Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ok so i got ext. brake lines for my 93 hilux but having dramas removing the old ones... the little 10mm nut won't come undone from the end of the rubber hose on any of them without wanting to strip the heck out of it. Soaked them in CRC, tried using vice grips... nothings working. Didn't think it would be a good idea to heat it up..

Has anyone else had this problem? What did you do? I don't wanna pay someone to change my brakelines over.

Any help appreciated guys.

Brad.

If it still has some kind of hex shape (if you havent stripped the shite out of it), you can buy special spanners that look like a normal ring spanner, except they have a small opening in the ring section so the brake pipe can fit through the gap, and then the ring spanner can act on the hex nut.
So instead of a open end spanner only acting on two nut surfaces, the ring section acts on all six hex surfaces.

ah that sounds like a go. I'll have a look for one of these. Thankfully i didn't get so far as to strip em out..

Thanks mate.

Yep its called a flare nut spanner.
Its the only way to get the little buggers off without destroying them

You could always modify an existing ring spanner to suit.

The obvious question....wouldn't be a left hand thread, would it?

DAMKIA wrote:The obvious question....wouldn't be a left hand thread, would it?

nope they are normal right hand thread.
They are usually just real tight and the flare nuts are made out of fairly soft steel so they deform easilly unless the correct spanner is used.

Vice grips always work better than flare nut spanners on stuck brakeline fittings. If you carnt get them off vicegrips then nothing will get them off. If your vicegrips slip on the nut either do them up tighter or buy yourself some better vicegrips.

Wouldnt waste your time buying flare nut spanners these are only good for brake fittings that are in good condition and arnt stuck.

Sam

You can buy a tool that is like a set of vice grips but is designed for brake hoses. It grips the flat side of the hex shape and is one of the best tools I ever invested in. By memory I picked it up at Just Tools.

vice grips work sometimes, but i now use a 300mm shifter, plenty of leverage, tighten the shifter as tight as possible and it wont slip off and strip the nut like a 10mm open ender does.