Thread: double flare brake lines

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I cut and bent all my brake lines using the stainless kit from Speedway and took the lines to the nearby John York turnkey Cobra shop for the flares. Although I still have one annoying leak, most of them are OK. John York merely put them into a vise-jig and hit the ends with a double-flare tool using a hammer. For the leak I am just going to make a new line and take it to John York for another try. I do not know where to get the tool that John used but it is a simple clamp-on to put in a bench vise with a cone inset and a punch tool to be used with a hammer for the 37 degree double flare and AN fittings. I have recently been messing with 3/8" steel line for a fuel line and I thought the 1/8" stainless line was tricky but actually it is easier to make complicated shapes with the thin stainless than with the larger 3/8" steel. Long ago I worked on an assembly line putting flares on copper tubing in refridgerators but that is childs play compared to either stainless or plain steel. The truth is that you probably end up with a few wasted parts after trial and error.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

A leak is not always the flare...look closely at the mating cone on the fitting. IF you can see any depression or indentation, the seal is suspect. Replace the fitting and try again.