I have been having an ongoing issue with a small Freon leak since I bought my truck. The leak was coming from the aluminum tube coming off the A/C expansion valve under the front right tire. When I ordered a new part to change it, a completely different looking hose showed up. While the new hose would attach, the external fittings going to the compressor, air dryer, etc...were all different. After checking numerous times, the part number was correct. After looking over my truck closely, it appears as if my A/C setup is either a one-off/prototype system, or something else is going on. Dave @ Blue Hummer said he went through every parts manual available and could not locate a hose that looked like mine.
After bringing the original hose around to numerous fabrication shops in town, nobody would fix it. If it needed to be TIG'd then it wouldn't be an issue..but it was brazed which nobody wanted to mess with. Soooo.. I JB welded around the entire tube, which worked for about a month. Alas, it started leaking again from the same area a few days ago. I can't tell if the JB weld failed, or if something else is going on with the hose.
Before I take the new/different one that I ordered down to a hose shop and bastardize it to maybe work, I would like your guys' help. One of the big differences with the hose that I ordered is that it has a 90' fitting on the end that goes to the compressor manifold. From what I've seen online, this is consistent with traditional compressor manifolds.
For reference, I've attached three pictures below to show what I'm talking about. The first shows the manifold on 96'99 models, the second picture showing the manifold on a 2000 truck, and the 3rd showing whats on my truck..(a 97') You can see that mine is a straight fitting and the manifold looks very different from the other two. This would explain the major difference in expansion valves.
Can everyone PLEASE take a second to look at yours, and see if you have the same setup as me? If so, please let me know your truck's year and model. Also, please take a picture of the expansion valve itself. I am trying to determine if my setup is some one-off prototype thing that was made, or what the deal is? It should be noted the folks at Tustin did work to the A/C prior to me buying the truck.
Thanks in advance!
After bringing the original hose around to numerous fabrication shops in town, nobody would fix it. If it needed to be TIG'd then it wouldn't be an issue..but it was brazed which nobody wanted to mess with. Soooo.. I JB welded around the entire tube, which worked for about a month. Alas, it started leaking again from the same area a few days ago. I can't tell if the JB weld failed, or if something else is going on with the hose.
Before I take the new/different one that I ordered down to a hose shop and bastardize it to maybe work, I would like your guys' help. One of the big differences with the hose that I ordered is that it has a 90' fitting on the end that goes to the compressor manifold. From what I've seen online, this is consistent with traditional compressor manifolds.
For reference, I've attached three pictures below to show what I'm talking about. The first shows the manifold on 96'99 models, the second picture showing the manifold on a 2000 truck, and the 3rd showing whats on my truck..(a 97') You can see that mine is a straight fitting and the manifold looks very different from the other two. This would explain the major difference in expansion valves.
Can everyone PLEASE take a second to look at yours, and see if you have the same setup as me? If so, please let me know your truck's year and model. Also, please take a picture of the expansion valve itself. I am trying to determine if my setup is some one-off prototype thing that was made, or what the deal is? It should be noted the folks at Tustin did work to the A/C prior to me buying the truck.
Thanks in advance!