That seems to be what Jeep was thinking when it came to the heater hoses on the '89 Cherokees.
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| It is what it looks like: a mess. |
It seems that heater hoses don't get replaced often on these vehicles due to the crimps--I don't know if they seem intimidating or what the reason is, but you'll generally see a lot of original heater hoses if you open the hood of a Cherokee. The two that may get replaced are the two hoses that have clamps at both ends--the hose which runs from the thermostat housing back to one of the tee's, and the hose that runs from the coolant "valve" to the lower pipe on the heater core. The hoses with the crimps, on the other hand, seem to be treated like lifetime items.
But it doesn't need to be that way. Removing the crimps is pretty easy. First, remove all hose clamps and remove the hoses from the vehicle:
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| Workbenches are for closers. |
Then, cut the crimps with a cutoff wheel on your Dremel/rotary tool:
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| Don't cut the metal pipe--just the crimp. |
Make cuts on both sides of each crimp:
Then, split the crimp with a pair of pliers:
And then, remove the hose from the metal tubing:
And, look at that--the tubing under the crimps even has a clamp-friendly form. Install the new hoses with clamps, and enjoy the piece of mind of new rubber under the hood.
