I’ve helped guys with QDs for 10 years and finally developed what I call the Ultimate QD.
What makes the Ultimate QD™ so great?
First it’s the plastic cover, called the Cool Connect™
It has three important purposes:
Protects the Female in case you drop it hot onto concrete. Ever notice how the Female QD will warp on you if you do that? Then it’s like impossible to push the male into the female for a couple days til it goes back to being round. Well, the QD cover breaks the fall so it doesn’t warp.
Insulates your hands from the heat. Obviously, plastic conducts heat way less than metal; 120 times less than brass in watts per metre per Kelvin (W·m−1·K−1)
Let’s you use whatever Female you prefer. Unlike the preassembled QD at your suppliers which are often not very good quality and don’t always work with the other QDs in your collection, the Cool Connect can be installed on most any Female (Foster, Parker, Hansen, etc.)
Stick to one family of QDs. Stop buying ebay junk. Keep only one Family.
Toss the misfits and your QD problems will diminish.
We use the Foster brand exclusively because of their consistency.
Less than 1% of the male/female parts fail to fit together, whereas if you mix brands, you will end up in the 20-70% range of parts you can’t even use because they don’t fit together.
You’d think the stainless Foster Female would be best, but it only has one oring inside. Their brass version has two plus the brass is way less expensive than their stainless. Add my QD cover to the Foster brass female and you’ve got a long lasting female.
Definitely go stainless for the male because the males take a beating, getting rubbed on by those steel balls inside the female. I make a quality stainless male now that fits the Foster Female perfectly and it’s even got a replaceable poppet. If you can wear out one of my males I’ll give you a new one just for being an American bad ass.
Other QD tips: use plant based surfactants and your QDs will go together like butter.
Phosphate based cleaners contain gritty salts – almost like grains of sand. In this case, use high Temp silicone grease inside your Female and outside your male. I apply some of this grease on every Ultimate QD I assemble. Keep an oring kit and an oring puller on the truck.
My best advise – get some QD covers and wear out the QDs you already have then go to the Ultimate QD for life.
