Well,
After replacing the suction hose to the hydraulic suspension pump on my 82 300td (wagon) trying to cure a leak I finally found an almost invisible hole in the rubber pressure hose that goes from the pump to the hard line. I am moving this weekend so I needed the car and I discovered this on Friday afternoon. The guys at my local hydralic/hose shop couldn't get to it until next week so I talked them into telling me how to reuse the mbz fittings and selling me the hose I needed. The hose I used was I believe parker 601. So after a bit of head scratching I actually got it done and every thing looks great and no leaks-all for a whoping $15 of hydraulic hose. Basically, with the hose removed from the car you put the fat part of the metal ends in a vise and unthread the hex bit on the end. Then with a good grip on the hose you remove the "fat part" of the metal end by unthreading it from the hose (reverse thread). You then simply transfer the fat female threaded piece onto the end of the new hose all of the way using motor oil as lube, back it off about 3mm to allow for some hose expansion when you insert the male portion of the fitting. Now, the hardest part is getting the tappered male insert seated all of the way into the hose to the point where the threads will engage with the fat-female threaded piece. In the end it went smooth, I again clamped the fat piece with the hose threaded into it in a vice and used a sturdy bar clamp situated between the side of the vice and the end of the male fitting to force the male fitting into the female as far as it would go-again lubing everything with motor oil, then I simply turned the male fitting with a wrench to engage the threads. It helps to put several pieces of waxy paper between the male fitting and the clamp so it will spin freely. Once you have a few threads engaged you can remove the clamp and just tighten all the way down. A good tip is to mark the hose where it enters the female fitting to make sure it doesn't get pushed too far out-the pros told me if it moves~ 1/4 inch thats ok but not more, you may have to counter hold the hose to keep it from pushing out while you tighten the male fitting. Once I figured it out it actually went quite quickly. It turns out these fittings are designed to be re-used.