Harbor Freight Nitrile metric o-rings

dkruitz

dkruitz

Joined
Aug 6, 2015
Messages
314
Location
Peoria, Illinois
Bike
1995 ST1100
I've been working on my brother-in-law's new project a '91 Nighthawk 750. Turns out the carbs needed a good going over, and fuel rubber bits replaced - needles from K&N, float bowl gaskets, and fuel rail o-rings from... Harbor Freight.

The most recent leak we found was after putting the bodies back together. Leaking from the fuel pipes that join the bodies. The o-rings had given up the ghost - no more squish left to seal. Quick shopping around town and Harbor Freight sells a 200 piece of assorted Nitrile o-rings in Metric sizes for a whopping $5. Reassembled filled with gas, tilted this way and that, and no more leaks. Highly recommended you add this to your garage. I'm planning on replacing the oil cap o-ring on his next.
 
They also sell the same set in SAE sizes, but in a different colored box. I used them for years on high pressure hydraulics, where I used to work. I don't remember any that failed under normal use.

John
 
dkruitz said:
Harbor Freight sells a 200 piece of assorted Nitrile o-rings in Metric sizes for a whopping $5. Highly recommended you add this to your garage.
Click to expand...

Not all o-rings are created equal.

Not sure cheap Nitrile is best for this application!

Also storage and preservation of spare o-rings is not trivial. Would not favor a cheap Nitrile O-Ring that has hung in garage or tool box for extended time for my MC.
 
Nitrile/Buna-N is probably what the oem ones were. Considering the 25+ year old ones we replaced were compressed and put through hundreds of heat cycles, I wouldn't hesitate to use any stored in my garage that were a few years old.

Honda was asking $170 because they only sold the o-rings with the fuel rails and fuel T. Highway robbery imho.

ref: http://www.marcorubber.com/materialguide.htm
 
dkruitz said:
Considering the 25+ year old ones we replaced were compressed and put through hundreds of heat cycles, I wouldn't hesitate to use any stored in my garage that were a few years old.

ref: http://www.marcorubber.com/materialguide.htm
Click to expand...

Nitrile is best and cheapest for carbs, but also has shorter shelf life than some of the other compounds. Could be a few years but only if stored adequately. As highlighted in your ref above, Nitrile is particularly sensitive to Sunlight (UV), Ozone, Weathering.
 
Try theoringstore.com. I got some for my Oberon gas cap recently. They have 4 zillion different sizes in several different materials besides o-ring stock so you can make your own for custom sizes. Their service is first rate!
 
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