Brake Flaring Kit. What works for you?

I am getting ready to do some brake work and want to know what you have had the best luck with in Flaring Kits. I have bought the Cheap-O stuff in the past and it never seems to work well. What kits do you have and you would recomend? I dont want to take a chance on brake lines

 

a buddy of mine uses a rigid kit, bought in the US of A.......he swears by it, he restores mostly 60's 70's Mopars but has used it on many other projects indluding rods, and it does work slick.

I use a older cal van kit, works for me.

 

Make sure you get one that you can tighten down with a box/open end wrench instead of the one with the T-handle. Too hard to properly tighten by hand. Then practice several times on scrap. Then get ready for a great feeling of accomplishent after you do it yourself! Mark

 

This has been brought up before, and I'll give the same answer... that Eastwood cam/lever deal is the way to get a perfect flair every time. I'm not hawkin' their goods... fact is I had 'issues' with their screw clamp type unit that were never really resolved in my mind. It's a pricy tool, but it works and you'll never need another one.

 

if your not worried about cost, the hydrolic flaring kit works really good. but its expensive. i bought one to use at work, makes perfect flares everytime.

 

Whatever tool you end with practice makes perfect when it comes to making good flares. The quality of the tubing also makes a difference.

 

i bought the Blue Point kit , it worked for me...

 

I use my 33 year old snap-on kit at work. I have a cheap Sears i use at home and cant tell the difference in the quality of flairs I do. I guess lots of years of practice makes the most difference.

 

I also have a Mastercool hand operated hydraulic flaring tool. Makes perfect flares right out of the case. If you watch eBay ... they sell for as little as $275.

I know that is a pile of cash ... but when you factor in the tubing you mess up with the cheap stuff ... it all evens out ... and you get great flares. It does 4 different types of flares.

 

Never used a cheap or even high end flare set that I could not get a good flare with. Prep is everything, champher, deburr, align teh tube in at the right point.

 

X2 this thing is the shit!

if you do any amount of line work on a regular basis you'll never look back after using one of these. i damn near shed a tear when i had to hand mine back to the tool guy for a warranty o-ring repair.

 

Mastercool x3. Was well worth the cost for double flaring S/S tubing.

 

Put a dab of oil on the small double flare bit, will make a perfect flare every time, cheap or expensive kits. I do like the better kits for holding the brake line. I hate when they slip in the holder, the fix for that is put a little sand paper around the brake line.

 

The trick with any kit is to get the flair to seat properly. Thighten and loosen the completed fitting several times and it will seal,TRY IT>

 

I have a similar hydraulic kit from Kent-Moore.
It is cat's ass!

 

I've had good results with Imperial Eastman, 93-FB, flaring tool. The key to good flares is a good square cut on the tubing, don't use a tubing cutter, as it work hardens the tube and causes the flares to crack, debur both inside, and outside, and lube the double flare button. Good luck with your project.

 

That Mastercool kit has saved me a ton of time. Perfect flares every time. You still need to take your time and do it right, a friend of mine borrowed it and I ended up going over to his shop and making new lines for the ones he screwed up...he is ALWAYS in a big hurry.

"A perfect tool does NOT mean perfect results"

 

Master cool. it's one of those tools that once You pony up the bread to buy one, you ask yourself 'why didn't I buy one of these years ago?"

seriously. I tried to locate my old one a while back. it had so much dust on it, I didn't recognize it.

 

time to look into the mastercool tool!

 

I'm thinking my ridgid flare tool was about 50 bucks. works great and I have yet to booger up a flare with it.... except for the ones where I forgot to put the fitting on first.

 

I have the Ridgid tool, but that mastercool tool looks very impressive..

 

I almost bought this off ebay the other day thinking I was gonna need it.

Then I went to the parts store to get a few things and noticed all the different lengths of brake lines they sell hanging in the back. I decided I might be able to plumb the entire 32 chassis I'm building without any joints if I took my time.

So... I bought a bunch of different lengths, planned it well and went to town. Got the whole thing done front to back without having to make a single flare. The only joints I had were the "T" fittings which I would have to have anyway. Plumbed the whole brake system on the car for less than $100 bucks.

Take your time and try it. You may be suprised how well it works.

 

Rather than start up another post, I'll bring up this one from the recent past.

I've got a buddy who is trying to cut steel lines. I read elsewhere (in here) that he may be going off of bad info as he was only doing the single 37 degree-vs-45 double flare bends. He still can't get the knack of it. One time it's perfect, the next time it splits.

He's running 3/16" tubing, cheapo flaring tool. It (tubing) has a green coating. He thinks the coating is making the tubing slide in the clamp. What say you?

Also, do you guys think that using a high-speed cut-off wheel or a tubing cutter is best? Why?

Thanks for the help. JL

 

is he doing the proper dubble flair or trying to do a single??

 

I had a lot of problems with a cheapo flaring tool, the tubing would slide out unless clamped super-tight with a vice. Total pain in the ass.

I picked up and old, used, english flaring tool and it works so much better it is amazing. Just needs be be clamped up with the wing nuts and no problems.

I suggest your friend dumps the cheapo flaring tool and replaces it with a quality brand, or one of the specialised tools mentioned above.

 

I never have a problem..I let Larry T do mine....

 

Biggest deal I've found with using any flare tool set is to PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS. I have a Blue Point set I bought 20 years ago and cussed it like the set I worked with when I was an Air Force vehicle mechanic. Then I figured out I wasn't using the tool correctly, started paying fn attention.
Good straight tube cut, no burrs, proper depth in the die, clamped tight--more than you can do by hand on those cheap wingnuts that break and shit gets replaced by grade 8, patience and attention. Don't try to clamp the tube without having the cheap tool clamped in a vise, it just will not have enough clamp pressure to get any sort of an even flare during the first step of making the double flare, learned by my many screwups by not paying attention to tool instructions.
You can get good results with a cheap flare set like I have if you just take the time to pay attention. The tool will do it's job no better than the operator does his.
Is a tech thread needed with pics on this, using my cheapass BluePoint set? I can make a fine flare in short time with proper procedure.

 

Don't forget---AN fittings use 37 degree and regular brake fittings use 45 degree AND ALWAYS use a DOUBLE flaring tool

 

Yes, the coating is your main issue. We used to do a flaring competency here at the school, but we kind of dropped it after all we kept getting was coated line. It CAN be done, but if i can only demo a successful flare about 1/2 the time, I can't very well expect the students to do it every time.

The mastercool kit seemed to do the best job, as it has the longest holding die; but it was still hit and miss...

 

I use an Imperial.