What is a JIC Fitting?

What are JIC fittings and why should you use them? JIC stands for “Joint Industry Council”, which the fittings are named for as defined by the SAE. JIC fittings are flared fittings with a 37-degree chamfer seating surface and straight threads. They are most commonly made of carbon steel, stainless, brass or nickel alloys. So what makes it useful?

According to the Wikipedia page: JIC fittings are “widely used in fuel delivery and fluid power applications, especially where high pressure (up to 10,000 psi) is involved.” The JIC fitting uses its flared seating surface to seal, instead of an o-ring that could corrode or the old-tapered threads of NPTF fittings. This means that they can be re-used, and disconnected & reconnected repeatedly with little or no deformation and hold a high pressure seal. This is very useful in hydraulic applications where equipment is frequently being changed out or on testing equipment. The sizes run the same as other SAE fittings (IE: SAE #4, #6, #12, etc) so they are very easy to size.

I like JIC fittings quite a lot. They make installation and maintenance a breeze. Whenever possible, I put a male JIC fitting on cylinders, motors pumps and power units, so that we can then use a female JIC swivel on our hose ends. This makes it super fast to change out hoses, as well as replace the components when needed. This way you don’t have to worry with hose orientation so much, you don’t’ really need to worry about leaks, and you just have a nice little nipple on all of your equipment for attachment.