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Need ideas - Please!

Tankerpilot75

Tankerpilot75

Well Known Member
As part of this year?s condition inspection I decided to change all my FWF hoses. Ordered the hoses from TS Flightline and started installing them today. Everything was going smoothly until I got to the lower oil cooler hose.

Where that hose connects to the block just below the oil filter is IMPOSSIBLE to get a wrench on (7/8? size). I removed the oil filter for better access but it?s still too limited of a space to put a wrench. I?m thinking about removing the oil filter bracket but that also is nearly impossible to put a socket on the lower right side nut.

Has anyone else ran into this problem and if so how did you address it?
 
Some Ideas

Hey Tankerpilot, I’m not familiar with your exact installation, but here are a few moves I’ve used (resorted to?) in my sordid and misspent career. 1. Can you get a crowfoot wrench on it? Maybe with the right combination of extension(s)? 2. Snap-On makes open end wrenches with a 30 degree angle on one end and a 60 angle on the other. I have a set and they’ve been real problem solvers sometimes. 3. Rarely, I’ve bought cheapie wrenches off the 88 cent table at the hardware store and heated them up with an oxyacetylene torch to bend them to a newer, more useful, special shape.
You’re gonna get this thing loose. Somebody who wasn’t any smarter than you got it on, right? Once it’s off, you have a chance to rearrange something and make it easier next time.
And hats off to you for proactively replacing hoses. Lots of owners don’t do it.
 
JDeanda said:
I’ve bought cheapie wrenches off the 88 cent table at the hardware store and heated them up with an oxyacetylene torch to bend them to a newer, more useful, special shape.
Click to expand...

I do this quite a bit. A lot of times just grinding on a older cheap tool will work. You will end up with a RV specific set of specialty tools. Makes annuals go faster when have a tool that works vs having to each time figure out which combination of crows foot, extensions and wrenches will work.

Long time A&P in hangar next to me has collected over the years a huge number of these “homemade” tools. Problem is remember which one does what.
 
Thanks for reminding me why I have the ground down wrench I saw yesterday in my toolbox!
 
Thanks for the replies.

It?s obvious that this hose was put on during build before everything else was added. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a set of closed end offset wrenches. I?m going to cut the largest wrench (13/16 and 7/8) in half and then open up the 7/8? side so it?ll slip over the hose.

Hopefully this modified tool will work. As a near hangar friend said, ?it?s an airplane, it?s supposed to be a challenge.? And yes, changing hoses is being proactive but isn?t that what the annual condition inspection is all about?
 
Good luck with the build-your-own wrench, it's worked many times. I will say that the snap-on angled open-end wrench mentioned above was a lifesaver on an oil line in a Glasair with a tightly packed TIO-580. Took that and a normal open end wrench, getting 1/8 turns, alternating each end of each wrench, till it was loose,. But finally got it...with only a few "new" words uttered for the kids dictionary. ;) Feeling your pain...good luck! :)

Cheers,
Bob
 
I'm always looking for something new to buy at Harbor Freight so I might as well pick up some of these for future use. Which of these ways were you needing the offset?


 
Tankerpilot75 said:
Carlos, it was the top picture wrenches I bought. However when I tried to modify the 7/8” wrench it proved too hard a steel for me to cut as needed without a torch (which I don’t have).
Click to expand...

You should be able to cut up any wrench with a cut-off wheel in a grinder.
 
Hoses installed - finally

Just to let everyone know, I finally installed the new lower oil cooler hose replacing the one that gave me so much trouble removing. That one hose problem took over eight hours trying by myself and another three hours with a friend?s help.

We finally gave up trying to craft a special tool because no matter what we tried nothing worked. The impossible fitting angle, oil filter bracket, magneto and prop governor bracket wouldn?t let us get even a 1/16? turn with any tool.

Our final solution was to remove the magneto, loosen the prop governor bracket and turn the fitting on the block down about 15 degrees. My friend Jerry, who just completed a top overhaul on his RV6, said this was the toughest access program he?s ever seen for a hose replacement.

Oh well, time to move on with the rest of the condition inspection! Sometimes airplane work is just too challenging!!!
 
Re-opening old thread for a similar problem. Lucky for me, the engine came from the factory with a 45 degree fitting pointed in just the right direction for clearance for the hose. I can even get a wrench on the hose end (with the oil filter out) to snug it up, so I guess I'm lucky in that respect. Has anyone figured out a way to get a torque wrench+crowfoot in there for the final install, without having to take the magneto off??

 
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