flaring help please

[Tim]

anyone want to give a few tips on the proper use of a flaring tool?

i have been do and re-doing one flare for hours and cannot get it to seal. i have tried the $25.00 model of double flare tool and a few hours ago i went for the $45.00 model. i have followed all the breif instructions to the letter.

this is the only thinkl left on my axle swap. getting discouraged.

(help!)

[DanB98TJ]

Not sure what brand tool Fred has, but it worked flawlessly on his lines during his J-arm install, and also when we did my lines yesterday. The trick seems to be getting the right amount of "stick out" from the tool so that it folds and flares the right amount of tubing. The inserts in Fred's tool have a "step" machined into them to use for a guide.

I lucked out and was able to reuse the factory D35 hard lines on the D44 - just needed to do a little tweaking to the passenger side, and cut about an inch of the driver's side. Didn't even crush the lines when we installed the axle....

[Jerry Bransford]

I apparently got lucky because the first double-flares I ever did using a borrowed kit from Pep Boys turned out leak-free. One thing I read that might have helped... that using those circular brake line cutters "work" the steel so it's much harder and thus harder to double-flare properly. Instead, I used a Dremmel tool with a cutting disk to make all my brake line cuts. I don't know if that was the secret or not but it worked for me and my double flares came out ok. And as mentioned above, the amount of brake line protruding from the holder is critical and must be set carefully.

I think it was Stu that mentioned the cutting issue and not to use a traditional tubing cutter since that seems to harden the steel at the tip you're trying to flare.

[donjr5]

If you are using a roller-type tubing cutter, are you reaming the bur at the inside edge of the tool? That is one important step.

[mrblaine]

It hurts nary a thing to cut tubing with a tubing cutter. That's what they were made for, cutting tubing.

There are a few things to keep in mind for a successful double flare.

After the tubing is cut, lightly deburr the outside and then more importantly, deburr the inside. I have a very small solid carbide countsink I chuck up in the cordless drill. I use it to bring the ID of the tube back to what it was without removing too much material.

Use the step on the little dimple disc to get the exact amount of stickout about the surface of the line clamp. Tighten the clamp down as far as it will go. Everything else is self explanatory from there.

[Tim]

i had been using a ridgid tubing cutter and i was chamfering (sp?) it inside and out with the reamer and file trying to make it perfect like in the instructions. i was measuring the lenght with the anvil too.

i tried jerry's idea with my air cutoff wheel, filed it all even and reamed it out. it wasnt leaking like all the other attemps (without brake pedal pressure). i tried a little self bleeding and it seemed to be holding but i haven't gone out to look yet this morning.

[Deaver]

Tim

I went through the same process(s) with my 8.8. It was enough to make me nuts

There was a previous discussion

http://www.jeepbbs.net/forums/showth...hlight=flaring

And Stu has a write-up on his site

http://www.stu-offroad.com/misc/ft-1.htm


Note: Don't believe every thing you read...Never got a Tee-Shirt

[Tim]

thanks guys!!

[mrblaine]

I'm also pretty sure that it was Deaver that I demonstrated my method to when he visited. Nothing special and the flare came out just fine.

[Deaver]

Originally posted by mrblaine
I'm also pretty sure that it was Deaver that I demonstrated my method to when he visited. Nothing special and the flare came out just fine.

Why Yes it was

If I didn't know better, I'd call you a show-off