need new AC hoses for my 96 318 Dakota. Can find them all over the place both NOS and aftermarket for same truck w/a 3.9 but nothing for a V8 truck.... what is the difference in the V6 vs V8 lineset? coming up empty. I have a new orifice tube and accumulator ready to install, recharged yesterday and was empty by the time I put the gauges away, though I did not see it leaking as I charged it.... but have oil stains at both crimps on the high side hose off of the compressor.... so I'll start there. the condenser, on the orifice tube side, was partly eaten away but it seals at the Orings/ not there... and I reconnected the hose after pulling orifice tube and it snapped on just fine. Am I stuck pulling hoses from a boneyard truck?

 

Possibly; I had to get the local hose company (Bearing Service And Supply) to rebuild some I pulled from the boneyard for my 1988.

I would GUESS that the rubber line lengths may be different (longer to the firewall, shorter to the condensor), but that's just a guess.

(If I were after market, I'd make one that had the longer line in both positions, and let people flex the excess out, but that's just me.)

RwP

 

Im thinking of getting the set for the 3.9 and trying just that. I mean I don't see them using a different compressor for a V8 truck vs a V6 one.... as long as the difference in length isn't so great so as to have to kink the hoses....
I have been wanting to get to the junkyard for the last 4 Saturdays, have yet to be able to do so for other reasons..... now wanting to eyeball a V6 Dakota and a V8 one for differences in AC systems besides.... and I might be taking my hose release tools with me to pirate the AC stuff off of a 95 or 96 along with the other little crap I am going there to get.

I remember my son getting a 94 V8 truck a few years ago that we junked out, (only choice with the mold from sitting for years, plus Illinois being so **** retentive at the DMV, no choice) Mouse eaten wiring and snake skins in the interior didn't help either....
I had planned to pull the HVAC box under the dash and everything AC related for my 92, but with the mold and snake skins within I decided to pass...…the point of all of that is that I also compared the AC system on that 94 to my 92 and noticed it was way different... my old 93 was identical to my 92 in its AC system..... I wanted the 94 setup at the time because it was a designed and dedicated R134 system, my 92 is an R12 system... was at a tractor show all weekend and in the swap meet area right behind where I had my tractors situated the vendor had 2 cans of R12.... I have 2 and my son has 3 vehicles that still take R12.... but I WASN'T paying $50 PER CAN for it.....no way... $50/both? Maybe. I have 6 or 8 cans on the shelf yet but am saving them for my 78 Sport Fury. so I wasn't wanting to waste the stuff on my 92 Dakota....
I'll live w/o AC on that one..... just turned 209K on that one, IDK how long it will continue to live. but with my wife driving the 96 at present and having asthma I want to get the AC going...… last year I recharged the 96 and seems it lasted a couple weeks, my wife says it lasted most of the season... I don't remember that..... Yesterday however it didn't last an hour. As long as I don't have to go and rip the dash out for an evaporator, I'll get the AC going in the 96.....

 

anyone have a set of AC hoses from a 95 or 96 V8 truck laying around??? New or used.....

 

Just remember, you only have to drop the lower half dash for the Gen1's.

It's not that bad.

(Sez the guy who single handedly had to manhandle the dash out, and in, on his 1991 Cougar ... )

RwP

 

I had the dash out of my 93 because the dash pad was all cracked to $#!t and I replaced it, I never pulled the HVAC plenum though. That was 4-5 years ago. it seemed like plenty of a PITA.... don't remember all of the details though.... CRS anymore.

 

Yah, that's different.

The lower dash is all that has to come out to access the HVAC box. BTDTGTTS.

Going to do it again; the foam shifted on the evaporator, so it no longer seals to the front properly. (That's on me; the evaporator came without foam, so I didn't pack it in there properly.) I also need to replace the vacuum line out to the heater control valve; it's broken flush with the firewall right now. *rolls eyeballs*

RwP

 

well, went junking (had to take 2 sick days anyways. ended up in ER over the weekend on account of the heat, by their discharge instructions I had to follow up w/ family doc on Mon... he works same hours as me and don't make house calls to my work.... ) so I went to the yard and they have been doing some rearranging and cleaning up... got rid of a couple of my "go to" Gen1's.... only had 1 V8 at the moment and a handful of 94-96 V6 trucks.... plus a few older. The only other Gen 1 V8 truck I saw was 5 levels up on the "crush" pile.... no getting to that one anymore.... though if I were 31 instead of 51 yeah I'd have climbed the pile..... did lots of that in my teens and 20s, that's how all the yards were arranged around here then...…. rows and rows of them that sat like that for eons..... like being back on the monkey bars.

Anyways this only accessible 318 Dakota had already had its compressor robbed, and fortunately they didn't cut the hoses..... so I unclipped the other 2 ends and walked over and laid on top of a V6 hose set.... the line going to the drier would be OK I think, but the one going to the condenser already seemed too long already. In the 318 it would be WAY too long. so now I know. Put that line on and a new orifice tube plus a new drier and ALL new Orings throughout, and now I can't find my adapter for my old school vacuum pump so I had to order another from the parts store, so I gotta wait til tomorrow (yeah Im going back to work) to pump it down and see if I solved anything.....