"T" fittings for heater hose

[paflytyer]

I'm about to replace the "T" fittings for the heater hoses. There are a few older threads about these failing. For those of you who've done it, it looks like the hoses are high enough that I won't lose much coolant? And, bleeding the system should be pretty easy? Am I correct? Anything else I need to be concerned about? I feel ok with just replacing with OEM parts. They've lasted a long time and are still doing fine. For now....

Part # 87248-60460

These threads talk about it, I'm just wondering about bleeding the air once I'm done. Any concerns/tips?
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/418083-hose-identification-help-needed-98-lx470.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/466198-t-fitting-heater-hose.html

 

[AimCOtaco]

My Take:

It's as easy as it looks but;

-laying there on the intake for the amount of time required is a drag.

-just drain a bit of coolant from the radiator petcock and you should be fine, they are up high.

-Access to the factory clamps is a pain as you have read before, I discounted this problem but it's real.

-Have 6 correctly sized hose clamps on hand.

-The T's may be brittle and crumble as removed (1 of mine did), I would pinch off the hoses before removal which could keep them debris free while also reducing coolant loss. (I did not do this but wish I had. I got lucky fishing out the bigger pieces with some wire.

-I did not take additional bleeding steps, just re-filled, ran the heater and all was good.


It's cheap, simple, and uncomfortable but offers great piece of mind. My were a ticking time bomb I'm sure (seems like the hot side was trashed while the cooler side was fine, material pushed to the thermal limit perhaps?). One just fell apart in my hand, IMO this would be most likely to happen on a hot trail run where the drive-train is moving around a lot relative to the body... not when you want to blow coolant everywhere.

 

[paflytyer]

Thanks Andy. I took a good look at them tonight. I don't know how I would even pinch off the hoses from the T into the firewall? I'm gonna try and use a "C" clamp and make something up. I'll give it a try tomorrow or the next day.
It doesn't look very fun, now I know why Uncle T charges over $100 just to RR two $7 parts.

 

[Kigiin]

I didn't have any coolant come out when I replaced. The factory clamps are a pita but someone suggested lubricating with silicone so you can spin them for easier access.

 

[r2m]

This weekend I had to replace both Tee's on account of I added a 2" body lift to my rig. When I lifted it, the Tee's sheared and when I tried to take them out they were quite brittle (read: it was time anyways...).
I went to Lowe's and bought brass Tee's. Albeit, the through hoses are the same size and the Tee hose is slightly smaller, a 3/4" brass Tee will fit nicely. Have to admit, it was easier with the engine being 2" lower for access, but remove the plastic engine cover and that will help a lot. Also, get a stool or something so you can get a comfortable position for those pinch hose clamps, you'll be dinking around with those a few minutes.
If it's really hard to get to them, just break the Tee's that are there already and then you can get to the pinch hose clamps easier. After that you can position the hose clamps in a better orientation. Seems like the factory likes putting the tabs for those hose clamps so you can't get to them easily.
All the tools you need are a pair of pliers, a 10mm socket drive to remove the plastice engine cover (4 bolts) and a small screwdriver or somehting to remove the Tee's. It's a job for a novice.

 

[paflytyer]

This weekend I had to replace both Tee's on account of I added a 2" body lift to my rig. When I lifted it, the Tee's sheared and when I tried to take them out they were quite brittle (read: it was time anyways...).
I went to Lowe's and bought brass Tee's. Albeit, the through hoses are the same size and the Tee hose is slightly smaller, a 3/4" brass Tee will fit nicely. Have to admit, it was easier with the engine being 2" lower for access, but remove the plastic engine cover and that will help a lot. Also, get a stool or something so you can get a comfortable position for those pinch hose clamps, you'll be dinking around with those a few minutes.
If it's really hard to get to them, just break the Tee's that are there already and then you can get to the pinch hose clamps easier. After that you can position the hose clamps in a better orientation. Seems like the factory likes putting the tabs for those hose clamps so you can't get to them easily.
All the tools you need are a pair of pliers, a 10mm socket drive to remove the plastice engine cover (4 bolts) and a small screwdriver or somehting to remove the Tee's. It's a job for a novice.

Thanks. I was at Lowes yesterday and looked at the brass T's you're talking about. They were like 3 bucks a piece? I had already called my parts guy at Toyota and he has the OEM ones waiting for me at the desk. I'm probably fretting about this more than I should, I need to just do it. Did you guys open the petcock and drain some coolant out to get the level down below the T's?

 

[AimCOtaco]

Fretting? I almost custom formed correctly sized stainless T's!

In the end the plastic ones are cheap and I can carry spares for little money, OE set lasted ~175kmi so there you go. It probably does not matter much but the OE fittings are metric and have 2 different sized nipples, the brass ones are not exact size and as far as I know there is no other brass in the cooling system. With good coolant it shouldn't matter but as coolant corrosion inhibitors are consumed against the brass it is possible to have some corrosion problems.

I already fretted this thing to the max and back!

 

[r2m]

Did you guys open the petcock and drain some coolant out to get the level down below the T's?

Didn't need to. When I raised the body off the frame, the Tee just broke off! A little coolant came running down my fire wall.
I'm guessing about a measuring cup full of coolant came out, maybe a wee bit more.
Moral to the story, don't bother with the petcock. A small towel will easily wipe up the wee bit of coolant that you lose.

As I mentioned before, I was not even expecting that to happen and when it did, it turned out to be a very minor issue.