Technical How I now attack brake line fittings

I have often been as frustrated as I can be with brake line nuts. They are often in really tight spots and really tight. I came up with a solution. I used a 3/8" crow foot tubing wrench on a 1/4" drive ratchet. I think it works great.



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Been doing that for some time “now”.

 

That’s a great tip. Didn’t ever think about a crows foot for tubing nut.

 

Thanks for the information, Andy. Everything I know about brakes came from Andy

 

Along with SnapOn tubing wrenches I have used a set of crows feet for Tubing like that for 50 years. One of those things that Carl Swingler (SnspOn man in Waco, Tx in the 70's) brought in off the tool truck and placed in my hand and said "you need these" that I bought on the spot.
Those are one tool where "Almost as good as the good stuff" doesn't work and you need the good stuff. I've got some Craftsman line wrenches that don't get the job done like my SnapOn ones do.

 

I just had my crows foot tubing wrenches out a couple days ago. Power steering pump line in a REALLY tight spot.

 

Yep, great way to get brake lines loose. My line wrenches are cheap junk so I often use the crows feet to do the job..

 

Crow's Foot.
Very useful tool for doing hydraulic work.
Somewhere I have a rack of those in 3/8" drive.
For doing brake work, another extremely valuable tool is a "Line Lock".
It is a small C-clamp with no sharp edges on the jaws.
This keeps the clamp from breaking the wire core(s) inside the hose, but stops the Hyd. fluid from draining from the line.
When you go to bleed the system, it just a little squirt of air and you're bled.
Easy peasy.

 

I’ve never seen a crow’s foot. Now I need to buy some.

 

They make them in regular open and flare. Just be careful, it's real easy to twist the line with a long handled ratchet on the end.

 

I’ll be darned. I’ve an SAE and Metric set and never thought of using them for brake line fittings.
Awesome idea!

 

Works great on transmission lines at trans as well. Just be sure the step up to a 3/8” ratchet instead.

 

if I am changing lines, I just snip the line close to the nut with a diagonal cutter and use a socket and ratchet.

 

Have you ever forgotten to place the socket on the tube before flaring the new line?

 

Like since 1962...

 

The nut needs to be the correct direction also!

 

I crack em loose with small curved ViseGrips then carry on with line wrenches..much of which are metric now. My last build everything was SAE except for the front brakes, carb and fuel pump..

 

once a year