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Hose Accessories & Fittings
The parts that stop hoses failing early
Clamps, sleeving, guards, reels, menders and mounting hardware. Almost nothing on this page is expensive and almost all of it decides whether an assembly lasts a season or five years. Sold individually at both Long Island counters.
Why It Matters
Hoses rarely die of pressure
Ask anybody who has spent years behind a hose counter what kills assemblies and pressure comes some way down the list. What actually finishes most of them is abrasion, a bend too tight for the hose to tolerate, heat it was never routed away from, and a clamp doing more damage than good.
All four are decided at installation and all four are cheap to prevent. A length of sleeving costs a fraction of the assembly it protects, a clamp of the right type costs pennies more than the wrong one, and an angled fitting removes a bend that would otherwise fatigue the hose right at the ferrule.
None of that is glamorous and none of it is what people come in for. It is, however, the difference between replacing a line once and replacing it every season, which is why the counter tends to ask what the run does before it asks what size you need.
The wider picture on why hydraulic assemblies fail is on hydraulic hose assemblies. This page is the shelf full of answers to it.
Find The Fix
What is killing your hose?
Pick what you are seeing on the failed line. Most of these have a cheap answer that stops it happening again.
Abrasion
The line has been resting against steel and moving against it, usually with engine vibration or boom movement doing the work. The cover wears through first, then the reinforcement, and then it lets go. Almost always visible for weeks before it fails.
Sleeving or a guard
Wrap the contact point in spiral wrap or pull an abrasion sleeve over the run before fitting it. Where two hoses rub against each other, separate them with clamps rather than letting them saw at one another.
Clamps
Six types, and they are not interchangeable
The clamp is the cheapest part of any hose connection and the one most often chosen by whatever is in the drawer. Each of these exists because the others do not suit the job.
Worm gear
The familiar slotted band with a screw drive. Cheap, adjustable and everywhere. The slots are also its weakness, because on soft hose they bite in and cut.
- Best for
- Standard rubber hose
- Avoid on
- Silicone and soft wall
Lined worm gear
Same mechanism with a smooth inner band covering the slots. Spreads the load instead of concentrating it, which is what silicone and thin wall hose need.
- Best for
- Silicone, PVC, soft wall
- Costs
- A little more, worth it
T-bolt
A solid band tightened by a bolt rather than a screw thread. Applies even pressure right around the hose and takes far more torque without deforming.
- Best for
- Charge air, marine, high vibration
- Note
- Ask for stainless near salt
Constant tension
Built with a spring section that keeps clamping force as the hose expands and contracts with temperature. The answer to a coolant joint that weeps only when cold.
- Best for
- Coolant and heater lines
- Solves
- Joints that loosen over time
Ear and pinch clamps
Crimped once with a dedicated tool and not intended to come off again. Low profile, even pressure, and the style most manufacturers fit on the production line.
- Best for
- Fuel, tight clearance, OEM style
- Note
- Needs the crimping tool
Bands and cage clamps
External bands crimped down over the cover on thick walled industrial hose, and cage clamps where the fitting needs holding rather than sealing.
- Best for
- Suction, discharge, large bore
- See also
- Industrial fittings
Protection
Sleeving, guards and wrap
Spiral wrap
Polyethylene coil that winds on over an assembly already in place. Goes on without disconnecting anything, bundles several lines together and comes off just as easily.
Nylon abrasion sleeve
A woven textile sleeve pulled over the hose before the ends go on. Takes far more rubbing than a cover does and is the standard answer on any run that contacts a frame.
Fire and heat sleeve
Silicone coated fibreglass built to shield a line from radiant heat and, in the worst case, flame. Goes near exhausts, turbos and anywhere a hose runs closer to heat than it should.
Guards and shields
Spring guards and metal shields for the specific spot where a hose meets an edge. Where the contact point is known and will not move, a guard beats wrapping the whole run.
Also Stocked
Reels, menders and hardware
Reels, hangers and mounts
Hose reels for air, water and wash lines, wall hangers, cushioned P-clips and mounting brackets. The hardware that keeps a hose supported along its length rather than hanging its own weight off the fitting at one end.
Unsupported weight is a quiet killer, and it shows up as a fitting that starts weeping for no apparent reason after a year.
Menders, caps and plugs
Hose menders for joining two lengths, splicers, dust caps and plugs to keep grit out of open couplings, plus replacement gaskets and O-rings for the joints that weep rather than fail.
Fittings themselves sit on hydraulic fittings and industrial fittings, and AN and braided stainless on high performance hoses.
Before You Buy
Common questions
A lined worm gear clamp or a T-bolt. A standard worm drive band has open slots that bite into the softer silicone wall and eventually cut it, producing a weep under a clamp that still feels perfectly tight. The lined version covers the slots and spreads the load.
The hose has taken a set under the clamp while hot and shrunk away from it when cool, so the clamping force drops. A constant tension clamp has a spring section that keeps the force steady through heat cycling, which is exactly the problem it was designed for.
Yes, with spiral wrap. It winds on over a line that is already installed and comes off just as easily. A pull-over nylon sleeve is tougher but has to go on before the fittings do, so save that for the next replacement.
On low pressure water and air lines, yes, that is what they are for. On a pressurised hydraulic line, no. A hose that has failed once has damage along its length and a mender does not restore the reinforcement. Replace the assembly rather than joining it.
Yes, everything here is sold singly rather than in bags. Clamps, O-rings, caps, sleeving by the foot. If one clamp is what stands between you and a finished job, that is a completely normal purchase at this counter.
Yes. Clamps, gaskets, O-rings and sleeving are exactly the things a shop runs out of at the wrong moment. We set stocking levels around what you actually consume and hold the rest here rather than on your budget. Ask at either counter or through the contact page.
Get It Right
Bring the failed hose in
Where it wore, how it bent and what it rubbed on are all written on the old part. Somebody will read it and tell you what would have stopped it.