Pick the port on your machine and the end on your hose, and get the adapter that joins them, named by its two ends, with Parker’s part number where Parker lists one.
What’s the port on the machine?
Port size
Dash sizes count sixteenths of an inch: -8 is a 1/2" pipe port, or an ORB port for 1/2" tube, which has a 3/4-16 thread. Not sure which you have? Identify it first.
What’s on the end of the hose?
Hose end size
The adapter
-8 ORB male × -6 JIC male adapter
Its -8 ORB male end goes in the -8 ORB port (3/4-16), and the -6 JIC female swivel (9/16-18) screws onto its -6 JIC male end
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Why the obvious part often doesn’t fit
- The dash number isn’t the thread. A -8 ORB port has a 3/4-16 thread, a 1/2" NPT port has a tapered thread with 14 threads per inch, and a -8 ORFS hose end has a 13/16-16 thread.
- Straight-thread ports don’t seal on the thread. An ORB port seals on an O-ring in its chamfer, and a BSPP port on a washer or O-ring against its flat face, so the adapter’s port end has to match the port’s thread and seal.
- Pipe threads are the weak joint. NPT connectors over 3/4", and every elbow or tee with a pipe thread, aren’t preferred where a joint has to stay leak-free.
- Hose ends can share a thread and still not fit. A -6 JIC and a -4 ORFS both have a 9/16-18 thread, but one seals on a cone and the other on a flat face.
Pressure ratings
Every hose, tube and fitting in a line must have a published maximum working pressure at or above the system’s maximum, and an assembly is rated at its weakest part. Parker prints each adapter’s rating in its catalog, and it changes with the size and the material, so check the rating of the adapter you use.
Before you loosen a fitting
- Turn the machine off, put the equipment in a safe, neutral position and release the pressure before you loosen anything. Turning off the pump may not release it: check valves can hold pressure in a hose, and it can take minutes or hours to bleed away.
- Never feel for a leak with your hand or any other part of your body. Oil under pressure can go through skin, and a pinhole leak can be almost invisible.
- If oil gets under your skin, get medical help at once, even if it doesn’t hurt. An injection injury can lead to amputation.
- Threads that screw together don’t prove the parts match. Some parts that don’t belong together still thread on, and then leak or come apart under pressure.
- Use only fittings whose published working pressure is at or above your machine’s maximum pressure. If a fitting has no published rating, don’t use it.
- Stay clear the first time you run the machine under pressure after a repair.