Heating up nylon fuel line prior to barb insertion

I am trying to warm up an old 5/16 ths nylon fuel line in place on a Ram pickup.

It is a tight place.

I have about 5 inches of the line sticking up in the clear from the crevice between frame rail and plastic fuel tank.

The instructions call for dipping the line in boiling water before inserting the steel barb. This works fine for the new line that can be held in a down direction out in the open.

For warming the old line fixed in place pointing upward
I have tried submerging a 7/16 ths deepwell socket in the boiling water,
then slipping the hot socket over the outside diameter of old nylon line stub.

I hav also tried submerging a tapered center punch in boiling water,
then inserting the hot punch into the inside diameter of the old nylon stub.

There are gasoline vapors around and I am afraid of using a flame, and wary of using electrical devices.

Any ideas on how to
heat the old nylon fuel line stub
in the tight confines beneath the cargo box
to around 212 degrees safely?

You can get compression type fittings for the 5/16" nylon tube at your local auto parts,maybe on the HELP board. I think I got them at Auto Zone.

I have been to Autozone yesterday and they do have a larger variety of Dorman products than O'Reilys. Autozone stocked a 5/16 double barb but the needed part is an adapter barb with one 5/16 end and another 3/8 end. I rigged up such an adapter from brass parts.

Use a heat gun.

Hot water.Used it many times at work.Heat it up to boiling and insert the line.Then as soon as its heated insert barb.They usually go right in.Did a lot when I was at the shop.Rocky

Don't you love advice that doesn't read the question.

Doesn't want to use electrical tool (heat gun) due to safety concerns and can't bend the line down to use boiling water.

Other than the brass adapter idea, can you loosen up the other end of the line and pull it out enough to give you the slack you need to heat up the end in question?

What about a new line? cost and effort involved I don't know, but maybe that's a better option? $15 for 10 foot from Dorman.

http://www.jegs.com/p/Dorman-Products/Dorman-Nylon-Fuel-Line-Tubing/1667167/10002/-1

Or a short piece of line to heat up and install then hook it up with one of these?

http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-50971-800-191.aspx?origin=keyword

vasoline

Had same thought as above, buy whole new section .....

Unfortunately, that covers about 75% of the replies on this forum.

Do you have the room to soak a rag in hot water and wrap it around the tubing? A rag fully saturated in boiling water should transfer enough heat to soften the line for installation.

I finally got everything together with no leaks.

Why do dropped things end up in the worse possible resting places?

I was going to use the heated 7/16 ths deepwell socket to heat the outside of the original 5/16 fuel line but I dropped the socket while squirming into place and it fell....... into the crevice between truck frame rail and plastic gasoline tank. A telescoping 36 inch magnet finally got it.

I used two tapered center punches to heat the nylon lines from the inside diameter.

The brass barbs would not push completely into the nylon lines, lacking about 1/8 th inch probably because in my cramped position I could not apply enough muscle. I added screw type hose clamps but would have prefered the right size of constant tension clamp.

I now intend to drive the truck to a shop where the entire fuel line can be replaced.

Since my 26 gallon tank will have to be dropped,
I am going to look in salvage yards for one of the 34 gallon tanks that V10 engine equipped Clubcab shortbed Rams got around year 1998.

I meant on the metal fitting before you stick it into a cold plastic line.

I replaced my line because I ran in to the same issue. At the time it was still available from the dealer. It may be worth giving them a call. It was fairly reasonable priced and good for piece mind.

This is what I was trying to describe in my earlier post.

10-4

You can get brass compression fittings at the hardwarwe stores, pretty easy to find them. Not too sure how easy the fuel resistance plastic ones are to find though.