I'm going to comment on a few different posts here all in one, cuz...
um.. just cuz'!
First, "pre bent" brake lines only exist for OEM use on assembly lines
as far as I can tell. Never ever have I seen, heard of, or found
prebent brake lines. That fact doesn't seem to stop knuckle heads from
walking in, telling you their year, make, and model - expecting you to
know the size, length and fittings on the brake line they need, and
expecting you to have the elusive "prebent" lines in stock.
Rubber "hoses" for brake lines... as Ray said... never attempt to hose
clamp a piece of rubber line into your brake system.
"uh but you have rubber hoses on your truck!"
Yeah, those rubber lines are high pressure, high strength crimped
hydraulic lines. I once had a guy, with a woman and a kid in his car,
come in (AZ at the time), hose clamped a vacuum T connector into the
brake lines because the line blew out. I told him not to drive that car
again until that was fixed.
Compression fittings... errr... shall we open this can of worms? heh
In an EMERGENCY situation, or as a trail fix to get you back home.. yeah
I would probably use a compression fitting on my truck as a last resort.
I would rather crimp off the line than try and use a compression
fitting however. Only under extreme circumstances would I say its
permissible to use a compression fitting.
Bob mentioned that he used teflon on the brake fittings... err.. not
what I would recommend. I once was installing one of those flexible
natural gas appliance hoses... and it said to NOT use teflon on the
flared fitting. I called the company up and asked if this was true,
because I had always used teflon tape on all of my other water pipe and
gas line connections (hardline) the rep said yes - never use thread
sealer on a flared fitting. At the time I didn't know what a flare
fitting was. The flare itself is what actually makes the seal between
the connections. If that flare is damaged, improperly formed, or
contaminated, the seal can fail. Somewhat more disastrously in a gas
line than a brake line, but the same theory applies. I wouldn't use any
thread sealer on a brake line. If its not leaking yet? heh I wouldn't
worry about it then.
Which brings me to flaring tools. This is more of a gripe... When I
replaced all of Christine's hard lines... I bought a couple coils and
decided to flare and bend them to fit, myself. I went through three
flare tools. Two from AZ. They are the same kind of flare too most
parts stores sell. The two piece bar clamp, the little flare discs, a
handle, and the point press. One BRAND NEW tool that I took out of the
plastic wrapper, screwed up every.. single.. flare... another snapped in
half... the third I managed to get to behave. I'm planning on investing
in a high quality flare tool one of these days. There were times when I
was working on those brake lines when I wanted to fly over to china,
find the little bugger who made those damned flare tools' and flare his
ass with it... if you are going to flare your brake lines yourself,
spend a few extra bucks and get a quality tool and do it right the first
time.
(also remember to put the flare nut on BEFORE you make the flare... heh)
ok... I think the soap box is looking a little exhausted with me up here
so long.. time to sleep...
-- ------------------------------------------------------------- Rocks are for skipping... I'm all about the mud 75 Honda CL360, 89 Dakota, 89 Dakota 4x4, 95 Dakota 4x4, 96 Neon, 01 Ram 4x4 http://members.aol.com/silvereightynine/ AIM & Yahoo: SilverEightynine
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