control valve to slave cylinder hoses

[brian brensinger]

I restoring a 57 fairlane 500 and I'm wondering if anyone knows the correct length of the 2 hoses. My old hoses measure 18 1/8" and the ones I ordered are 17 1/2" which do not fit. I was told by the vendor that my old ones were wrong and theses are the right ones. Any help would be appreciated.     Brian

[petew]

Brian, I can't tell you what the correct length is but I can tell you what my experience with those hoses was.... I ordered replacements from Concours and got ones the were a tad shorter than what I took off the car. I didn't measure the difference but there was one.
The control valve screws on to the center link and there is actually a measurement in the shop manual that tells you how far onto the center link that it is supposed to be. That will affect the distance from the control valve to the steering ram and will dictate how the hoses fit or don't fit.
So if the control valve isn't screwed on far enough the hoses will be to short.
Now back to the length discrepancy... The hoses are rubber and I wonder if time , pressure and heat made them stretch just a little.
With that said I adjusted my control valve in and got my hoses to fit, they are tight but they fit.
An option if that doesn't work would be to find a place that makes hydraulic hoses and have a set made to fit your needs . They may even be able to use the ends from your old hoses.

Pete

[brian brensinger]

Thanks Pete for the info. I saw that it is adjustable but was not sure if that was the only problem. When I saw that they were different then the old ones I was not sure. I will try your idea and see what happens. I tried several places here to have other ones made and they want to rig them which I didn't care for. THANKS for your help!    Brian