Who Rebuilds Swivels?

[Waxman]

So a swivel blew apart today and soaked a customer pretty good. Why he didn't turn the dial to 'off' is beyond me, but I digress.

I lost the snap ring that holds everything together, apparantly.

I inspected the swivel and looked at the guts of it. It's a pretty simple series of 'o' rings, spacers and a snap ring for replaceable parts as far as I can tell.

My question is do you rebuild yours or just order a new one for $25?

Thanks!

 

[Randy]

What kind of swivel? Gun or Boom. I normally toss them since they are so inexpensive. We've used a ball bearing gun swivel on the booms before with no problem. KR SW0260 $13.25

 

[Greg Pack]

My personal policy is that if a replacement new "anything" cost less than about $100, I toss it. I'm not saying another policy is right or wrong, but it's not worth the time, aggravation, or downtime for me. I may be wasting a little money, but downtime is kept minimal and in the grand scheme of things it just doesn't cost that much more to replace than trying to repair stuff.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

My personal policy is that if a replacement new "anything" cost less than about $100, I toss it. I'm not saying another policy is right or wrong, but it's not worth the time, aggravation, or downtime for me. I may be wasting a little money, but downtime is kept minimal and in the grand scheme of things it just doesn't cost that much more to replace than trying to repair stuff.

Ditto. With a full time job, I just don't have the time to be able to rebuild the "small" things.

 

[bigleo48]

Not sure about the swivels you use, but when I change my hoses or do any work on them, I pop the swivel open with an hex key, replace the 'O' ring and I'm done. So it doesn't take much longer than replacing it altogether.

 

[TurboJet]

Gun and Foam brush hose - Upper swivel I rebuild once, lower swivel at the gun and brush handle I discard and replace. The lower ones tend to be more worn due to higher loads and tend to not last that long after a rebuild. Boom swivels - tend to last quite long - I rebuild them at least once.

If I had to pay an attenddant to rebuild them, probably not worth it, but for what I pay them to be there they could probably get it done. But no one will work like us owners.

 

[MEP001]

I use the Adams (KR SW7080) gun swivels at the gun and below the short whip hose. I don't rebuild either, but if I did I would use the stainless model. The brass one gets to "wallered" out by the time the nylon bushings wear out and it won't hold a kit after that. I was using Sonic, but you have to pack it with fresh grease when you rebuild it or it won't last, and it's not worth the time and mess to me. I quit using the SMC swivel, which is what Randy mentioned by Kleen-Rite's part number, because before they would get bad enough to leak they would no longer swivel under high pressure.

I've never, ever had an Adams gun swivel "blow apart" on a customer, and would never use that brand swivel again if it did.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I rebuild them, it only takes a minute.
I only use stainless swivels, and if they're old/worn/cruddy looking I toss & replace.

 

[Waxman]

clarification

I meant a 90 deg. boom swivel. I plan to stock up on the o rings, try rebuilding one and buying one (in case I screw up). Looks like something I could do in less than 5 minutes so to me it may be worthwhile.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

90* boom swivels - yup, I repair those too, but they dont go bad too often, I've only had to do a few in 15 years. Takes about 5 minutes.

 

[MEP001]

For the boom swivel, I use a Sonic swivel. I used to rebuild them, but as I said it's messy if I want it to last. If I just stick new o-rings in it, it will fail again in a short time.

I just ordered some street elbows and spare 7080 gun swivels - my plan is to use the same swivel at all three points so I don't have to keep as many different spare parts around.

 

[Randy]

Years ago I used to rebuilt a few boom swivels, like MEP said they don?t seem to last to long. We always replace them with new now. It?s a hassle to drag out the ladder and change a leaking boom swivel. I have used a Fluid Controls Ball Bearing swivel SW0260 with a street 90 on it as boom swivel, works great. We used the Fluid Controls SW0260 on everything that requires a swivel. They turn easy under pressure.