I am trying to remove the rubber brake line from the hard line of the car to put in SS lines. But I cannot get the nut to turn. The Helms manual talks about a flare wrench; is that some special type of wrench? I am using a regular open ended wrench. I tried spraying to loosener on the bolt but still no luck. Anyone know what to do?

 

AHHHH!! I had to eventually bust em loose with VISE GRIPS!!!

I stripped the **** out of them... FAWK! Oh well.

 

So what did you end up dong since you stripped them?

 

wow, i stripped my bleeder valves on my wilwood 4 pots, lets start a stripper club!

 

I used the vise grips. Not that I will ever need to loosen them again.

 

Can anyone else make any suggestions??

 

loosen them before removing the retaining clip.
that way it will hold onto one side for you.

 

should I be using the flare wrench that the Helms talks about? I am just using a regular open ended wrench, is that okay? Tips for loosening?

 

I use regular opens and i have no problem.

 

Im sure once you break them for the first time, they wont be so tight.

Use a regular wrench...if it starts to strip, then go for the vise grips.

 

Don't use vise grip, unless you don't care about stripping them.
A flare wrench is cheap. Get one. And as sgT said, don't remove the retaining clip. It shouldn't be that hard to remove.

 

yes, they SHOULDNT. But on the three I did (1 '00 R and 2 '01 R's) they ALL were on so fawking tight (and I DID leave the lower retainer in) that they all had stripping problems.

I used the vise grips BECAUSE I stripped mine.

 

Did you use a flare wrench?
A flare wrench should keep the nut from stripping even if you turn the wrench as hard as you can.

An open wrench would strip it easily and once it is stripped, the flare wrench won't fit over it anymore. Then you would need to seek for alternatives: vise grip for example.

 

what size of flare nut wrench is it? I really don't want to jack my car up and to try to figure it out and I don't want to buy a whole set when I'll probibly just use this one a few times. not now at least. thank you

 

ttt

 

yes the flare wrench will keep things from being stripped, I used a 10mm one, I think they are all the same nut, check it with a regular box end wrench first if you have one , then go buy one flare end wrench. Vice grips can be used as a last resort, especially if the nut is stripped, I stipped one nut on my car by using a regular box end wrench, then I went out and bought a flare wrench, had to use vice grips on the one nut I stipped though.

good luck

Joey

 

FYI you cant use a box end wrench on brake lines.
You probably meant open end.

 

Mine were tight as ***** too. I used a flare wrench though.....Gotta love working at a dealership.....Our technicians have EVERY tool!

 

Hmm ... mine came off real easy. Just make sure to remove the retaining clip first. I just used two open end wrenches.


[Modified by AdamITR, 12:15 PM 1/13/2002]

 

Flare wrench is the way to go, once I used those came off without a problem.

 

buy a good quality (name brand) flare wrench; a cheap one will flex and strip the nut just as bad as an open end. they usually sell them in single increments, 10/11mm, and it will probably cost you $15-20, but it's worth it. also, soak the nut with some penetrating oil or WD40 and let it work on the the nut for a while. depending on how old or corroded the connection is, you still may need the vice-grips. fun stuff.

 

I got a set of Husky brand flare wrenches. I have a socket set by the same company and I like it.

 

What'd you pay for those? I've picked up a bunch of Husky tools for jobs where I don't think I'll need the tools too often and don't want to pay so much. I've been pretty happy with them.

 

$25 for a set of four flare wrenches from 10/12 mm up to 18/20 mm (i think that is it).

I've had good experience with the tools. I use my socket set all the time and it has held up great. Only paid $100 for it too.

 

Thanks I'll go check them out. I'm going to by doing my SS lines in the next month or so.