Integrion Automation
Off Road
Hydraulic and fluid lines built for vibration, contamination, and duty cycles that do not forgive a marginal joint.
Tube Forming for Off Highway Equipment
Wauseon TubeTech forms the heavier wall, larger diameter tube that off road machines run on, with up to 70 tons of ram force and the development work to prove the form before it goes into service.
Off Road Applications
Off road is the market where a formed joint gets tested hardest. The machine vibrates, the fluid is under pressure and cycling, the environment is dirty, and nobody is bringing it in for a warranty inspection at 12,000 miles. That changes what counts as an acceptable form. These are the areas we work in.
Hydraulic Lines
- Pressure and return lines
- O-Ring Face Seal to SAE J1453
- Flares to SAE J533
- Heavier wall forming at 12.5 to 70 tons of ram force
Fuel and Fluid Delivery
- Fuel lines and fuel filler tube
- Diesel exhaust fluid lines
- Quick connect endforms
Cooling Systems
- Radiator and charge air cooler lines
- Oil cooler lines
- Coolant tube assemblies
Chassis and Structural
- Structural tube assemblies
- Bent and end formed tube in one process
- Larger diameter work to 3 inches
The Form Has to Survive the Machine
When a hydraulic joint fails on off highway equipment, it fails in a field, on a site, or on a job that stops. That is why the development work matters more here than almost anywhere else. A form that is marginal will pass inspection and then find its limit under vibration and pressure cycling six months later.
So the questions we ask about an off road part are about wall thickness through the bend, whether the form is fully seated, and what the sealing surface looked like when the tool touched it. Those are answerable at development, on a tryout machine, before anything ships.
Wauseon TubeTech is a trusted partner and advisor
40+
Years Experience
3/8 to 3 in
Standard tube range
Tube Forming Experience
Five endformer series, rotary roll and cut finishers, custom bending, and the tooling for all of it developed in house. Our applications team looks at your part before anyone quotes a machine, which is the difference between buying equipment and solving a forming problem.
See the full range of what we build and what it can form.
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Field Service & Lifecycle Support
Wauseon TubeTech machines are built to last decades, and so is our commitment to support them. A dedicated field service team handles preventive and general maintenance, troubleshooting, repairs, retrofits, and spare parts across the full life of your equipment.
Let us talk about how we can support your current or future tube forming operation.
Ready to Prove Out an Off Road Tube Assembly?
Send us the part, the material and wall thickness, and the pressure it sees, and we will tell you how we would form it and what the development work looks like. No pressure and no obligation. It is how we move your project from complexity to confidence.
Frequently asked questions
What off road tube components does Wauseon TubeTech form?
Hydraulic lines, fuel and fluid delivery lines, cooling system tube, and chassis and structural tube. Off road work tends to sit at the heavier end of our range in both wall thickness and diameter.
Why is off road tube different from automotive tube?
Duty cycle and environment. An off road machine sees vibration, contamination, temperature swings, and pressure cycling that a passenger vehicle does not, over a service life measured in operating hours rather than miles. A joint that is adequate on a car is marginal on a loader.
What diameters and wall thicknesses do you handle for hydraulic lines?
Our standard range runs to 3 inches outside diameter, and the 1300 and 1600 Series cover the upper end with 12.5 to 70 tons of ram force. Heavier wall work is where that force matters, because there is more material to move and less tolerance for a form that is not fully seated.
Can formed connections handle off road hydraulic pressures?
Formed connections are standard practice on hydraulic lines, and the relevant SAE forms including J1453 O-Ring Face Seal and J533 flares are routine for our tooling team. What matters is that the form is fully developed and proven, which is why tooling gets a tryout and, on request, a capability study before it ships.
Do you handle bent hydraulic lines as well as the ends?
Yes. Off road routing usually means bends, and producing the bend and the endforms within one process puts the tolerance stack between them in one place rather than splitting it across two suppliers.
What causes a formed joint to fail in off road service?
Almost always the form was marginal rather than wrong. A wall thinned too far through a bend, a form not fully seated, or a sealing surface compromised by coating or contamination. Vibration and pressure cycling then find it. Development work is what prevents that, and it is cheaper than a field failure.
Can you support lower volume off road production?
Yes. Off road volumes are usually well below automotive, which changes the arithmetic on owning equipment. We run short run production, overage runs, and long term supply contracts if buying the part makes more sense than buying the machine.
What materials do you form for off road applications?
Steel and stainless steel most often, along with other ferrous and non-ferrous tube. Heavier wall steel is the common case, and material behavior drives both the tooling design and how many ram hits the form takes.
