# hunter swing joint.



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

If I am doing maintenance, is it worth installing a swing joint to get away from the static install straight to the pipe?

I have impact heads, 2 need replaced and one needs to be raised. Just curious if this is necessary or worth it if I am already in the ground doing work


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I would probably just use funny pipe...


----------



## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

The Hunter swing joints do work well if needed, but I only used them where the heads needed to be moved a little.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Ware said:


> I would probably just use funny pipe...


Does funny pipe need crimped or just force over the berbed pipe?


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

kolbasz said:


> Does funny pipe need crimped or just force over the berbed pipe?


You just push it onto the barbed fittings. :thumbsup:


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

So you assume the purpose of the funny pipe and swing pipe is to avoid this.





Only question, since it it a 180° spray at the edge of the sidewalk, which way would I take it?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

If it was me, I'd install a Hunter SJ swing joint.

https://youtu.be/2MAn1cX0pqA


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> If it was me, I'd install a Hunter SJ swing joint.


Hey, I watched this last night. It is what prompted the question.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

kolbasz said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> > If it was me, I'd install a Hunter SJ swing joint.
> ...


LOL, well, good! I'll probably put them on my system when I install it.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Ware said:


> I would probably just use funny pipe...


That picture is missing the MXF street el threaded onto the barbXM el attached to the tubing. I consider not having the street el a half done installation. It allows movement and adjustment to the pop up head.


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> That picture is missing the MXF street el threaded onto the barbXM el attached to the tubing. I consider not having the street el a half done installation. It allows movement and adjustment to the pop up head.


Sorry, not my photo - looks like it was originally posted by someone at Lawnsite. :thumbup:


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I know it was not you. Refer to my warning to @SCGrassMan about "pros" that do mediocre work that is industry standard. The video of the Hunter SJ is the correct way to do it. The street el only costs another $0.25-30 a piece. Not using it is lazy and arrogant. Too many out there that think it is not needed. Without the el, the pop up goes wherever the tension in the tubing takes it. It can be very hard to set a pop up level with the ground and in the position desired.


----------



## alpine0000 (Jul 25, 2017)

Ware said:


> I would probably just use funny pipe...


+1


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> I know it was not you. Refer to my warning to @SCGrassMan about "pros" that do mediocre work that is industry standard. The video of the Hunter SJ is the correct way to do it. The street el only costs another $0.25-30 a piece. Not using it is lazy and arrogant. Too many out there that think it is not needed. Without the el, the pop up goes wherever the tension in the tubing takes it. It can be very hard to set a pop up level with the ground and in the position desired.


If no street El is lazy, consider my head screwed directly to a t on top of the main pipe.

Home Depot had funny pipe and nothing else, so in the pinch that's all I replaced as I needed to get the system put together so it could function.


----------



## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> I know it was not you. Refer to my warning to @SCGrassMan about "pros" that do mediocre work that is industry standard. The video of the Hunter SJ is the correct way to do it. The street el only costs another $0.25-30 a piece. Not using it is lazy and arrogant. Too many out there that think it is not needed. Without the el, the pop up goes wherever the tension in the tubing takes it. It can be very hard to set a pop up level with the ground and in the position desired.


Believe it or not, my guy actually used the correct flex pipes, as best I can tell. What he did not do, however, was set any of the heads level and plumb. When I asked him to, he said they would "settle over time".

All I can say is that when *I* start doing these, it is going to be done correctly.


----------



## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Ugh... after watching that video I'm thinking he didn't actually. GDI.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

SCGrassMan said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > I know it was not you. Refer to my warning to @SCGrassMan about "pros" that do mediocre work that is industry standard. The video of the Hunter SJ is the correct way to do it. The street el only costs another $0.25-30 a piece. Not using it is lazy and arrogant. Too many out there that think it is not needed. Without the el, the pop up goes wherever the tension in the tubing takes it. It can be very hard to set a pop up level with the ground and in the position desired.
> ...


this raises a question. Where should a head be?

I have maxipaws on my main system and then popups on the tree lawn area.

The maxipaw makes sense to be level with ground/soil level.

But a popup, should it be above or at grade? Or is the nature of the popup that it is below grade and it is supposed to pop up through the dirt? the one I repaired is definitely slightly above grade and I know it will be an issue if I go back to 1.5". At least I assume it will be, so maybe once I get things figured out a bit, I will be doing a bunch of fixing and replacing, maybe adding swing joints or funny pipe. need to wait a few weeks so the wife doesnt think I am nuts since I did spend an afternoon fixing 4 heads. But in my defense, I had to run to HD for parts since my local Ace only had heads. So that made it seem longer than it probably was.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

For me, I want a pop up flush with the soil or even a 1/4" below it. Otherwise my mower will find the top of that head and shred it.


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

kolbasz said:


> If I am doing maintenance, is it worth installing a swing joint to get away from the static install straight to the pipe?
> 
> I have impact heads, 2 need replaced and one needs to be raised. Just curious if this is necessary or worth it if I am already in the ground doing work


I'd use one of the two options, whether that's the Hunter swing joint or the Rainbird funny pipe. Both give you some flexibility during the install or if you need to shift/raise heads due to ground settling.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

I saw at lowes they have both pre-made swing pipe setups (rainbird) and standard funny pipe in smaller like 24" sections to let you make your own. I am guessing the 50' is over kill, so I would either need the make my own with the smaller pipe or the pre-made stuff they have. any reason for one over the other?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rain-Bird-6-in-Preassembled-Flex-Pipe-Swing-Joint/4564746


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Convenience. I buy from Site One in 50' rolls. Then again, even though I am not in the business of installing, I can count on fixing other people's "work" regularly. I also buy bags of the barbed elbows and the MXF elbows.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

kolbasz said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > I know it was not you. Refer to my warning to @SCGrassMan about "pros" that do mediocre work that is industry standard. The video of the Hunter SJ is the correct way to do it. The street el only costs another $0.25-30 a piece. Not using it is lazy and arrogant. Too many out there that think it is not needed. Without the el, the pop up goes wherever the tension in the tubing takes it. It can be very hard to set a pop up level with the ground and in the position desired.
> ...


That is the really old school way of installing. Back when irrigation lines were copper or galvanized threaded pipe and the pop up heads were heavy brass units. The pop up was connected to the Tee with brass or galvanized nipples. I saw such an irrigation system on an estate built in the 1900s.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> kolbasz said:
> 
> 
> > Greendoc said:
> ...


It is not so old that it is brass and galvanized. Plastic/PVC, although still probably not ideal


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I have seen systems where plastic pop up heads were installed to PVC lines with either poly cut off risers or else hard gray PVC nipples. Those irrigation systems date back to the 1970s and 1980s or else they were installed by DIYers. Most pros installed with at least the barbed elbows and flex as of the 1990's.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> I have seen systems where plastic pop up heads were installed to PVC lines with either poly cut off risers or else hard gray PVC nipples. Those irrigation systems date back to the 1970s and 1980s or else they were installed by DIYers. Most pros installed with at least the barbed elbows and flex as of the 1990's.


House is from the 90's so who knows.

It definitely has the risers, etc as you described. Every time I do maintenance that's exactly what I am fixing. My issue would be I do not know how to properly rectify. Or is it something I deal with or maybe update next time I am digging it up.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

In high traffic areas where you know it will be stepped on or driven on, the heads get converted to the flex lines sooner than not. That is how I approach it. Any broken riser like what you posted gets converted. I am not fixing the same break twice.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

Makes sense.

I assume I just leave the t that is there and screw into it and build out the funny pipe from there. I don't need to be cutting things out and replacing with barbed fittings


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

I should be clear, the pipe jn the ground has some give. It is not rigid, it is ¾" flexible pipe of sorts. If that matters


----------



## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Watch the video as to why you don't want the funny pipe when you can avoid it.


----------



## kolbasz (Jun 7, 2017)

SCGrassMan said:


> Watch the video as to why you don't want the funny pipe when you can avoid it.


By don't want funny pipe and avoid it, I assume you mean using the hunter swing joint instead, right. And not eliminate both completely


----------



## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Correct


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

kolbasz said:


> SCGrassMan said:
> 
> 
> > Watch the video as to why you don't want the funny pipe when you can avoid it.
> ...


The quick and dirty "pro" install without the MXF el. Still do not understand the trade's objection to using the MXF els. If I have to do a full install, swing joints attached to pop up bodies and the corrresponding PVC fittings get assembled in the shade. Not doing them at each pop up locationn, in the sun, hunched over the trench. Same is true of valve sets. I cost some money. I am slow. But there is nothing to fix or re do after I am done. Future maintenance of consumables such as valves is planned for. My worse sore subject besides not using MXF els is fitting plastic valves onto the irrrigation system without unions. Rant over.


----------

