I'm frustrated! I've gone thru 2 sets of '40 Ford front brake hoses from Mac's because the copper washers don't seat correctly and the wrench size on the shank of the hoses are between 1/2 & 9/16th so you can't tighten them properly with a line wrench without rounding off the nut! I tried Metric wrenches too and they don't fit either. I ended up rounding off the first set of hoses just trying to tighten them. Anyone else have this wonderful experience?
Incompatible parts will do it too. The brake hose should seat by hand if everything is clean and the threads aren't gorillaed. Screw in the hose less the washer, it should go easy. Take your washer and insert it into the gap between the shoulder of the fitting and the wheel cylinder, it shouldn't go. If the above is what you find, try a thicker washer or go back to Macs and ask their advice, which may not be what you want to hear if you didn't get the wheel cylinders from them. Odd that a standard line wrench won't fit or be very close. You should just be giving it a fraction of a turn if the parts all agree with one another. Bob
First of all, I'd mic the brake hose end to find the exact size of wrench it needs. If it's not made to an USA standard size (inch) or metric, you need to contact MACS and tell them their Chineese supplier screwed up - they may not be aware of it. If the hose end is correct, naybe your wrenches are screwed up (cheap tools?). Lastly, you need to check out the wheel cylinders, to see if they're correct. It's not fair to ***ume everything else is correct and MACS' hoses are to blame with doing a proper investigation. After you get some facts together, contact MACS. Don't stop with the counter guy, but ask for a Tech or Engineer to help you. Be polite and not rude or accusitory and you'll get much further in resolving your problem.
I have found replacement washers to be too hard (that is not annealed). To anneal the copper washer, so that it will be soft to conform to the shape of both the hose and the cylinder, heat the washer to a dull red and quench it in water. It will now look dull and oxidized , just clean it up with steel wool or sandpaper. You now have a much better chance of sealing. Good luck Alden
The wheels cylinders, washers & brake hoses all came from Mac's. They should all work together if Mac's is selling them! I tried all my 9/16th wrenches, all of them don't fit, too big, it's not the wrenches but I will try a 17/32 wrench if I can find one. that may solve that problem. My next move is to anneal the washers since I bought a few pairs fully expecting this to happen!
I have unfortunately had to use several sets of their hoses, washers, and wheel cyls but never had a problem getting them to seal. I hear ya on the wrench sizing, that ****s right! Too bad they're chinese made... I'd gladly pay more for USA made hoses. Worse comes to worst, just call them and explain to their tech guy what's going on. I know them and they are good people.
This sounds like a hack trick and it is, but if you take 2 flat screwdrivers, stick them in the gap of the wrench/bolt faces. It may help jam it tight enough to turn. (other than trying a metric wrench!) TP
I could probably take a 1/2 wrench and grind it out to fit the shank so I can tighten it too but the screwdriver trick is a good one. I'll let you guys know when I get this solved but just FYI, those hoses are a pain in the ***! And yes I did try vice grips on the first pair of hoses, that's how I wrecked them, I tightened them as far as I could till they were ruined and they still leaked!
13 mm is about 0.012 inch larger than 1/2 inch. generally 1/2 wrenches won't fit on a 13 mm head. 14 mm is about 0.010 inch smaller than 9/16 inch, but often works on 9/16, but it is on the snug side. If there's room there's a series of vise grips that work slick on hexes. 7LW is one size, on the left here - http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/995/visegrips.jpg
If you purchased the hoses from MAC's they have metric ends, the wheel cylinder end is 14MM. Dont forget the wheel cylinder bleeder is metric also. If you have a leak it is in the copper crush washer, to check remove the crush washer and the hose end should insert and bottom out on the hex, if it does not there is something a miss.
The bleeder screws are all 3/8 so no problem there. I'm going to call them and nicely ask them exactly what size wrench I'm supposed to use on these hoses and see what they say.
I think I'm done ordering anything from Mac's, look at this answer I got! The washers sent you are correct for the hoses you ordered and the application you have. There are no in between size washers. I do not have a hose to measure, but, I'm sure you can measure and match a wrench from your tool box.
Yes there is, I've beenthinking of going there and seeing what they have since this Mac's stuff is junk.
I can get them from Napa or O'reilly BUT, they are longer than the ones Mac's sells so if I put them in, they have a kink in the middle. Or I could use the longer ones and redo the front hard lines!!
If you tighten and loosen the fitting a few times first, it sometimes helps "bed in" the parts that need to seal.
Sounds like the end of the hose fitting is bottoming out before the washer can compress enough to make a seal, I'd try two washers, that has worked for me on banjo type hoses that wouldn't seal to a caliper.
Try a local hydraulic hose guy. I had mine made by our local guy and had no problems. My 56 Ford front wheel cyl. Came from O Riley s
Find an industrial hydraulics specialty house in your area, SHOW them what you want, and they can make up about any length and fitting combination you want. (with the correct hose type for brake fluid, and the correct fittings). Unless you are doing a period perfect restoration, most of the mail order houses have steel braided hoses in 1" increments that work fine
I have had several white box chinese calipers and cylinders that did not want to seal because the threaded hole was not drilled perpendicular to the crush washer surface. Hard to spot till I looked at the washer and could see it was pinched unevenly. Just somthing else to look for.
I finally figured out what to do, I took a 1/2 open end wrench and carefully filed it until it fit snugly on the shank of the hoses and tightened them some more, so far it has stopped the leaking. If it didn't work I was going to have to argue the Mac's again which I wasn't looking forward to. So, if anyone is buying these Chinese made brake hoses from Mac's, you might encounter these problems. Since Mac's doesn't care and doesn't offer a solution, you might have to do what I did.
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