Couple of additional tips since I struggled with this when I needed to redo the infamous rear brae lines for a 97 Explorerer: 1. FIRST AND FOREMOST make sure your flaring tool is in good working shape. When I tried to borrow some from AutoZone and Advanced Auto parts the fitting itself was BENT and the knurling on the clamp that goes over the brake line was completely worn down. This mean that the flare was always bad and crooked AND the brake line would keep sliding whenever you tried to tighten the tool. Double check that everything is actually straight and true on the tool before starting to save yourself a lot of time and frustration. 2. When you're cutting the line, use a tool designed for cutting brake lines. It's like a tiny version of what plumbers would use for copper water lines. This is to ensure that the opening stays circular. If it gets bent out of shape you're not going to get a good flare. 3. Once you have it cut, deburr it to remove any rough edges. If you don't do this there's a greater chance that the copper will catch on the flaring tool and give you a bad flare OR give you a poor seating surface even if you manage to get the double flare. 4. You can use a very small amount of brake fluid as lubricant on the tool itself, try not to get it on the clamp to prevent the line from sliding.
Good video and narration. I would suggest dry fitting the couplers to ensure they are correct. This is especially important with some master cylinders. I found that out the hard way.
Great video! I thought brake lines had to be steel. Isn't copper too soft and may bubble under heavy braking pressure? Will DOT 3 brake fluid react with copper? I checked, you can use: Steel, affordable but it is not the best for corrosion resistance. Copper/Nickle alloy for brake lines, costly but good corrosion resistance. Stainless Steel (certain grades are brittle, and some are not as corrosion resistant). The right grade for brake lines is very costly but the best corrosion resistance. Plain copper like you used: no good, too soft. It has good corrosion resistance but it will burst under high brake fluid pressure. A lot like water freezing in a copper pipe.
@@johnstenz5527 Nickle/Copper is ok for brake lines, but some people are using plain copper lines that you can get at any big box or hardware store. Plain Copper will burst under heavy brake pressure when you need it most in emergency braking (it bursts just like a frozen pipe and you loose your brakes before you stop). Steel is better because it is stronger than even Nickle/Copper but steel can rust out over time. Stainless Steel is the best but it is very costly and hard to cut/bend/form.
I'm 'capable', but I'm not a rebuilder with dozens of brake lines to my credit. In my opinion, this style of tool sucks ass. Maybe it was the fact that the one I got as an AutoZone 'loaner' was badly made -- indeed, I did notice that the milling for the 3/16" setting was a bit larger on one side at the widest part of the flare, at the top edge of the tool -- but several practice flares with steel as well as Nickel-Copper were horrid. Bent, mashed, anything but usable. The tool I got took *_extreme_* force to use on steel, which it mangled, and it didn't even come close to making a good flare. I even distorted the roundness of the softer tubing to keep the 80,000th try from slipping -- in addition to the shitty look you get from the grooved slip-control retainers in the tool. I'm as careful as careful gets when I do work, so I don't think that this is the mere result of inability. I've seen quite a few videos of guys using this type of flaring tool, so I'll attribute most of the problems I had to poor manufacture, even though it looked like I was the first user of this gleaming chrome turd. In the aftermath I bought a handheld tool, which I like but hoped I'd love. It ALSO had issues, no matter how careful I was, and I don't believe the shit about imperfect reaming and chamfering resulting in unusable flares. I did those processes with reasonable effectiveness using improvised techniques, examining my results with a magnifying glass. I saw a few guys, some with supposedly 'pro' shops, use flares that weren't perfect, insisting that they never had leaks with their methods. Bottom line, the handhelds are cool, and can be effective as well as irreplaceable if you have no options to on-the-car work, but there's a reason beyond profit motive why higher-grade tools that cost an uncomfortable amount are on the market. The problem is that most people doing this DIY work won't 'break' out a three-figure flaring tool enough times to warrant the expense. If your pockets are deep enough, I'd recommend the splurge. It's also worth mentioning that the widespread opinion is very correct: you will NEVER achieve an overall factory-quality finish on flared lines -- especially if you're trying to cut and re-flare steel OEM installations rather than gut the system and replace everything with NiCopp..
Thanks so much for the simple/low budget demo. You didn't waste any of my time and used the most available tools too! Excellent!
Thanks for the video and explanation!
I appreciate the closeup of what you were doing, thanks!
Couple of additional tips since I struggled with this when I needed to redo the infamous rear brae lines for a 97 Explorerer:
1. FIRST AND FOREMOST make sure your flaring tool is in good working shape. When I tried to borrow some from AutoZone and Advanced Auto parts the fitting itself was BENT and the knurling on the clamp that goes over the brake line was completely worn down. This mean that the flare was always bad and crooked AND the brake line would keep sliding whenever you tried to tighten the tool. Double check that everything is actually straight and true on the tool before starting to save yourself a lot of time and frustration.
2. When you're cutting the line, use a tool designed for cutting brake lines. It's like a tiny version of what plumbers would use for copper water lines. This is to ensure that the opening stays circular. If it gets bent out of shape you're not going to get a good flare.
3. Once you have it cut, deburr it to remove any rough edges. If you don't do this there's a greater chance that the copper will catch on the flaring tool and give you a bad flare OR give you a poor seating surface even if you manage to get the double flare.
4. You can use a very small amount of brake fluid as lubricant on the tool itself, try not to get it on the clamp to prevent the line from sliding.
Nice video
Good video and narration. I would suggest dry fitting the couplers to ensure they are correct. This is especially important with some master cylinders. I found that out the hard way.
Great video! I thought brake lines had to be steel. Isn't copper too soft and may bubble under heavy braking pressure? Will DOT 3 brake fluid react with copper?
I checked, you can use:
Steel, affordable but it is not the best for corrosion resistance.
Copper/Nickle alloy for brake lines, costly but good corrosion resistance.
Stainless Steel (certain grades are brittle, and some are not as corrosion resistant). The right grade for brake lines is very costly but the best corrosion resistance.
Plain copper like you used: no good, too soft. It has good corrosion resistance but it will burst under high brake fluid pressure. A lot like water freezing in a copper pipe.
😮
I used Nicopp brake line.
Look up the mastercool hydraulic flaring tool that's the best tool I've found for flaring brake lines
Huge mistake u CAN NOT use copper line for brake lines!
I thought the same thing. The next time he jambs on his brakes, the lines will burst.
Nickel copper, (Nicopp) I’ve used this same tubing over the years on many different vehicles. Haven’t had one burst yet.
@@johnstenz5527 Nickle/Copper is ok for brake lines, but some people are using plain copper lines that you can get at any big box or hardware store. Plain Copper will burst under heavy brake pressure when you need it most in emergency braking (it bursts just like a frozen pipe and you loose your brakes before you stop). Steel is better because it is stronger than even Nickle/Copper but steel can rust out over time. Stainless Steel is the best but it is very costly and hard to cut/bend/form.
I'm 'capable', but I'm not a rebuilder with dozens of brake lines to my credit. In my opinion, this style of tool sucks ass. Maybe it was the fact that the one I got as an AutoZone 'loaner' was badly made -- indeed, I did notice that the milling for the 3/16" setting was a bit larger on one side at the widest part of the flare, at the top edge of the tool -- but several practice flares with steel as well as Nickel-Copper were horrid. Bent, mashed, anything but usable. The tool I got took *_extreme_* force to use on steel, which it mangled, and it didn't even come close to making a good flare. I even distorted the roundness of the softer tubing to keep the 80,000th try from slipping -- in addition to the shitty look you get from the grooved slip-control retainers in the tool.
I'm as careful as careful gets when I do work, so I don't think that this is the mere result of inability. I've seen quite a few videos of guys using this type of flaring tool, so I'll attribute most of the problems I had to poor manufacture, even though it looked like I was the first user of this gleaming chrome turd. In the aftermath I bought a handheld tool, which I like but hoped I'd love. It ALSO had issues, no matter how careful I was, and I don't believe the shit about imperfect reaming and chamfering resulting in unusable flares. I did those processes with reasonable effectiveness using improvised techniques, examining my results with a magnifying glass. I saw a few guys, some with supposedly 'pro' shops, use flares that weren't perfect, insisting that they never had leaks with their methods.
Bottom line, the handhelds are cool, and can be effective as well as irreplaceable if you have no options to on-the-car work, but there's a reason beyond profit motive why higher-grade tools that cost an uncomfortable amount are on the market. The problem is that most people doing this DIY work won't 'break' out a three-figure flaring tool enough times to warrant the expense. If your pockets are deep enough, I'd recommend the splurge. It's also worth mentioning that the widespread opinion is very correct: you will NEVER achieve an overall factory-quality finish on flared lines -- especially if you're trying to cut and re-flare steel OEM installations rather than gut the system and replace everything with NiCopp..