DIY A/C Hoses?

There is a bad A/C line on the rear A/C on the shuttle bus. It is the high pressure soft line, from the compressor to the condenser coil. It's probably 10' long and I'm betting expensive since it's probably a Carrier item.

The other option is to make it myself. It's a crimped line with what looks to be a standard straight fitting on one end and a standard 90* fitting on the other. A inexpensive manual crimp tool is $130. The hose is sub $3 a foot and the ends are $5-$6. I will have to build a bunch of lines when I move this A/C system to SanFord, so buying the tool is a worthwhile investment. The question is, how hard is it to build A/C lines. 

Does the manual crimp tool suck bad for a dozen crimps? Are some crimp fittings better than others? Where is the best place to buy the stuff. 

Teach me building A/C lines.

Which crimp tool are you looking at? Look up the Eaton ez crimp system, it seems to work well.

The first one I saw was a Mastercool, but if spending a few more dollars is worth it, I'm all for it. 

Matercool is what my ac guy uses.

Do NOT use a standard hydraulic hose crimper.  That doesn't end well.

I use parker barrier hose and vintage air ends. And then have tim crimp and charge the system. 

NAPA stores will make hoses for you pretty reasonable.  If you find one with a good tech, they can even re-use the ends on your old hose.

You can use a standard hydraulic hose crimper with the right tooling and fittings but that is way over the budget we are talking. The mastercool crimper looks nice if the house and fittings are readily available.

We have a hose crimper at work that can crimp ferrules on to an 8"ID industrial hose and other crimpers to make 1/4" hydraulic hoses - any commercial crimper is way better than the homeowner version - find a good guy to make your hoses as Dr. Hess suggested.

Not much chance I'll pay someone to do something I can do myself, with a reasonable investment in tools. That's kind of the whole reason for asking about the crimp tools and the quality of the cheaper ones. 

I will also have quite a few hoses to make when I move this A/C system to SanFord, so a tool investment now is money in the bank in the future. 

So, with that in mind, anyone else have thoughts on crimp tools and hose materials. 

Thanks. 

I have a similar tool, maybe even that one, and it's pretty easy to use and seems to do a good job.  I've only done one hose with it, and it hasn't been pressurized yet, but I'm happy with the tool itself and the results so far.

Post overkill- but I ended up buying AC tools to do everything after being quoted $275 for two custom AC lines- and I had to provide the fittings. Of course anything wrong with fitment after attempted install and it was my problem.

I bought an "eBay" version of that tool to build lines for my AC system on my engine-swapped Miata using a late NB/Rx8 compressor, modified bracket and OE parts/fittings and hose. I used the DIY AC system the entire trip back to ATL from the challenge and it worked great. With the addition of some Harris Alcor high silver braze/solder (what hvac techs use) and a proper swaging tool, there won't be any AC system you can't tackle. 

For those that like pictures:

I salvaged fittings/barbs from OE hoses. Cut and pry off the existing crimps to gain access to the barb.

Then swage, flip fit and braze/solder to your fitting.

Same size tubing with collar braze

Pressure check

Sort fitment

Crimp and install

My local hose shop is pretty cheap. One of my lines got burnt after a header install, so I took the damaged one off, and said make it 2" longer. They re-used the original fittings and crimped a new hose on for like $40. Shop around for local radiator/hose/hydrualic shops. You might be surprised.

Seriously, it's not just a price thing.

It's about being able to make them in my shop, exactly the way I want them, when I want them.

It's the same reason I spent $1800 on tire machines when a shop will do most tires for $20 each. Money isn't the only consideration.