Inline Tube Transmission Cooler Lines Problems

Has anyone had problems with this company before?

My Truck: 1966 Chevy C10; 250 inline 6 with 2 sp. powerglide.

The original lines would not come out of the radiator without being destroyed when I had my radiator issues with it. I rigged the new radiator with some threaded nipples and some tranny cooler line, but had to use some zip ties to get it to stay away from coming in contact with the fan. That in turn was chewing through the cooler line, so something had to be done.

These new lines from Inline Tube are not right in any sense of the word. All of the bends are off, the lines are not able to be put into the transmission without a significant amount of force just to get them lined up. I have put them inside the box of the frame for the front cross member (lines are too short to match up with the ports), outside the box of the cross member (still too short, but closer), lower on the cross member (closest to fitting and what is represented in the pictures below) and they just are not right (took several hours to find the best position for them).

The box they were shipped in was not damaged enough to warrant any further inspection. In addition the fittings that go into the tranny cooler on the radiator are sticking straight up and don't bend towards the radiator and are too long vertically that they contact the fan (go above the fittings). I have bought a couple 90 degree street elbows with an inverted flare fitting on them, but the 1/4" NPT fitting will not go into the tranny cooler because the NPT is too large. Am I missing something, are the tranny cooler line fittings different than NPT?

When I ordered these lines I was assured that they would fit right in, no problems and no extra purchases (which there are always some, but shouldn't be this much). This is the biggest abortion that I have had to deal with, I usually just bend my own lines and I should have done it this time, but wanted to try to do something that wouldn't consume so much of my time. What a joke.

I called them with a cool head yesterday and they gave me a load of crap about them not being refundable, even though they are the ones that never bent them correctly in the first place. If I don't get any satisfactory service from them today I am going to call my credit card company and have them take the charges off because what they are doing is fraud (selling a product that is misrepresented and not usable).

I shot them these pictures:









Any advice from the peanut gallery for this issue? Has anyone had a similar issue? This vehicle is supposed to be my driver, fortunately I am within walking distance of a couple auto parts places, but I shouldn't have to be doing that. Should I just screw those NPT fittings in, bend the lines so they fit and be done with it? If I do that I would be stripping out the fittings on the bottom of the radiator.

 

I've always went to NAPA and bought new lines and bent them to fit may application. HRP

 

Bought many sets of stainless lines off of them and they always have fit fine. Sounds strange to me.

-Nick

 

Not worth getting worked up over.
Just make a set that fits properly yourself...cancel the payment and send that stuff back.
The one thing you DON'T want to do is cross threads or overstress connections to make things line up/go together.
Thats how you end up buying NEW Radiators etc...

 

Same here, I just I would do something easy.... What a crock lol.

Good to know, thanks Nick. I guess I will call them back to see what they say again, I'll be talking with a manager again.

 

Yeah that is why I stopped. Is there a special connection that needs to go into the radiator?

 

If I paid for an original looking and fitting line that's what I would expect. Maybe if you call the place back and ask to talk to someone in charge you can get a better result.

If you have to bend the lines anyway I would go the the auto supply and buy pipe and make up the lines myself. Cunifer line is easier to bend and won't rust like solid steel if you can find it.

Some vehicles have short anti vibe hoses off the trans side of the lines. Do you know for sure yours never had them?

I'm no expert on this truck but the placement of the lines coming off the trans don't look right to me either. My feeling (and I could be wrong) is they should run closer to the frame area and further from the engine, but that's just my opinion.

 

The original lines ran where they are kind of running right now, but I agree that they should be running close to the frame. I have an issue where the new lines are either not long enough to reach the radiator OR they are not made wide enough where they are supposed to reach over to the ports. How they are right now is the closest I can get them to fit... Which is ridiculous because they aren't even close.

I called again and they are looking into it, they will call me back sometime in the next few hours. I guess it is going to be a trip to the store after work... YAY.. and it is 90 out and parked in the gravel. NICE

The originals (assuming they are originals) didn't have anything like a vibe hose, they are exactly how they looked in the pictures, except they originals fit without all of these issues. Either way they don't even come close to fitting.

 

Have only dealt with them once. Ordered SS brake lines for a 1941 Ford thinking they would fit my 1940 Mercury. Nope. Returned them with no problems and they sent the correct set. Ooops. I meant 1941 Merc.

 

never had a problem with them unless it was my fault of misinformation ( wrong model or year ) they have one guy up there who can be a pain if you have a complaint . as for the cooler fittings it should be a inverted flare ( cone on the cooler side) like a brake line . never seen a cooler used a NPt fiitting in a oem radiator.

 

I used to work for this company. Call the salesman you place your ordered with and let him know what the issue is. Send them the pictures of what is wrong. They should take care of the issue for you. Is your vehicle stock setup. If so you need to get the line set CTT6401 1960-1966 trans cooler lines for the powerglide. Let me know if I can be any further help. It was one of my Favorite Jobs I had. They may have you pay to ship the lines you recieved back to them.

 

Stock everything in this truck, so the setup hasn't changed ever. I ordered with Jake, he said I could pick them up at the GG swap meet in Columbus, OH (which happened last week....) he called a week before the show and told me that they weren't going and that I was going to have to pay to have them shipped to my house. I paid, they came, they didn't fit.

After I called to try to find out what was going on with the setup yesterday I spoke with Jeff and he was somewhat helpful (but also told me I was basically SOL)... I called this morning and got Jake back on the line to try to figure out the status of what is going on since it had been two hours and they said he forwarded the pictures to the guy that makes them to figure out what is going on with them. No indication on when I would be getting a call back, except for sometime around lunch.....

I will let you know what is going on when they wind up calling me back on what they want to do. Thanks for the offer to help, i'll take you up on it if I don't get an acceptable resolution to this problem.

I just don't want anyone else buying these on here expecting something good and wasting their money and time.

 

That is what I thought. I can only find 90 degree street elbows with one female inverted flare setup, the male part of the street elbow is 1/4 NPT....

Any idea on where I would find something like this that would work?

 

Call back ask to speak to chuck he is the head salesman and should be able to get you taken care of. That line set is not correct. I hope they will Correct this for you.

 

I've been looking in some of my old books but can't find any more info. The fitting into the radiator is probably a flare like a brake line. Putting in NPT will only cause leaks and damage.

If the new line has an NPT thread it may be made to go into a crimped hose fitting?

 

I've ordered a couple things from them and only had a problem this last time. It was a fuel line from mechanical pump to carb on an off topic truck. I believe the problem was actually my pump not being stock rather than the line being bent wrong.

 

I think calling this a scam is a bit of a stretch. Inconvenience, pain, yes. Return them, make your own, move on.

 

that's kinda what i thought when i first read it...Inline Tube wasn't trying to scam anyone , just sent the wrong/incorrectly made part.

i've never dealt with them so i have nothing to say on their service

 

Used them many times with no problems. Previous advice of contacting them to resolve the issue is the best idea. My experience is that they will make it right. Good luck!

 

That was my first thought too............a scam is a totally different animal than what you have here.

We have dealt with Inline a bunch of times, always got exactly what we ordered and really nice stuff. Just do what was suggested and call them again.

Don

 

Yeah its not really a scam, except for the fact that they told me yesterday that I am basically SOL if that is the only pattern they have and I will have to pay for shipping back and not get reimbursed for either shipping. In addition, I may have a restocking fee (which isn't right). Selling me something that doesn't work, is misrepresented, and not usable, then denying me full compensation and possibly charging me a restocking fee for the item when it is found wrong is the definition a scam.

I changed the title anyway so that this thread doesn't get side tracked with discussions of what is or isn't a scam.

 

Well I just got off the phone with Chuck......

Apparently these lines are for the Turbo400 according to their tech... and also the same as the powerglide!!!! (insert sarcasm)..... YET they do not fit.

The truck has the stock engine transmission (numbers matching verified by me). The radiator is an exact match to the original, including the fittings on the radiator for the tranny cooler lines... EVERYTHING matches.

Chuck's response to the above issue: We sell lots of lines to LMC truck and never had any problems... so the lines are right.

After explaining to him that it was a rare option to have the 2 speed powerglide in a truck and that it really wasn't an option until '66, that surprised him. In addition, I asked him how am I suppose to fit those into the radiator?? He couldn't answer that for me, and offered me no help.
These were his fixes:

He is either going to charge me a 20% restocking fee for them AFTER I clean them up and return them. If the ends have been threaded into either the transmission or the radiator I can't get a refund. In addition, I am going to have to pay to have them sent back either way, so I called FedEx and UPS and it will be $20+ or more just to send them because it is an oversized package.

OR I pay to send them back (still over $20) and include a set of copper/brass lines in the box for them to update their information and bend me a new set. So now I will be out my time and money for those lines AND have to wait several weeks in order for them to get here.

So it looks like I will be taking a little walk to the parts store to pick up some line and doing them myself AND calling the bank.

I am very unsatisfied with their customer service and their 'tough shit' attitude and the fact that I am still out some tranny lines. What a bunch of bogus crap.

Do NOT buy these from them if you are restoring a 1960-1966 Chevrolet/GMC truck of this year with a powerglide.

 

That really sucks that he said that i am shocked. I know that a turbo 400 is not the same as a powerglide not to mention what trans cooler line come straight up into the rad. your pictures clearly shows it does not mount right. that shows the product to be wrong in my book. I am sorry you have had a bad exprience with them.

 

Because I have dealt with Inlne in the past I called Chuck for you. He says he is perfectly willing to make you up the lines you need but he needs you to make a template. He says they sell that exact setup to people like LMC for your application and it always fits. He feels you have a radiator with fittings in a different spot than normal.

That is not unusual, I have bought radiators in the past that were advertised as being "exact copies" of the original and there were some differences in the way they fit or hooked up.

Chuck was very nice to me on the phone and was willing to work with you, but as he said, the tubes you now have are greasy from installation and he is going to take a hit on them, so they need to charge a restocking fee to help defray some of that. In addition, we are only talking about $ 45 in lines here, so it isn't like Inline is going to get rich off of the deal.

Just call Chuck and I think you will find he is willing to help you out.

Don

 

I really appreciate it Don, as always you are willing to help people that need it. Thank You!

I already called Chuck earlier and got the same explanation as you did, but that still doesn't make it right.

Also, it still doesn't change the fact that I am going to be sending $20-$30 for shipping back for my old lines and new pre-bent lines (plus the cost of the new copper lines to bend them to the shape required). I was told to clean them up and send them back AND I was going to get a restocking fee anyway, not clean them up and avoid the restocking fee (I was going to clean them up anyway). If I decide to keep them, then I have to buy a bunch of 90 degree street elbows and spend $10-20 just to get the new lines to work. Please note that LMC sells the street elbows in addition with these lines because the lines DO NOT fit the application without them. This should have been explained before you purchase them or included in their sale of these lines or at least in their catalog telling you that these needed to be used.

Classic Tube sells exact matches to stock without having to deal with street elbows from what I heard from their sales guy. The reason why I chose Inline Tube was because they are cheaper by a couple bucks and closer to my house, therefore cheaper in shipping. Classic was a bit more expensive and they are based out of New York.

Long story longer... they may sell these lines to LMC, but that doesn't mean that they are right... have you ever seen a set of tranny cooler lines that go in vertically to a transmission cooler? I sure haven't, EVERY one I have seen on these model of trucks all go in horizontally. I have a friend of mine that has the stock radiator in a parts truck and the measurements are still the same as the radiator that I have in it now. So this isn't an issue of me having something different, they just advertised something wrong, but won't take the wrap for it. This is my daily driver and I can't wait for several weeks before I get a set of lines worth my time putting them in.

We aren't talking about just $45, we are talking $20+ in shipping minimum, in addition to other parts I HAVE to purchase for these to work, not to mention my time, gas, and money to be dicking around with these things for hours on end. It is also obvious from the picture that these are not bent correctly, which also needs to be rectified. Unfortunately, they are unwilling to do anything about it without making me wait a long time, giving me a financial break because they made a mistake, or slapping me with a restocking fee and shipping fee back.

I have worked in customer service and understand how bad it is to be on the other side of the line, so I try to be as cordial as possible. If I call him back I am not going to be as cordial because I am already sick of dealing with a lousy product and customer service representatives that don't seem to care.

 

Yeah, thanks for the offer to help though. I really appreciate it. I am sorry I had a bad experience as well because I have 4 classic cars that I was planning on buying stuff for shortly down the road. I guess I will just have to find another company that cares if they don't want to do anything about it.

 

Well Don I just got a call from Chuck on my cell, which was unexpected. I want to thank you again for helping me in this. Apparently he was tipped off on this thread and changed his tune a little bit; he was very cordial and understanding... also, his customer service skills were exemplary, what you would expect from a manager in customer service (helpful).

After talking with him and explaining the LMC sells the street elbows with their lines separately at time of purchase he realized that these lines do not fit without additional parts. I advised that he should probably add this information to his catalog or at least provide the parts for them so you don't have to go shop at two different places and possibly have to pay for two different shipping fees. He then said that his tech said that the elbows were stock and they don't provide them, which I don't really think is true at all from what I have seen at car shows. We will see how that goes in the future.

He advised me over the phone that he would waive the restocking fee if I chose to send them back because of the fit and how everything turned out only if they were able to be resold again (cleaned up). The rest of the conversation was the same as before and no additional financial help was offered for my inconvenience or anything else. I will probably wind up sending them back at some point after I bend my own lines since I need to use this truck like yesterday; when I have $20-30 to blow on shipping, but at that point I am already going to have working lines, so this would be a waste of time.

He tried, could do better, but whatever.... looks like I am back to square one. What a pain.

 

Not being a smart ass, but couldn't the lines you bought be made to work by modifying a couple of bends and maybe a couple of fittings to adapt them?

 

You aren't being a smartass. I can do the work, that isn't the issue... I am not lazy, I just expect to get what I pay for and what I was promised, which was a bolt on application without any issues (I was willing to deal with some issues, but not having to redesign their whole setup). What I received was overpriced junk and poor customer service to start with instead. I was more than willing to bend them all myself, but I wanted to do something easy for once... it just goes to show you that you can't rely on anything to be right. This was something I learned long ago, I did my research on this, called 2 or 3 friends that bought these, called Inline as well and spoke to two different dudes there and was told that these were the ticket from everyone, so I ordered them, even though I was hesitant.

I could make them work, but I shouldn't have to when I pay for someone else to. If I have to buy the fittings for these new lines I am looking at having to pay minumum $15 just for the brass 90 degree street elbows IF I can find them locally (no luck so far). I will be out even more if I have to have them shipped if I can't find them locally. The problem is finding ones that work with my radiator so I can use the fan spacer that I need to keep the engine cool. If I mess with them (modifying bends) I can't return them either... if I install them I can't return them... they have put me in a position where I am going to have to eat the cost because they can't do their job right and they don't want to remedy the situation without me having to pay out the nose to get them shipped back.. just so I can get them returned for what I paid for them.

At this point this is just a thread for people to be leery of buying these for this style of truck. They are trash for the money, just do them yourself

 

You need a Kia
10 year 100k mile warranty.

And if you ask me, the radiator company should supply the damn fittings. It's part of the radiator.