The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Pre made brake lines.

Doe's anybody make pre made brake lines for the 2 ton trucks? at least the front ones under the engine and to and from the hydrovac and master cylinder? I want to replace all of them on the BUS.

I'm not a big bolt guy, yet, but I have not heard of anyone making them. I would think this is a good oportunity to do some measuring and get you some of the different lengths from the parts houses that will add up to what you want. If you have a lot to run I suggest buying a roll of it and some fittinds and make your own. Be sure to have a good flaring tool to do the double flares and save yourself a lot of money.....Good luck and I'll be watching to see if anyone has a source for Big Bolt pre-made lines.

From what I've seen on my AD trucks some of the lines on the big trucks are the same as the smaller ones (or so close you can make it work without issue). Not sure about a 55.

Even so I have always and will in the future make any lines I need from scratch. With good tools it's not hard; and now that I've got some experience I actually look forward to making lines, it's relaxing and fun.

Grigg

Hey Grigg,
I made my lines, but my flares were inconsistent. I had to remake some of them. Can you recommend a good flaring tool if I ever have to do that again. By the way, I found a really nice small bending tool at Harbor Freight that worked really well for tight spots. There was one line near the hydrovac on my 48 that had a very short straight section, so my regular bending tools needed more of a run to catch on the stop on the bender. The small tool worked perfectly.

i sent my set of brake lines to fine lines had a friend re"create" them price wasnt too bad.......

....ask around if you go to car cruise-ins are belong to a club. The really nice ones are not cheap but a couple brake jobs and you an save the initial investment. I think some time ago Gregg had a thread going about a good flaring tool....or you can search in the tool forum and find it.

I ask around and found a guy in my car club that has a nice hand held hydralic type and he came by the house and in just a short time had made my tranny lines and gas tank line. I had bought a roll of line and had the fittings. Man, its amazing how neat the flares were and how quick you can do it with a roll of line. No piecing together..... and the best part is it only cost me the price of a good meal at our local resturant!!

You asked about flare tools - I have had mixed success with the "buy it anywhere flare bars" finding them OK on plain steel lines but not really able to do the job reliably on rigid stainless. Being cheap, I debated for a long time, then I bought http://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html So far, I'm happy with it. I have done all lines (stainless, a mixture of rigid and coil tube depending on the shape of line I was making) for my truck with the only re-flares being due to having forgotten to put the nut on before flaring. One drawback to this type of flaring tool is the length of line that has to be straight at the flare for the grip blocks to hold (plus the nut). If you aren't in a hurry, watch their web site for a while - they seem to put a lot of their tools on sale in rotation. A similar tool is available from http://store.fedhillusa.com/flaringtools.aspx (also sell cunifer brake line) for more $, more styles of flare available,not sure if there's a difference in quality/durability.
A good bender also makes a huge difference to how frustrating working with brake lines gets. I am not a fan of the 3 groove "one size does all" sold so many places that distort under load. I bought a couple of different sizes similar to http://www.newmantools.com/imperial/ser364.htm off ebay and have found them much nicer to use. Again, the only limitation is that there has to be some straight line between the flare and the curve.
I keep getting reminded how much easier and enjoyable it is to work with decent quality tools.

I once owned a Fed hill flare tool and it is nice, however no longer the best in my experience, and it's not cheap, not a good deal..

Also not cheap but a much better deal and excellent quality are the Brakequip tools http://www.brakequip.com/tools_ft.html
I have the BQ-350, the complete set and have sold several sets to some friends as well. Everyone is extremely pleased and impressed with the quality of the flare, it's really easy and fast.
If you want one (you should) search online, you can find them easily now. I don't need to buy/sell any unless someone wants to make the effort to round up an order for 3 or 6 or more then I can check what my price would be. In the past I have gotten a good deal by buying several at once but don't and never have stocked any.

The Eastwood kit to me looks like a cheaper copy of the Brakequip, I'd pass on that and go straight to Brakequip.

If you live in the UK there is also this option
http://www.sykes-pickavant.com/Port...20-%20Brake%20Pipe%20Flaring%20Tools.pdf
They are perhaps the original version of this type of flare tool and possibly what Fed Hill imports.

Benders, I like the one size fits one kind such as these.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2963457890080251109VkAUMS
click the link for all of them and then the "next" thunbnail several times for close up shots of them.

Grigg

I've always just used a simple flare tool. I have this OTC set. IT has always worked well for me. I cannot see spending hundreds of dollars on the other style. From my research OTC makes quality tools. I have no connection to the Ebay listing, and you may be able to find cheaper elsewhere, I just used to show what I have.

Tad

I have/had two of the very same OTC tools you listed. One worked OK for a while but gave up on stainless, and was quite hard to use with it. Gave that one away. The second set they sent as a replacement for the first, I never took the shrink wrap off it. Then I tried a nicer Imperial of similar design, also OK but nothing special, and not good for stainless either although did manage to flare a few.

The more expensive tools like the Brakequip do a mighty fine job on stainless too, almost effortless. If you can see making a couple trucks worth of lines they are well worth the money in my opinion.

I've been there and done that when it comes to brake lines, tools, and materials. Yes most anything sold for the purpose will work, I've bought and or used most all types of flare tools out there.
If you're serious about it and or enjoy working with nice tools I strongly suggest you try a Brakequip flare tool and use Copper-nickel line. (Cu-Ni line available from most auto parts stores now, even if they don't know it at first)

Grigg

I paid about $80 for my hand held set. What is frustrating is I would practice on short pieces and get perfect flares, then on the rare, long, important piece I would get an uneven flare.... grrrrrrr. However, I did manage to make my lines, but if I do it again I will get a brake quip.... I book marked it.

Wow ! Great information here.... it's not that i can't do it myself it's just investing in the tools...as was said it's better to buy a good set if possible.Now i must do some serious thinking as to what direction to take.

If you are going to run stainless then you may well need to get a more expensive set (I've never done a stainless line and never plan to). If you are going to do steel lines then I wouldn't be able to justify the cost for how seldom I do lines.

Tad