The $600 hydraulic fitting kit that never fit anything I own
I grabbed a universal hydraulic hose crimper kit off a supplier last fall, figured it would save me trips to the shop. Total bill came to $612 with the dies and adapters. First job on a 6-ton jack, the fittings leaked like a sieve at 2,000 psi. Turns out the crimp dies were off by a hair on every size, so nothing seated right. I wasted a full Saturday fighting it then had to rent a real crimper from a local outfit anyway. Has anyone else bought one of these kits and just ended up using it as a paperweight?
Sounds like user error more than the kit's fault. Off by a hair on every die size? That's not a bad batch, that's you not checking the crimp measurements before you send it. Plenty of guys run these kits fine on farm equipment and small jobs, you just have to gauge the fitting after each crimp instead of trusting it blind.