The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rocker Oil Line

The nut came off the end of the rocker oiler. Is this nut replaced easily with a flare tool? I've never used a flare tool before.

Broken line

Broken line 2

Nut

All I can see is advertisements.

Thanks Photobucket - one of many photo-hosting sites we have come to love to hate.

Get some spare line and practice, nut must be put on before flaring.

Ed

The line is not flared. It uses a special one-time use nut that crimps itself down onto the tubing.
Jerry

So this is a compression fitting? Are these nuts readily available? Say at NAPA or a bolt supply? Or is this a special order item?

The nut itself is the compression fitting. It has a thin tapered front section that bites into the tubing and seals the first time it's tightened. Once the nut attaches itself to the tubing, it is supposed to stay there during later removal/replacement of the tubing in the oil connector. If the nut is installed properly the first time, about 1/8" of the tube or a little more protrudes past the front of the nut, then the tapered portion of the nut crimps itself to the tube as it's tightened..

Every local parts store used to stock those nuts, but that was 50-something years ago when these engines were daily drivers. Someone posted a reference with a part number recently but it was for a 1/4" OD tubing fitting, not the 3/16" OD one that fits the oil connector line.
Jerry

Here's a picture of the nut:

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/ede/276016.jpg

It's for a 3/16" diameter tube- - - -hard to find these days!

The copper tube through the water jacket that goes up to the oil connector on the spray-oilers uses one of these nuts to crimp down on the tube and prevent coolant leakage into the pushrod chamber. There's a mating female adapter that works with the male thread to provide the crimping action as the nut is tightened.

I believe this is the female thread adapter that works with it:
http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/ede/orly_265301.jpg

The early-style oil connector with the line that threads into it has a similar female thread to provide the crimp the first time the fitting is tightened onto the oil line.
Jerry

OK, thanks. So it'll be difficult to find. What will happen if I try to re-use the nut?

Very good info, Tim! Bookmarked!

I have re-used a nut on occasion, but the crimp doesn't work well on the second try. Ford Flathead V8's used that type of fitting on the fuel pump to carburetor line, and reusing a nut could produce a gas leak, occasionally.
Jerry

A few of my NAPA stores and Fastenal stores had those threaded sleeves, by the piece (or, pack of 10).
They also had the tubing, but if WalMart can get it (for $16 shipped) . . .

With a couple of those nuts and the copper line, the through-the-block oil line on a spray-oiler engine can be fabricated for a lot less than the cost of the kits the resto-parts people sell. The female fitting that goes into the block usually doesn't have to be replaced.
Jerry

Gentleman, you are a very big help, many thanks.

This was not in stock, so instead of bringing in one single nut I ordered ten. So now I have a lifetime supply of oil connector fittings!