Let's discuss fancy hoses

Rosie has many leaks from the transmission. Mostly they are because the hoses suck.  Hard lines cut with rubber splices, hard lines going to rubber going to a barbed fitting going to an adapter that goes to a hydraulic fitting.   All sorts of nonsense.

She has the traditional radiator cooler, but an additional auxiliary cooler plumbed in.

I was thinking of getting a regular 4L80E AN line kit and a universal one with a bunch of fittings for the auxiliary. 

Would be my first time playing with AN hoses and their fittings.  What do I need to know?  What should I steer away from?

It'll work great. If you have an off-road shop in your area, they can set you up with the hose and all the adapters. Hose diameter will be dictated by how much fluid has to be moved during operation, so the easy answer is to use hose with the same or larger ID. If you install it yourself and use stainless braided hose, make sure that the hose isn't left rubbing against anything, because vibration will cause it to slowly saw through nearly anything on a car! Oh and AN fittings and hose are measured by the ID in 1/16" steps, meaning that "AN3" means it's 3/16" inner diameter; "AN8" is 1/2", and so on.

The stainless braided stuff isn't much fun to cut, so either have them do it, or, depending on expected pressure, you can get barbed fittings and special rubber hose that permanently connects with it - easier to deal with but can still be "fun" to install. The tip I learned was to heat the end of the hose in boiling water before quickly pushing it onto the fitting. A shop can usually do all that for you for free if you tell them the lengths.

I have used this kit before and it worked very well. Bezo's Evil Empire Link. $53

SS Braided Transmission Cooler Hose Line for Chevy 1996-2021 700R4 4L60 4L60E 4L65E 4L80E

I built a custom copy of my Eurovan's PS hose using the barbed fittings and special hose that kb58 mentioned. Well covered in this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyHh2-UdCro

Good for 1200+psi, not hard to work with.

Cutting an line can be a nightmare.  I use the sharp chisel method and it works great!

https://youtu.be/Ygf_TCZqwbM?si=MERp9MK8le_mdje8

Like I said, I use a big sharp chisel, but this video gives you the same idea.

I dropped $30-40 on a set of AN hose cutters, and they worked great.  I can't go to the garage right now to check the name of the product, but I also bought something that goes in a vice and makes it a lot easier to install his ends.  Was great to keep me from getting stabbed in the fingers.

I was also doing this for a 4L80E, due to space limitations.  Make sure you put the transmission fittings in the correct place, the long one has to go in a specific location.

*** I'll chime in on this since I've built many lines in the past. It isn't all that difficult to do, but it isn't easy either. It does take some practice, some patience and attention to detail. Proper measurements, cutting technique, cleaning and then assembly. A long trans line shouldn't be too critical as far as length goes, but all the other procedures are fairly critical.
 

- I tape both sides of the cut line with blue painters tape, leaving a 1/16"-1/8" gap on the mark as where to cut.
- I cut with a 4-1/2" angle grinder with a new wheel at full speed. It tends to leave less fraying of the cut area.
- Then cleaning the rubber dust with a blast of air down the hose is enough. Be careful not to blow air between the SS covering and rubber hose as it will expand the SS or cause some fraying which makes installing the female side of the fitting difficult. 
- Unwrap the tape gently so you don't fray the end of the SS cover. 
- Measure inside the female portion back to the "stop" edge and tape the hose that far back. If the step inside is at 0.750" from the edge, mark the hose back that far and tape around the hose at the mark. This allows you to know you've bottom out the one side of the fitting. It also lets you know that when installing both pieces together, you haven't "walked" this piece up and off of the stop inside.
- Place the male portion of the fitting in a vice and put a drop of lubricant(I use ATF) on the end and wipe it around.
- Now it's time to screw the 2 pieces together. It's not easy the first time, but be consistent twisting them together until you reach the gap between the pieces to the manufacturer's spec. I try to line up the flats with 1/16" gap between pieces.

When finished assembling, blow more air thru the hose and threads before installation.

You'll need blue tape, a marker, bench vise, 4 or 4-1/2" grinder with a thin wheel, a few drops of lubricant, large adjustable wrench, some compressed air and Band-Aids. YOU WILL BLEED!!!!!

Good luck. The first few are nerve wracking, but it really isn't that difficult.

After saying all of that, you can purchase "push lock" type fittings and not do any of the above! Way easier and same result, just not the fancy SS covering. It does come in colored rubber though.

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

Yep. I've made a bunch of hoses and every thing lotuss said is what I do except the tape... I wrap electrical tape as tight as I can on the cut line and mark it with a silver sharpie.

I'll also add: wear leather gloves. I use old tig welding gloves.

I also only use Russell fittings. They are a great quality, mid priced fitting IMO. I like them because they have a reverse thread inside (against the hose) the outer nut that keeps trying to push the hose on while tightening.

I like to use Aeroquip Startlite hose with their reusable aluminum fittings. IIRC these fittings also have the Russell-style reverse thread for the hose. These are big-money components, but they're easier to set up and can't stab you in the process, if a line needs repair only the affected component goes in the trash, and you're left with a lightweight fire-resistant line that won't saw through everything it comes into contact with. You can get by putting together AN lines with a bench vise and adjustable wrenches with taped-up jaws, but if you're doing more than 1 or 2 lines it's worth getting a cheap AN toolkit from AliExpress.

I don't know what Rosie is, but why not just bend up some hard lines for her?  I will admit hard lines are not as fancy.  But hard lines are very durable.

Another option is to find your friendly local parts store with a hydraulic shop. Bring them info about both ends and a length and they can make lines with real crimps and high pressure rubber flexible sections and stuff. 

I have done this for custom PS lines and it was quite cheap compared to diy AN as well.

In reply to Noddaz :

Rosie

Mainly cause I've never done them.  Looks to be about the same level of asspain as bending and flaring hard lines (to me at least) and the price points seem to be close enough to not faze me.  Figured why not look into em?

Thanks for all the advice, guys.  I'm gonna keep poking around and I'll update later.

There are a lot of ways to cut braided hose without proper tools, but the correct tool is cheap enough I wouldn't recommend anything else.

This is the correct tool. $45 from Summit, ends all the drama, taping, cutoff wheels etc. Works great for rubber line, too.

I only use Russell or Aeroquip hose ends anymore. The cheap knockoffs (house brand, amazon, generics) are made of soft alloy and will only cause you pain and suffering. I also dislike the cutter-style ends (Earl's) since they are harder to work with and not considered reusable.

Stainless braid is the way to go for most applications as it's essentially armor. I haven't found huge differences in the hose quality, even including house brand options--they seem to be acceptable if you're not pushing working pressure limits (trans cooler runs under 100psi).

I'll use the push-lok hose and fittings for light duty work like coolant and breather/vent. I don't use it for hot oil or fuel just for my preference/flavor of overkill. The fittings can be a PITA to seat fully and I'll argue are tougher to work with than braided hose and ends.

IMO, hose clamps have absolutely no place on a trans cooler line, ever, no exceptions. No barb fittings either. 3 reasons: leaks suck, trans fluid burns mightily, and sudden loss of cooler flow when the line pops off or bursts will both empty the trans and completely starve it of lube oil, basically guaranteeing immediate catastrophic failure.

You can use some inverted flare-to-6AN adapter fittings in female and male which allows plumbing straight to the radiator cooler. Make sure to route thru the aux cooler first, then thru the radiator. This relieves the radiator cooler of a bunch of heat load and also ensures the trans fluid won't run too cold.

I've also cut and flared 5/16 steel hardline and used -5 tube nut & ferrule with steel -5 to -6 AN adapters (hard to find!) for a half & half approach. Again, no hose clamps. Anyone using hose clamps on AN line is an idiot in my book.

Last and most important, make damn sure to hose out the finished line with your favorite aerosol solvent and blow out with compressed air. In addition to rubber debris, there can also be bits of stainless braid (especially if cut with abrasive). These are not fun things to run thru whatever the AN line is connected to. I have seen a brand new motor instantly trashed on startup because of this.

Sorry. I see the thread title and can't get " No Sleep Till Brooklyn" out of my head.

Note the really funky looking adaptor in the duzitall kit linked above.  That is a critical fitting for the 4L80, it has to be that long for a specific reason.

I forgot what that reason was, but I recall really really needing it...

So my Formula car had braided hoses and AN fittings; other than abrasion resistance I saw no advantage to them.

They do make for a cleaner look than the rubber hose.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

That's a great way to go.  All of my hydraulic customers that operate a walk up will call hose counter MAX out their profit on these hoses.  Just be educated cause they are looking to make some money here.  

Regular rubber hoses don't inherently leak if they're in good condition, you use good hose clamps, and the metal lines they connect to have decent bubble flares / hose barbs.  I'd just replace them rather than go to the trouble and expense of braided lines.