see.

Next year, I just may break loose with a buck and take to to the pros and have them fix it right.

Thanks, gang.

I was working on my Poulon weed eater motor - carb was stopped up, I know what you mean about trying to do this job with maybe suitable replacement tubing kit, maybe not. Anyway, I had the thing hopelessly flooded after a while of switching tubings back and forth to see which way the primer bulb would function or not.

I lit off the vapor at the intake with my cigarette lighter, and proceeded to burn the tubings off the tank! No problems with oversize now! One more tubing kit later, I got the thing to run, but the throttle cable partially melted and I have no speed control.

Happy yucks to you, and all who read my reply.

James

Notice the color coordinated yo yo string reinforcement.

Ready for Saturday trim-fest!

After 23 responses, not a single one has answered the original question: how to stretch the tubing.

I've done it quite a few times, with Tygon and several other kinds of plastic tubes. Depending on the size of the tubing, I use either an awl or a pin punch. Choose a punch that will just fit inside the tube, and shove the tubing on as far as you can while cold. Then heat the punch and the end only of the tubing with a hot air gun (as used for shrinking heat-shrink tubing). Keep shoving in on the tubing while you heat it, until it reaches slightly larger than the barb OD. It's important to aim the air flow only at the punch and the end of the tubing, so the part of the tubing you are shoving on remains as cool as possible. Then turn off the heat, and cool it to near room temperature before removing the tubing from the punch. Shove the tubing onto the barb, and hold it while you heat it again to form a good connection to the barb.

So basically what I hear you saying to us all is not chill out, but heat things up and shove it! You are such a nice guy!

Hellerman pliers?

How much are those at Home Depot or Sears? It looks like a nose hair plucker, or an eyelash curler, not that I have one, but I have five sisters, and they all used them.

$26 on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XHellerman+pliers.TRS0&_nkw=Hellerman+pliers&_sacat=0

Looks as though they are a UK type of thing.

We used something like this, but heavier duty to castrate bull calves and goats back on the farm.

The animals didn't much care for it.

The bigger, stronger, “better” bander. Bands are two times the strength of standard bands and they open bigger. Banding causes less stress, resulting in bigger gains. Recommended for calves up to 400 lbs. or 3-4 months of age. The bands are flat so they will not roll off of the applicator. The scrotum should fall off in approximately 20-40 days.

Yeah try wearing a rubber band around your sac for 20-40 days, I can't imagine the pain! Not only that, the whole idea of a part falling off is insane.

I also know that bulls are a bit stringy for a good BBQ. But a mean bastage that tries to hook the rancher every single time is likely to find himself slowly tumbling over a fire.

As a technician, I would of put the tubing on the fuel filter first, then I would of attached the hose to the fuel pickup tube second.

I would use alcohol as a lubricant to slide the tube over the barbed fitting.

Of course, I only have practical knowledge, not the theoretical kind.

They may have tools/methods at the factory to do it that way, but there's no way to thread the tubing into and through the undersized hole from inside the tank.

And with only a 1 1/4 inch filler opening, it has to come through the top of the tank, out through the filler opening before the filter can be attached.

It may be all moot, since my wife threw the three allen screws away that hold the handle together yesterday (after a few glasses of wine) before I could put it back together.

I was sooooooooooooo pissed off this morning that I may just go buy a new one instead of playing musical screws at Home Depot. To be continued..........................................................................................

Lyn, you didn't say what the model and manufacturers name of the unit was.

If you will tell us here what that is, I would be more than happy to go to home depot and get you three Allen screws.

And if I get the screws you need, you can give me three glasses of wine.

Weed Eater GHT 225.

(1) #10x14x.625 Plastic thread and (2) #10x14x1.025

At least 10 years old and this is the first problem.

__________________________________________________________________________________

I just bought a new Poulan 8" pole saw for work today and used it to do a trim on the larger branches of the Australian Bottle Tree that grow down during the heavy growth season.

This saw works great and costs much less (under $200.00 USD) than either Echo or Husky at $600.00 USD (Disclaimer here)

We also have bottle trees down here... but they look rather different than the aussi ones!

Ouch!

You could have bought Craftsman weed whacker 4-cycle like I did, and like BTW, and it comes able to accept all Craftsman attachments, same as Poulan. You can have my old Poulan if you want it (the one I caught on fire, semi-on-purpose). It just needs a new throttle cable now, due to melt damage.

I went to replacement parts.com

Entered GHT 225 LE

It looks like the three screws you need cost about $12.00 + shipping.

So, what about that wine ��?

What? $12.00 + shipping????

I think I'll just wrap the handle in black electrical tape and buy 3 bottles of wine for the wife.

Anyway, see #37 above.

How about getting fuel line that fits the carburetor hose barb and just open the hole in the gas tank to fit the new line

You don't understand the issue.

The fuel line fits the carb. hose barb.