If you buy the kit, there are instructions in the kit. There is a tube in the swivel that gets pushed out using the supplied mandrel. There is a nylon washer, oring, SS center tube, and 2 different length mandrels in the kit. One mandrel is to push it apart, the other is for assembly. The instructions are pretty straight forward. Don't believe I've ever installed a kit, but have a few just in case! The Fluid Controls Swivel is only $15.25...So far I haven't had a one fail.
Stainless for swivels?
- Thread starter OASIS WASH
- Start date
Seriously! How many things are engineered to "Work as Advertised" only to find out they Don't! By design, the higher the pressure, the harder it is to swivel. At 1200 PSI pressure, the nylon washer is getting compressed pretty hard against the SS face inside the housing. So by design, if they are forced to swivel under high pressure, the nylon washer just won't last long. As long as you keep buying them, they will keep making them and selling them to you! I haven't replaced a SS swivel at the boom and gun in 8 years, only because I have the BB swivels 16" down from the boom....
After work today, I started a bay and just walked in circles. The SS swivels at the boom and gun stayed stationary and the BB Fluid Controls swivel did all the work. I tried spinning the SS swivels and they are significantly harder to spin than the BB swivel. In the beginning I watched people fighting with the hose when it bound up from the stiffness of the SS swivels while under pressure. Now you can walk around the car with ease with the BB swivels doing all the work...With one installed inline down from the boom, there is no side pull...Helping them to work easier and last longer.
Last edited:
MEP001
Well-known member
I use the brass version of what you have at the gun since they take so much abuse, and don't rebuild them. Sometimes I get one that won't swivel well or at all under pressure, but mostly they do. I use the SS one below the swivel saver and take them down/rebuild them whenever I change a hose. They always swivel very well after I rebuild them.
You have a swivel at the top AND bottom of the swivel saver? Seems like a waste of a swivel when the bottom one does all the work. FWIW, I put a 3/8" brass M x F fitting directly into the boom to prevent it being damaged by someone hooking the hose in something.
You have a swivel at the top AND bottom of the swivel saver? Seems like a waste of a swivel when the bottom one does all the work. FWIW, I put a 3/8" brass M x F fitting directly into the boom to prevent it being damaged by someone hooking the hose in something.