Tight Hoses

[Kennyr]

In regard to the pr steering flush post today I would like to give you all a tip on removing tight hoses and rubber and plastic bellows. Yes that pr steering pump hose is a bear, but just use a heat gun (about 20 bucks at True Value) or a hairdrier to soften it up. Dont get carried away with the heat though. Use cloth gloves or a pry tool then because you don't want to burn yourself. Works like a charm. Mechanics dont fight petrified hoses, they cut em off or heat em up first. That's how I removed my pr steering hose a couple months ago. I didn't want to reuse the hose but I was too lazy to go for a new one.

[VGR]

Good tip about the hair dryer. Another tip is to warm the engine up fully before attempting hose removal. I also usually don't replace Toyota hoses because most of them are made of such high quality rubber they last 20 years or more and the replacement auto parts store hoses are so low in quality they last only months instead of decades.

In cases where a Toyota hose has gotten hard and brittle, one inexpensive trick is to visit an auto wrecking yard and obtain similarly sized high quality hose off of a late model Toyota that was wrecked due to a traffic accident.