Installing Stainless Steel Brake Hoses

[JimZRyd]

Need some advice Brothers. I'm in the process of doing a few projects on my 94 and have gotten to the point of replacing the rubber brake lines with braided stainless steel ones. I've ran into a road block as I cannot for the life of me get the darn hard line loose at the connection to the rubber hose. I initially tried with just a regular wrench and that wasn't working, so I went and bought a set of line wrenches and tried the appropriate size, 12 mm is what I looked up, and still cant get it loose. Tried so hard on the right rear that I rounded the edges to the point I'm going to have to get someone to help me replace it, so I moved to the left rear and cant get it to budge either...Stopping before I round that one off as well. Anybody got some words of wisdom or bag of tricks for this??? Any help is greatly appreciated:pray

[Dynomite]

Hang on.......what is a regular wrench ;)

Anyway...........do not use Combination Open End Wrenches (the open end) as they tend to open just a tad rounding off the Hex when trying to break open a hard to break line. Is this what you are working with?

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/dynomite007/Dynomite12/f5349924-2f0e-4069-9002-c1746a22233b.jpg
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/dynomite007/Dynomite12/e1dcff4c-f0df-47fa-9597-b809b87d32a1.jpghttp://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll142/dynomite007/Dynomite12/e7caa7dc-076e-4868-94e2-580a43da8668.jpg

[JimZRyd]

Thanks! Yes that's the connection I'm talking about. I couldn't get it to budge with the open end wrench so I went and bought a set of proper line wrenches. The 12mm line wrench I used is what rounded off the right rear hard line nut. Tried it on the left rear and stopped just as I could feel it start to round. It's like they are frozen solid. I've soaked them with PB blaster again and will see if I can do anything with it tomorrow. :dontknow:

[Dmod81]

When mine were frozen I used pb blaster and CRC freeze off over the course of a couple of days (with tapping for vibration). I also used heat very carefully. Mine ended up rounding off too even with line wrenches, so I used vise grips on a couple.

[Dynomite]

I understand the feeling of slipping a wrench rounding off a hex.....I would try large Vice Grips at that point to hold the bottom steel line hex. The Break line Hex is larger and an open end may allow you to apply enough torque to break the fitting loose. Otherwise another Large Vice Grip. I have never tried heat on a brake line but heat would prolly not bother as you are discarding the rubber line anyway ;)

When mine were frozen I used pb blaster CRC freeze off over the course of a couple of days (with tapping for vibration). I also used heat very carefully. Mine ended up rounding off too so I used vise grips on a couple.
We are thinking exactly alike as I was posting at the same time :thumbsup:

[JimZRyd]

Thanks. I'll try the vice grips and see what happens. Right now I'm a little worried that I might not be able to get the hard line tight enough after replacing the rubber lines because of the rounding and have no alternative than to perform a brake line repair job , such as splicing another end to the hard line. Never tried that and really don't want to either. :neutral:

[Dynomite]

Thanks. I'll try the vice grips and see what happens. Right now I'm a little worried that I might not be able to get the hard line tight enough after replacing the rubber lines because of the rounding and have no alternative than to perform a brake line repair job , such as splicing another end to the hard line. Never tried that and really don't want to either. :neutral:

If you break the connection loose with vice grips you can definitely get the connection tight enough with vice grips when re-assembling. You can dress up the Hex with a file or small hand held grinder. I would never splice a brake line.....I would have to look but I am thinking the steel brake line can be replaced as there are many ZR1 chassis around and the steel brake lines are not in high demand.

[JimZRyd]

That sounds encouraging. I'll try and tackle it later today with vice grips and hope for the best. I agree, I don't want to do a splice but was thinking worst case scenario. Replacing the whole line def would be a better alternative. Hopefully I won't be going that route.

[XfireZ51]

Should really use a flare nut wrench.

http://www.grainger.com/product/SK-PROFESSIONAL-TOOLS-Metric-Standard-Flare-Nut-WP171919/_/N-99z?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/12C515_AS02?$smthumb$
Also, I use Kroil. MUCH better than PB Blaster. Available by mail.

[5ABI VT]

I have renewed faith in Vice grips> I got a smushed and rounded ZF drain plug out that had just a few threads peeking out off and out of the trans with Vice grips when all else failed. I agree 100% if you can get the lines loose with them tightening with them is more than enough.

[JimZRyd]

I now also have a renewed faith in vice grips! Thanks for everyone's suggestions. It took a couple tries to get the vice grips to grip the fitting just right but it worked. Was able to tighten them up pretty good also but I'll know for sure when I bleed them tomorrow. Thanks again everyone!

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Glad to hear it worked out Jim. I don't remember that kind of struggle on my 90 12 years ago. I hope I don't have this issue on my 95 since I want to do the same soon.

[Billy Mild]

Brake lines are a pain in the butt. Having a good flare nut wrench is key. The ones from Harbor Frieght or auto parts stores will just flex and not stay rigid.

[JimZRyd]

Glad to hear it worked out Jim. I don't remember that kind of struggle on my 90 12 years ago. I hope I don't have this issue on my 95 since I want to do the same soon.

Thanks Craig! It was surely a pain! The right rear was frozen solid! The left rear not so bad. Hope to move to the front sometime this week!

[JimZRyd]

Brake lines are a pain in the butt. Having a good flare nut wrench is key. The ones from Harbor Frieght or auto parts stores will just flex and not stay rigid.

I picked up a set of line wrenches, can't really see the difference in a flare nut wrench, they are Kobalt from Lowes. Seem to be pretty good quality. They would hold the nut tight but the nut was so frozen it just wouldn't budge. I had to take the vice grips and tighten them down hard as heck with my allen wrenches just to get it to break loose. What a pain!!!