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I'm looking to purchase a good, yet reasonably priced, double flaring tool. I've narrowed it down between the Ridgid 345DL and KD Tools 2190. Both look like good units, but the most important feature is that I need to flare lines that are still on the car (underneath) so I cannot use a vice to hold the tool.
Any experiences?
A couple months ago, I spent $50 on what I thought was a good double flaring too. The die broke the first time I used it even after being very careful.
I went to Harbour Freight the other day and saw one of seemingly equal construction and number of parts for something like $8!
You can do it without a vice, but you have to be much more careful and don't expect the first attempt to be perfect.
They are probably both the same tool.
Flares are a bit of art/experience. The more you do, the better they come out. I do not believe that a tool can make that much of a difference, especially "on the car".
Good Luck.
Well, having gone through this last year, I posted the following in June in response to another, similar inquiry (we really need that search function!).
I believe the tool I used was from Sears, and it wasn't all that expensive. The little "nipple" that goes inside the tubing on the die broke off, but if everything is straight and square, you don't really need it.Quote:
You only tried 4 times? It took me at least 20 times in my living room before I finally got it right!!
I started using a disc wheel to cut the tubing, then using misc. grinding bits on my dremel to chamfer the edges. While this would, occasionally, make a really good flare, most were horrible (the cut wasn't square so the flare tool would get crooked and the whole thing would just bend over).
I finally started making consistently good bubble flares using the following technique:
1) Cut tubing with tubing cutter. Go slow and make sure the section of the tubing you are cutting is straight!
2) Chamfer the ID and OD using a tubing reamer. The one I used is from McMaster-Carr, part number 2709A12. This will make consistant chamfers for repeatable flares.
2.5) (added because of comments) PLACE NUT ON NOW!!!
3) Perform flare. When I attach the tubing holder, I also use a C-Clamp to provide additional clamp-up on the tubing.
4) Remove tool and inspect. It should be pretty close to perfect. If not, repeat.
When I replaced the brake lines on my car (all of them) using this procedure, I only had to do about 12 flares (8 for the car and 4 screw-ups). This is how I learned to make sure the tubing was straight when cutting...
Hope this helps. Flares take time and patience. If you start to get frustrated, walk away, forcing it won't help!
This was a huge PITA to do on the car, especially when I later learned that it was the booster creating all the problems. Oh well...
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Bill
Planet 6 Racing
bill (at) planet6racing (dot) com
I have the sears tool too. As Bill has said, practice makes perfect. I don't see how you can do it on the car unless you are really good at it. Never tried it. Just replaced the whole line.
Chamfering the tubing properly is the key.
Anybody else have a better way?
Tom
About 10-12 years ago, I got a "Oldforge" double-flare tool kit, but went crazy trying to get good, repeatable flares. Finally, I noticed that the 'dimple' on one side of the 3/16" tubing mandrel piece was off-center with the 'post' on the other side - if you spun the mandrel 'post' between your fingers and watched the 'dimple' on the other side, the damn thing wobbled. Just great. The next 4 they sent me had the wobble too. Took about a month before I had mandrels that were straight.
That said...the tool works well in confined places (i.e. under the car/truck). It makes good flares on steel brake and copper tubing, although stainless tubing is a bitch.
Chamfering the inside, then dressing the outside edge of the cut tubing end with a file makes a big difference.
I used a tool I borrowed from my Napa sponsor. So it was probably a Napa tool!
I too did the job under the car, brake fluid dripping out. I used a tubing cutter, a reamer and a file. All came out fine the first time, exceptthe one I forgot to slide the fitting over first! @$#$&%#*@%&~~!!!!!
Amazingly, they have held perfectly.
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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]