Shoutout to the guy who showed me the zip tie trick for hydraulic line leaks

I was working on a CRJ200 last Tuesday, had a seep from a B-nut on a return line. Couldnt get a wrench in there without pulling half the panel. Old timer walks by, grabs a zip tie, wraps it tight around the line right behind the fitting. Said try it now. The zip tie gave me just enough grip to turn the nut without the line spinning. Problem solved in under 2 minutes. Anyone else got a simple hack that saved them from a full panel pull?

3 comments

3 Comments

robinp8915d agoMost Upvoted

Twenty bucks says my zip tie hack would somehow end with me zip tying my own thumb to the hydraulic line in under thirty seconds flat.

davis.olivia15d ago

And if you flip the zip tie the other way it works like a tiny ratchet too.

the_oliver15d ago

Hold on, I gotta push back on this one. That zip tie trick is a band-aid fix at best and could actually make things worse. The line might have been spinning because the fitting was cross-threaded or the sleeve was deformed, and wrenching on it with extra grip just risked snapping the B-nut or twisting the tube. If you cant get a proper flare nut crowfoot or a tubing wrench in there, you should be pulling that panel anyway to inspect all of it. Saves you a leak next week or a catastrophic failure mid-flight.