Flaring tool questions

[Fred Demmon]

Planning on buying a flaring tool to do brake lines on my IH products

Here are the discriptions on the 2 I am looking at


Bubble Brake line flaring tool
•Flares metric hydraulic brake lines used on European, Japanese, and American automobiles and light trucks

•For 4.75mm (3/16"), 6mm, 8mm, 10mm soft steel tubing with as wall thickness up to .028"

•Can also be used with soft copper and aluminum tubing

•Includes tool case


45 degree Double flaring tool
•For 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", and 1/2" O.D. tubing

•Recommended for annealed soft steel tubing (wall thickness to .035")

•Makes single or double flares in soft copper or aluminum tubing

•Forged steel yoke

•Swivel-type hardened steel, chrome finished flaring cone

•Includes tool case


any and all advice welcome, including pricing

[Infinite Monkeys]

Hi,

My experience has been that there is no way to get a proper double flare on a steel line at home with a hand held tool; I could do it on a aluminum line. You must use steel line in your brake system. I have gotten long lines from auto part stores, bent them to shape and cut, then have a shop put a double flare on the end. I would not take chances with the brake system.
Just me 2 cents. There's probably someone out there that can do it.

[db1115]

Fred,

I just finished up the brake lines on Goldie not to long ago. I used stainless line and double flared everything. I bought a cheaper 45 deg double flaring tool and quickly broke the double flare die in it. I had an extra cheap double flare die and broke it too.

The solution I found was going to Fastenal and ordereing a 3/16" Rigid double flare die. Just the die and not the whole tool. I actually ordered 2 in case I broke one, but never needed the second one. You can order whatever size your working with. They were like $8 a piece and I finished out the entire brake system, double flaring everything with no problem. So a cheap flaring tool + $8 Rigid die = success for me.

[Dennis Bernth]

You don't want the bubble flare tool, you need a regular double flare setup for brakes on an IH.
Buy a good tool, that's no place to try to save money; Davis was lucky, the biggest problems with the cheap tools is that the anvil(?) that holds the tube isn't precise enough which allows the tube to slip when you put the pressure on it with the flare die. It will push the tube back enough to mess up your flare, a good tool will hold it securely without damaging it and allow the die to form the tube into the flare. If you want the easiest line to flare, and you're not worried about originality, use the copper/nickel brake line; it's expensive, but it's totally corrosion proof, DOT rated, and it flares much more easily than steel brake tubing. Once you do one truck with it you'll be hooked, another nice thing is you don't need tubing benders, you can practically tie the stuff into a knot without kinking it.

[guidolyons]

Fred, you need the 45* double flare for brake lines on the Scout and most other US vehicles.

Bubble flare is/was mostly used on British and Japanese imports, used different nuts, too. (90* shoulder)
45* double flare vs metric bubble flare:


Also popularly confused 37* flare (AN) vs 45* double flare:
Speedway Motors


Don't bother with the $15 parts store cheap-o flaring tool.

I have the Ridgid 345 (available at Home Depot) ~$50 IIRC. It does not come with the double flare pucks/dies, but you can order them from Ridgid. I used a set of pucks/dies from another flaring tool that I had laying around. The Ridgid 345 clamps the tube much better than the usual parts store cheeepy.



If you have a few hundred bucks laying around, check out the MasterCool hydraulic flaring tool. It will make just about any style tubing flare. http://www.mastercool.com/pages/flaring_tools.html



It's not that hard to properly flare brake lines. The key is good prep and some practice.

1. DO NOT use a tubing cutter! It work hardens the tube and smashed the end which makes a good flare more difficult. I use a cut off wheel or small hacksaw.

2. Use a mill file to make sure the end of the tube is square, deburred, and has a slight chamfer. the slight chamfer will help with the first step of the flaring process.

3. Put the NUT on the tube BEFORE you flare the tube!

4. Place the clamping bar around the tube and adjust until it sticks out about 1/8" (use the thickness of the puck to set the height) Insert the die/puck into the end of the tube.

5. Clamp the forcing screw on the bar and make sure the die and forcing screw are aligned and centered. The die must be perfectly straight and square or it won't flare evenly usually will break the small pin on the die. Tighten the forcing screw until the tube compresses and mushrooms out and the die is flush against the clamping bar.

6. Unscrew the forcing screw and remove the die. This is the first flare in the double flare. *Although it will look similar to a bubble flare, it is not. The shoulder of a bubble flare is sharp 90* and requires a different clamping bar and die set*

7. Align the forcing screw with the end of the tube and tighten down again, this folds over the lip of the mushroomed end, making the double flare.

8. Done! Inspect the double flare and make sure it is smooth and uniform.

9. Profit!

A few good write ups (except don't use a tubing cutter):
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/50919/index.html
http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/05...ics/index.html

Originally Posted by http://www.inlinetube.com/Straight%20Length/tools.htm

Tips for a Perfect Flare - When flaring tube, it is important to read all the instructions carefully. Before you flare the tube, deburr and chamfer both edges of the tube, allowing the tube to roll over and create a smooth edge. To deburr the inside edge, use a drill or file and rotate the file in the opening of the tube. The outside edge can be done with a standard file. Tube cracking is caused when the tube is not properly deburred. Do not cut tube with a tube cutter. When the cutter becomes dull, it hardens the end of the tube causing flaring to be very difficult. Flaring tube takes practice and an understanding of how the tools work. Once the practice is put in, the understanding will come. Over tightening the tool will break the flare button. Replacement flare buttons are available. Call (586) 532-1338 for details.

[Dave Nuenke]

I have a Bluepoint double flare kit that I use and it does an excellent job. As others have said, the cheap tools just don't get the job done right, and won't last. I also disagree with the post that it's not possible to get a good quality flare at home, you just need to use the right tools.

Dave

[BO185]

The MasterCool hydraulic flaring tool looks bad ***! Been looking for new flare tools as I have the cheapo junk. But the dang Mastercool is $300! I wonder if that comes with a Lifetime warranty?

[OhioBoy]

I second the cunifer (copper/nickel) line. It was a dream to work with. Got all I needed from this place-
http://store.fedhillusa.com/?gclid=C...FSUbQgodaSSaSw
- AND they rent a pretty good flaring tool for $25 for the week.

They were real easy to deal with- called them because I needed to keep the flaring tool for a couple of extra days and they didn't charge me a dime more.

Tried to use a $30 flaring tool from Oreilly's- absolute sh. All it did was ruin my spendy brake line one inch at a time.

[Randy Z.]

I have a Matco set that is probably close to 30 yrs old. Do I use it often? No. Does it work well when I do use it? Yes. No problem with Double flares.

[Tom Mandera]

I fought with a couple of different double-flare tools and always hated it.

I was finally looking to upgrade and spend some "real" money - there was an interesting Snap-On or NAPA unit that looked like an "A" and had some promise for ~$100.

I thought about it some more, and finally found the MasterCool unit for under $250 and bought that.

I no longer fear making flares. My biggest issue is remembering to install the nut first - the flares go so easily, it's easy to forget!

I still need to find a good source for the bubble flare O-ring and nuts - the Mastercool tool does the flare you need for GM TBI installations on your Scout, too.