I am about to put my new brake line in I have two benders one is a pair of pliers the other is a stationary setup. I also need to find a flare tool. All I can find is the standard single type not the double type. I was told the single will work I don't think I want to find out. I figure if the manufacturer thought a single flair was reliable they would not waste their money on a double.

 

I just finished all my lines using the double flare tool from New Brighton
( Napa) and would NOT use a single flare unless it is done on a low tolerance factory die set. There is NO room for error on home flared line work. The key to a very nice d-flare is the bevel on a very straight cut end of the line/tube.
Use a fine stationary grinding wheel or belt and set a small jig at 45 degrees and spin your line/tube to get a smooth even bevel. This allows the bevel to do a "flip" to the inside of the tube and then the adapter in the kit flares out both walls to create the double. These rarely leak or crack. I used all straight lengths and a handful of fittings. I also made a test bending wire from 3 twisted strands of mechanics wire to follow shapes and contours and then copied to tube/lines. I came out with a perfect finished product and had no waste and no do-overs. Have fun and take your time. Pics in gallery tomorrow. E.L.

 

Christopher,

NO SINGLE FLARES ON BRAKES (unless you're using stainless...it requires a 45° single flare to match the fittings)

If you're using standard steel lines they must be double flared...this is no place to experiment...!!!

here's what I did

http://www.clubfte.com/users/jniolon...iscbrakes.html

buy the very best flaring tool you can afford.... a cheap set will only frustrate you and make bad flares Rigid makes a good set as does Eastwood.. I like the benders that have mandrels the form the bend instead of depending on the tube to hold it's own shape... the second bender in the article is the best kind... holds the tubing stationary and forms the bend between two dies...

I used preformed straight sections in different lengths but you can opt for rolled tubing... I wasted a little more tubing that way but it's not that expensive... and most of my waste was because I flared before I put the fitting on... or forgot to pull the fitting up before the bend... I'm a slow learner also

hope it helps..

john

 

"I wasted a little more tubing that way but it's not that expensive... and most of my waste was because I flared before I put the fitting on... or forgot to pull the fitting up before the bend... I'm a slow learner also

hope it helps.." -Sounds just like some of the things I would do! Nice article, -4speed

 

John,
Any idea where I can buy the "favorite" bender in the article? I have all the others, and I don't like any of them. Maybe that one will actually work?
Chuck

 

Some of the larger auto parts stores will "loan" you a double flaring tool kit with a deposit of $50-75. If you break one of the mandrels you can expect to pay $20+ to replace it.
I have purchased tubing benders, the good ones like Imperial & Rigid, off Ebay for about 1/3 to 1/2 the new price. There are double flare kits on Ebay also but be sure to get a name brand. As stated earlier, the key is patience when forming double flares. 56FUN

 

Chuck,

I either got mine from Grainger or McMaster Carr..

john

 

You could just buy a prebent line kit www.inlinetube.com if you are going stock.
I made mine from stainless but looking back it costed me just as much to make them as it were to buy them done.

 

Double 45 degree flares for steel brake lines and 37 degree flares for the stainless lines.

My two cents would be to pay attention to John's article (really good info) and do a little internet research on "double flares" or "double lap flares" as they're sometimes called. There is a lot of good information available. Don't scrimp on the prep work on the end of the tubing - having it smooth and deburred really does make a big difference. Also, don't mess around with a poor quality flaring tool - this also makes a big difference. There are several good ones on the market but I can only vouch for the RIGID brand flare tool - payed $61 and change for a double flare model that handles 5 or 6 different sizes of tubing and another $17 for a nifty reamer that does the inside and outside edges - you don't really need the latter but it satisfies the tool craving and it's really spiffy. Both tools from Rigid do a good job and seem well worth the money (especially after trying to do the job with a cheap discount brand tool and messing up several times).

I've tried several different benders and have been okay with the end product but the Eastman benders do seem to be the best I've used. They are the most precise and allow a tighter radius (at least in my club hands).

Oh...do remember to put the fitting on the tubing before you spend a lot of time bending and flaring it to perfection - it really stinks to have it perfect and realize you've left the fitting on the bench - guess how I know?

Leaks

 

I "invested" in a Ridgid 345 tool at Home Depot, after borrowing one from a hydraulic shop. I'd tried a Lisle brand flaring kit, but it was useless (except the double-flare die worked fine with the Ridgid tool). I later bought a 3/16 double-flare die at an industrial tool supplier in town. Ridgid sells a chamfering tool for doing the ends of the tubing; it'd be nice to have, but I got reasonable results with a file.

I did a lot of bends by hand, but I got an Eastman bender which was good for doing some very tight right-angle bends.

One good idea I saw in a magazine was to bend up some samples of line at various angles, with one end of the tube aligned with the index mark on the bending tool. Then you can use these sample bends to tell where to position the tubing in the bender get the bend exactly where you want it.

It's not a bad idea to buy those premade straight generic brake lines, and just cut 'em to length, since it saves making a couple of flares. Plus, when I unroll a chunk of line it's never perfectly straight and flat.

 

"Double 45 degree flares for steel brake lines and 37 degree flares for the stainless lines."
This is what I came up with, too. The 37 degree single flare is for AN fittings only. The double 45° is for the flare nut fittings and steel lines. I learned this after I already made double 45° flares with stainless tubing for my 3/16" brake lines.

 

When we do brake lines at my shop we use SS tubing but with regular inverted flare fittings. The brass fittings can be polished if you want them to look nice. These fittings cost about 1/5 of what aluminum AN fittings cost. We single flare the SS tubing with no splitting problems. The tubing costs about $2.00 a foot but it is worth the extra expense to have lines that will never rust and you don't have to do those aggravating double flares. The bonus is that the SS tubing can be polished to look like chrome. We use a Weatherhead T363 bender to bend 3/16 line. It will make a complete 180 degree bend with no kinks on about a 5/8" radius.

 

The annealed ss lines double flair nicely. Why not do it any way to insure the extra safty?

 

I am going to use double flare I bought a unit from NAPA $53.00 hopefully it was worth it. I am going to be using steel brake line. I can get it in varying lengths from my local store so that is what I am going to use.

 

I've found lubricating the flaring tool threads and die makes it work much better and will greatly extend the life of the cheap tools. Although perhaps not the best lubricant I find this to be a good use for the old expired cans of brake fluid I seem to have collected. That way I don't need to worry about leaving oil in the lines, although its a good idea to flush them anyway to remove chips and filings.

I'm always very annoyed with the teeth marks the flaring tool clamps leave on the brake lines. Seems to me that this removes the protective plating on the line making a place for rust to start. I've been using factory made lengths where possible and if I need to shorten them a little to get the fit I want I will cut off the end with the ugly long fitting.