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Flaring brake lines

TXMatti

Active member
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Location
SATX
Brake line fitting rounded out on me and local boneyards don't have any 940 Turbos where I could steal a new old line. Learning opportunity! So, I bought myself a handy dandy OTC 4504 ISO flare kit and a generously sized piece of Polyarmour brake line in 3/16 size so I can practice a little bit.

Questions:

1) The flares my tool produces look less bulbous and have more obvious cone section than the ones that were on that line in the first place. Am I giving it too much line?

2) I'm having a hard time trying to get the flares perfectly straight. The button seems to want to lean on one side. What am I doing wrong? I'm thinking it's because I'm not getting the line perfectly straight. I was cutting it with a hacksaw and then filing it down to be flat with the tool, but I think I must be getting it bent while I'm doing this. Should I use a tube cutter?

3) Is that cupronickel pipe easier to flare than the polyarmor? My first thought was to repair the broken line while it's on the car but if it takes as much for as the PA line, I'm thinking it'll just be easier to take the line off the ABS accumulator and do this in a vise (this is the short line).
 
Might check, but you may have the wrong flaring tool. There are a few different flares to be had. For example, the 850's use a bubble flare. Had to buy the tool for that when I did the stainless lines on the R, since EVERY fitting was seized and required a cut and reflare. I don't recall what the 7/9's use off-hand.

Also might post a pic up of your tests. Definitely grab yourself a tubing cutter though. Makes life much easier.
 
I went through flare madness a while back when I converted to disk brakes on my 69 dart. It is a %$&@# and I think I never mentally recovered.

I remember the tool kit said not to use a tube cutter. When the damn thing would start to lean to one side, I would file it down on the high side and try again.

When you put the new tubes on old parts and it leaks, like it always does, just loosen and tighten again and again until it stops.

Just keep at it, you will get there!! Good luck.
 
I would also recommend using quality flare wrenches such as a set of Snap On.

I have ruined a few flare nuts using cheap flare wrenches thus buying a Snap On set.
 
Definitely good flare wrenches for sure!

Not using a tubing cutter is a new one on me. All the info I've seen on flaring says to use one. Weird.
 
Bubble flare! I used a dremel to cut my tubing and brake fluid as lube.

Bought my kit off amazon and just followed directions.
 
Thanks for the help guys. Allright, let's look at some pictures and try to see WTH I'm doing wrong here...

So I bought a AGS PAE-340 precut piece of pipe to practice with and to see what a proper flare is supposed to look like.
1) Factory made flare. It's got that big round section and a tiny little angled tip, unlike mine where that angled piece is huge. Problem or just the difference between a hand tool and a machine made flare?
2) My first attempt, just bare handing it. Unacceptably crooked, yes?
3) I put the tool in a vise and used a jack handle for extra torque. Now the button went all the way down on one side but was leaning a bit on the other.


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38324919@N02/9015580071/" title="pipe1 by volexi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8397/9015580071_a43a5e3fa1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="pipe1"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38324919@N02/9016770850/" title="pipe2 by volexi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2840/9016770850_a02f607100.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="pipe2"></a>


You can see the tool itself below, OTC 4504 "Stinger" Metric ISO Bubble Flare Tool. My idea for making straight cuts was to just cut the tube with hacksaw or Dremel and then file it down until it was flat against the surface of the flaring tool. Then I release the tube, deburr, measure and reclamp. For deburring I just used the deburring bit on the Dremel, ran it a little bit on the inside and outside. I've measured the amount of tube to give it with that high tech measuring device that came with the kit.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38324919@N02/9016770226/" title="tool1 by volexi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5348/9016770226_9f47e5f2a9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="tool1"></a>

And that's what the button (adapter? arbor?) looks like. I used WD40 for a lube. Should I use something else like 3-in-1 or brake fluid?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38324919@N02/9016769978/" title="tool2 by volexi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7358/9016769978_38c5292676.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="tool2"></a>


I do have a set of Craftsman Pro flare nut wrenches, and while they're not SnapOns they've worked great so far on every other car. This wagon I'm working with already had damage on the nut and it's spent some time in PA so some fasteners have been... labor intensive to remove.
 
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Something you can do is when your turning the handle when your making the flare, you can tap on the end of the tool with a hammer. It usually helps me when I have to flare lines at work.

Also for some reason, brake line by the roll with no flares seems easier to work with.

Practice makes perfect.
 
WD 40 is a pretty bad idea, brake fluid is a good idea.

I have the same tool.

One issue I had was getting the clamp tight, if the tube slides in the clamp, you won't get a good flare.

Also, the copper-nickel tube that comes on a Volvo flares much easier than the steel stuff that comes from the local NAPA.
 
I recently had to do 2 lines on my 940. Two thoughts on your angled bubbles. 1) you may have too much tube extend over the top of the clamp before you start doing the flaring. I know it comes with a little gauge, I had to go just under that height. 2) you may be cranking down too tight on the flare. So try less tube sticking up and less tightening, see what you get. I used just brake fluid and got nice bubble flares with that tool.
 
we have the "NAPA "iteration" of this kit

http://www.mastercool.com/pages/flaring_tools.html

after chewing up about three feet of the "poly-armoured steel line" from NAPA

I broke out my SnapOn version of the tool illustrated above (post # * 9 *...cut w/a tubing cutter (it's the Imperial Midget that I use when making up my arrow shafts) and then chamfering inside and outside I did a "once and done bubble" that worked a 'treat and is STILL in situ today....
basically ya just gotta fuss w/yer kit a bit...you'll learn just how much to trim and chamfer and how much to "protrude to the die as you offer it up"...

next time try THIS STUFF..you wil *LOVE IT*....:nod:
http://www.fedhillusa.com/

*GREAT MATERIAL*.....
 
I'm not entirely convinced by that tool. I use the same tool Trick Mick posted in the fedhill link and it takes a lot of force to create a good single flare. That tool uses a die block to hold the pipe.

<a href="http://s338.photobucket.com/user/turbobrickspics/media/DSC_6519_zps70ada4e6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n413/turbobrickspics/DSC_6519_zps70ada4e6.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DSC_6519_zps70ada4e6.jpg"/></a>
 
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