Hurst jl-150

[hcm1827]

Is the hurst jl-150 cutter able to cut the door hinges or would it do damage to the cutter?

[alcatrazlt]

The Hurst JL-150 is not rated to cut door hinges. The cutter was designed in the mid 1980s and at that time it was designed to cut only sheet metal. Several departments in my area, mine included, have had trouble when attempting to cut metal (roof supports, roof rails, etc.) on some newer model cars with the JL-150. My department has upgraded to the Hurst "X-Tractor" II cutter and now we can cut door hinges, latch assemblies, and any form of sheet metal we wish. As far as I know, all the new cutters (gold in color) from Hurst will cut door hinges and alot more.

[brozt316]

We are having trouble with both the Jl -Paladin and ML Maverick cutting some of the new car posts. Specificaly the Subaru B-Post with the boron steel reinforcement rod. Some have said the newer 10k psi systems cut this without any trouble.

[MEAN15]

Your problem is in tyring to use a combi-tool. They are nice, but have their limits. Use a cutter and you should do fine. (A NEW cutter, not a JL150)

Of course, there is always the recip saw.

[N2DFire]

Pretty much all the newest generation of cutters (5 or 10 K psi) will defeat the boron steel bars / tubes.
As has been said in other threads (by folks far more knowledgeable & experienced than I)

- Inlet pressure is NOT a major factor on tool performance.
As an example - the JL-150 is an Old 5K PSI cutter while the X-Tractor II is a New 5K psi cutter. It's been a week since we demo'd this cutter and I don't remember the exact numbers (plus I'm new to an all Hurst Agency coming from 15 years w/ Holmatro) but the X-Tractor cutter has roughly double the cutting force of the JL-150's.

- The Old tools will still open todays cars *most* of the time - you just have to know where / how to open them.
The infamous Boron steel bar (which is in a lot more places than the Subaru B post BTW) is still bolted to the same old metal we've been cutting / pushing for years. Don't attack the bar - attack the mounting point of the bar.

[brozt316]

I mention the Subaru becuase we had 2 this past month, we removed the roof off of the post. However at the body shop afte the car was declared total, several attempts to cut the post in various locations and with the JL- O cutter failed.