Brandon@B2B

Tried to get the guys on VWVortex on-board with this idea and they all seemed to be more bored than on-board. So I'll give it a go here.

I always seem to come across situations where I need an exhaust tubing expander.... you know, something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvh80OW9nSk Obvoiusly I'm not going to go out and spend $3,000 on a hydraulic bending machine just for the expander on the end of it.

SO, I got the thinking.....I wonder if I can take a quality version of one of these:



and somehow use a portapower



to ditch the center bolt and make a homemade hydraulic exhaust tubing expander?

I went to many industrial supplier websites trying to find what I would call a hydraulic pulling ram/cylinder.....only thing I found was something like this:


I couldn't see a way to make that work because the cylinder rod is far too large to fit in the center of one of those crappy handheld expander tools and the face of the cylinder near the sealing surface of the center rod is obviously not designed to take a force. This would most likely cause the cylinder to leak and fail.

Off to Harbor Freight's website to see what kind of junk they have. I find this:


Which has the type of pulling cylinder I'm looking for. The cylinder can take forces on its face without damaging the sealing surface AND the diameter of the rod is not an issue because it is flush with the face and a thin threaded rod screws into it. When pumped the rod pushes out the back of the unit. Nice!

This is how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rozYZ0UhBdg So if I order a bad *** version of an exhaust tubing spreader and one of those punch tools I should be able to combine them into some awesome franken-tool.
I did some research and found that Lisle makes the best version of a exhaust expander/spreader because their tool is designed to not only straighten an out of round pipe like the others on the market but their tool is made to stretch the pipe. So it should be up for the task. Here is the spreader from Lisle tools :

Part number 17350

Searched Ebay for the punch tool since the Harbor Freight is on backorder and they could provide no ETA on restock...

Lo and friggin behold I find this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-TON-HYDRA...item2eba907618

Which appears to me to be the SAME EXACT THING that I was going to make myself only twice the price.:laugh: SAME Lisle tool combined with the SAME punch tool cylinder/ram.

I've always said that no matter what you come up with someone else has probably thought of it first. However I've never had it thrown in my face like that lol.

Longest picture story ever made short. Parts are on their way and I should have it all assembled and ready for testing by the end of next week. If all goes well (which it should because it is already an actual product being sold on the web) I will complete the DIY and you too can make your own hydraulic exhaust spreader/expander tool.

Brandon@B2B

I was hoping that when I tried to put the two tools together they would have the same thread pitch and bolt size. Turns out that they were very close in size and thread pitch but one was metric and the other standard. So an order was placed with McMaster-carr for some supplies. I only ended up using the threaded rod. The nuts were a Just in case I need them item.



I took the 1 foot long rod and cut it down to 7". Unscrewed the bottom of the hydraulic ram and took the cylinder out of the center. Removed the O-Rings.
Then I welded the rod in the cylinder. Allowed it to cool down and put it all back together. Sorry I didn't take pictures of this but it is easy to understand when you have the parts in front of you.



Next I threaded the expander tool onto the rod and tested it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz3fSSY1saU&list=UUnVSFis0eJyzb6ui_-o6Taw&index=1&feature=plcp I had a piece of exhaust tubing sitting around that was swedged on the end from the factory (an autozone muffler repair pipe)

I swedged the opposite end with my tool and here is the result.
Factory on the left.............................................. .................................................. ..............My tool's swedge on the right



The fitment


an inside view of the swedged end


$285.74 Punch tool and lisle tool shipped
$5.95 Threaded rod from McMasterCarr
$4.98 Shipping from McMasterCarr

$296.67 Total

A Hydraulic Exhaust Tubing Expander (and still functional knockout/punch tool) for under $300

Brandon@B2B

So I tried to expand a very thick piece of Stainless tubing and popped the weld. I figured that would happen.

So I ripped it down and made it stronger.

This is the ram that is inside the punch tool....drilled a hole in it.





Did the same for the bottom of the McMaster Carr Threaded rod....and threaded it for an M12x1.75 bolt.




Put the rod back in the ram. Threaded my M12x1.75 bolt into the rod through my new hole in the bottom of the ram. Welded it in place.




Welded the top again....with the TIG this time



Pushed the ram back into the punch tool


Put the return spring back in


Threaded the bottom cap back on


All done...Time for a test.

Remember the pipe I previously expanded? I decided to see if I could expand the part that fit inside of it, to now fit over it. That would be a very large stretch but I felt that the tool was now up for the challenge.
Here is how it turned out.







This is definitely my new favorite specialty tool.:D

itspools

Wow, that's awesome. Can you get me some part numbers so I can make sure I order the right parts if I decide to do this?

Brandon@B2B

• $195.84 Lisle Pipe Stretcher Kit (17350) Bought from J&B tool Sales on Amazon.com
  
• $89.90 HYDRAULIC KNOCKOUT PUNCH HAND PUMP HOLE TOOL DRIVER KIT (SYK-8B) bought from "apluschoice" on Ebay
  
• $5.95 + $4.98 shipping Astm A193 Grade B7 Alloy Steel Threaded Rod, Plain Finish, 3/4"-16 Thread, 1' Length (98957A409) from McMasterCarr.com
  
• $Free M12x1.75 Hardened bolt I had lying around
  
• $Free 13/32 Drill Bit for the hole in the bottom of the threaded rod and an M12x1.75 Tap
  
• $Free 7/16" drill bit for the hole in the bottom of the ram for the bolt to go through
  
• $296.67 Total

itspools

Thanks man!

ToxicFabrication

what are the limits of tubing sizes? Or what is the smallest and biggest size you can use with the die that you have on it? Nice job

Brandon@B2B

The collet sets that come with the lisle kit allow you to expand pipes that range in size from 1.625" to 4.25"

http://www.lislecorp.com/divisions/p...n=1&category=5

Thanks for the complements guys!

bdmlilburn

wow thats pretty dam cool and home made. great job

Pleiadi79

Great nice job.

ToxicFabrication

Great info, looks like a good little tool to have sitting around. Thanks for posting

-Collin

BEfab

looks pretty awesome. I have been wanting something like this for sometime now.

h2.4

Nice!! I've needed something like this for a long time. used to use the hydraulic one at my old work for tubing expansion, but new work place doesn't have anything like this. Thank you for posting the build!! Great job!!

CVC9216

Thanks OP for the write up, I've wanted one of these for a while but didn't need it enough to pay $1000

Ajmuller

Hey guys, I know this is an old thread and I am not even a Honda guy, but wanted to provide my feedback. First, the thread got me started and was a great idea. I did however find an easier way. The Greelee 746 and the knockoffs share the same thread pattern with the exhaust tool. No welding or fab needed. Buy a 6" hardened rod from McMaster Carr and just screw it all together

I had the advantage of having a pump already so just purchased a $50 746 knockoff and a rod and away I went.

asianpoet

old thread re surfaced... but that exhaust expander can be bought at harbor freight...

skubydoo

I'm not a Honda guy.I'm a Dodge Ram guy.This is an excellent tutorial.They didn't have this exhaust expander at Harbor Freight,but they do have this Hydraulic Punch Driver w/ 5 Hydraulic Punches & Dies There is a seller on ebay that sells just the ram for $72.He calls it a 746 style ram.That may be where Ajmuller got his ram.The ram in that kit has 3/4-16 threads and fits the Lisle pipe stretcher kit.With a 20% coupon,that kit is $75.99.It is much easier than using an impact.