Thread: What's the easiest braided fuel line to work with???

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Ah yes - that sticky red fluid that tends to leak out of my finger tips every time I make up a fitting using braided SS line. I think I have tried every trick described above - and I still leak a red bodily fluid . For me - the cut off wheel - that worked best, the 'recommended' 32 TPI hacksaw blade the worst with a cable cutter in between. I agree with C9 - why buy MORE special wrenches - my 40 year old Snap-ons, the 50 year old Crapsman or even the 5 year old Gear Wrenches are fine as long as they are fairly snug on the fitting - and even a tractor motor (Crescent) wrench will do well too.

.....Thank You Everyone! .... Tons of info in this post!! .... Ok, I will go with either Earl's or Aeroquip. I'll call tomorrow & get an Earl's catalog. I should have mentioned that I'm just doing a fuel line, not pwr steering, brakes, etc.... I am going to run the braided fuel line inside a rubber hose & then through my frame rail {drivers side}.... I ran my battery cable up the other side of my frame the other night {also inside of a rubber washing machine hose} & things went well. I drilled a 1 1/4" hole in the very back of my passenger side frame rail & also a 1 1/4" hole right up by where my starter will be. Then I pushed & pulled the hose through the frame & then pulled it through the front hole. I used a couple of rubber valve cover baffles that were 1 1/4" O.D for grommets at each end. I just cut the center out of them. It looks so sanitary that I even suprised myself!!! O.D of rubber washing machine hose is the same I.D as the 'grommet' {actually a tad larger so it's a tight fit!}. The outside of the grommet is 1 1/4" {same as hole} & then the 'grommet' sticks out around about 1 5/16" to cover the hole {the same as it would cover a valve cover}...... I will need a bigger hose for the fuel line so I'll need to find something to use for a grommet {maybe a bigger valve cover baffle???}. Couldn't find any regular baffles in larger sizes {1 1/4", 1 3/8", etc}.... I will also get some flat steel blocks for my vice so I don't chew up the fittings, some never seize & a block of aluminum to cut the hose on {with a mason's chisle like the movie showed}...... THANKS again Everyone!!! Bill

Instead of using plastic tape I use metal tape, keeps the strands from coming thru.

One thing I meant to mention about the plastic braided 3000# rated hose was that it makes a great power steering hose.

Seems like power steering runs 1000# to maybe 1500# pressure.

Interesting part about making a PS hose, when the hose in my 77 Ford 3/4 ton 4x4 sprung a leak I bought a Made in the USA hose at a local parts house.
Usually they supplied pretty good stuff, but this one was a POS right up front and looked cheap compared to the Ford factory hose.

The new hose sprung a leak right after the install.

Little brother got me the parts for a made up hose using the same fittings shown above.
Interestingly the made up hose cost was $22.
Parts house hose was $29.
Ford hose was $48. or so.

No more probs and if I did, a new piece of hose and re-using the fittings would have done the trick.

Some of the smaller sizes have nickel plated fittings that look close to chrome.

You can find the plastic braided hose and fittings at Hydraulic Supply houses, Farm Supply houses and Oil Field Supply houses.

Many times the plastic is gloss black, but most of the larger sizes I've seen are sky blue.

14 years and 48,000 miles on my remote oil filter lines with the plastic braided stuff and no probs.