If you have ever tried to assemble Army/Navy (AN) braided hoses, then you have most certainly experienced the dreaded braid spread.” No matter how carefully you try to tape and cut the hose, as soon as you attempt to thread the fitting in place, the braid frays, exits the inner surface of the fitting, and likely painfully pokes youin thumb and fingers. Until Dick Raczuk came along, you were pretty much out of luck, forced to suffer and likely cuss) your way through the AN hose assembly process. However, Raczuk is a good ol’ American hot rodder—not to mention a pretty clever inventor. While walking the aisles at the 2014 Performance Racing Industry trade show, we were intrigued by the Koul Tools booth and we asked the company’s founder to show us something “Koul.” He certainly delivered.
The AN Assembly Tool is one of those inventions you look at and wonder why you didn’t think of the idea first. Available in common AN sizes from -4 through -16 individually and in convenient combo packages, the AN Assembly Tool makes hose assembly quick and painless. The tool is essentially a small funnel that forces all parts of the frayed hose end into a smaller opening that just happens to feed directly into the bottom end of your favorite brand of anodized AN fitting…. Read more of this article. Just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
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