Napalm00
Technical Excellence Contributor
Of course you do lol
Brake line flaring tool
- Thread starter Tbaumer
- Start date
Shearpin
Well-known member
The FedHill Copper-Nickel brake line is a great product. It is expensive, but it flares easily, bends easily, and if you’re in a road-salty area it has a lot of anti-corrosion benefits. I mention the brake line first, because I think I owe a lot of my success to how workable this stuff is.
I used the SUR&R HFT50 flair tool. I had never used one of these tools before and had 1 out of more than a dozen flairs that wasn’t perfect.
For making bends I used a bit of warming heat, a collection of sockets and my hands. The Copper Nickel is a really great product to work with.
https://www.shearpin.org/pages/brakes.html - bit of a write up here on my efforts….
Henry
I used the SUR&R HFT50 flair tool. I had never used one of these tools before and had 1 out of more than a dozen flairs that wasn’t perfect.
For making bends I used a bit of warming heat, a collection of sockets and my hands. The Copper Nickel is a really great product to work with.
https://www.shearpin.org/pages/brakes.html - bit of a write up here on my efforts….
Henry
It isn’t about how many degrees it can bend, it’s how tight of a radius it does
Andrew
Well-known member
The Rigid brand tool looks like it will bend the same radius as the Fragola tool. Plus it has grips which will be nice if I need to bend anything firmer like SS.
I guess I will order some brake line from Fedhill. The AGS line is coming today via Zoro, but I'll send it back.
I guess I will order some brake line from Fedhill. The AGS line is coming today via Zoro, but I'll send it back.
Andrew
Well-known member
You think it's fine compared to the Fedhill brake line?
I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I really don’t like that copper nickel line. Every time I see it, it’s there because some hack was halfway fixing rusted brake lines. I like using either stainless or the factory style steel lines that are covered with that green coating
Andrew
Well-known member
I have the stainless lines from Classic Tube, but I need to make some lines for the ABS retrofit. I was trying to decide between stainless, copper nickel, or PVF coated steel. Reading on various forums most people suggest the copper nickel. Is that because they're lazy? Should I select stainless instead? I don't mind putting a little extra work into it.
Stainless is very hard to work with. You’ll need a really good quality flaring tool for stainless. I like the Coated steel lines because it looks factory.
Shearpin
Well-known member
After watching YouTube and speaking with mechanic friends I choose Copper Nickel due to how easy it is to work with and its corrosion resistance.
If you go the stainless route I would invest in a quality flare tool and a good assortment of bending gear to produce the various radius of bends you will need. Flares will require patience and practice and bending will require precision and tools to prevent kinking and splitting.
The Copper Nickel stuff is highly malleable. I have done dozens of flares and made 1 mistake that resulted from my misuse of the tool. For the rear axle and frame lines I flared one end, torqued it down and hand formed the line by bending it with my hands over a variety of sockets to achieve the radius of the bends required. If you are careful - you can even make corrections.
If you are new to the task and doing the work with minimal, shade tree garage type tools - Copper Nickel will save you a lot of time and frustration.
Repost - apologies - a few thoughts and the bits I ordered are listed here: https://www.shearpin.org/pages/brakes.html …
Henry
If you go the stainless route I would invest in a quality flare tool and a good assortment of bending gear to produce the various radius of bends you will need. Flares will require patience and practice and bending will require precision and tools to prevent kinking and splitting.
The Copper Nickel stuff is highly malleable. I have done dozens of flares and made 1 mistake that resulted from my misuse of the tool. For the rear axle and frame lines I flared one end, torqued it down and hand formed the line by bending it with my hands over a variety of sockets to achieve the radius of the bends required. If you are careful - you can even make corrections.
If you are new to the task and doing the work with minimal, shade tree garage type tools - Copper Nickel will save you a lot of time and frustration.
Repost - apologies - a few thoughts and the bits I ordered are listed here: https://www.shearpin.org/pages/brakes.html …
Henry
erover82
Well-known member
I've debated this internally for the 90. Here's my take.
CuNiFer is clearly the best option for workability and corrosion resistance. If the lines see a lot of salt and you need to work them by hand, it's a logical solution, but what is the compromise?
Being made from soft malleable metal is a double-edged sword. On an off-road utilitarian vehicle with solid axles where the brake lines are relatively exposed to abrasion and impact, a more durable alloy could be valuable. A stronger line is logically more likely to survive when a wayward rock on the interstate hits a line (such as happened to @Napalm00) or the axles being exposed to brush, rocks, etc on trails. Alloy choice could make the difference between being able to stop, or not.
What if one has good tools to work with, thus making CuNiFer workability less of a consideration? That leads one to consider steel, PVF, and stainless lines. Steel lines are galvanized for corrosion resistance. PVF lines are galvanized as well, but then additionally coated in PVF. The cost difference is negligible so PVF makes more sense unless the bright zinc appearance is a driving factor. With PVF lines being relatively strong, having double-layered corrosion resistance, and being easy enough to work with proper tools, it's no wonder it's the choice for most OEMs.
Stainless is obviously corrosion-resistant to oxidation and salt, but it's also a dissimilar metal to the rest of the system, which could technically lead to galvanic corrosion between the fittings (unless one invests $ in all stainless fittings), calipers, master cylinder, and lines. Stainless also has a higher coefficient of friction which is partially why it has a reputation for galling in threaded applications. Stainless is a harder metal, meaning it's more likely to crack, especially from work hardening as lines are bent.
In my case, having dedicated brake line tools, and not needing the ultimate in corrosion resistance, PVF appears to make the most sense.
CuNiFer is clearly the best option for workability and corrosion resistance. If the lines see a lot of salt and you need to work them by hand, it's a logical solution, but what is the compromise?
Being made from soft malleable metal is a double-edged sword. On an off-road utilitarian vehicle with solid axles where the brake lines are relatively exposed to abrasion and impact, a more durable alloy could be valuable. A stronger line is logically more likely to survive when a wayward rock on the interstate hits a line (such as happened to @Napalm00) or the axles being exposed to brush, rocks, etc on trails. Alloy choice could make the difference between being able to stop, or not.
What if one has good tools to work with, thus making CuNiFer workability less of a consideration? That leads one to consider steel, PVF, and stainless lines. Steel lines are galvanized for corrosion resistance. PVF lines are galvanized as well, but then additionally coated in PVF. The cost difference is negligible so PVF makes more sense unless the bright zinc appearance is a driving factor. With PVF lines being relatively strong, having double-layered corrosion resistance, and being easy enough to work with proper tools, it's no wonder it's the choice for most OEMs.
Stainless is obviously corrosion-resistant to oxidation and salt, but it's also a dissimilar metal to the rest of the system, which could technically lead to galvanic corrosion between the fittings (unless one invests $ in all stainless fittings), calipers, master cylinder, and lines. Stainless also has a higher coefficient of friction which is partially why it has a reputation for galling in threaded applications. Stainless is a harder metal, meaning it's more likely to crack, especially from work hardening as lines are bent.
In my case, having dedicated brake line tools, and not needing the ultimate in corrosion resistance, PVF appears to make the most sense.
@jymmiejamz do you use that little bender for all of your bends?