Many of your vehicle’s brake lines are made from stiff steel tubing. This hard material is used because brake fluid needs to run at very high pressures. At the same time, fluid needs to be isolated from contaminants like moisture and air. These lines direct brake fluid to a location right before your vehicle’s wheels where the brake fluid is funneled into flexible steel brake lines and your brake calipers.
If you’re setting up brake lines on a restoration vehicle or if you’re simply replacing a damaged brake line, you must learn how to bend brake lines. These lines need to trace a specific layout since these brake lines are mounted along the vehicle’s chassis using hard mounts.
Bending brake lines by hand is difficult since the steel tubes are stiff and thick. You can certainly bend brake lines to a certain degree. However, they become increasingly difficult to bend once you reach a certain angle.
Brake line bender tools can do the task easily. At the same time, you can determine the specific bend angle and create neat bends without any creases that might affect brake fluid flow.
A brake line bender is made to bend one or several brake line sizes. You must use a brake line bender that can accommodate your vehicle’s brake line. Using a brake line bender that isn’t compatible with the brake line that your bending might cause creases which can affect brake fluid flow.
Before bending your brake lines, you must visualize and plan your routing. You can use wire hangers and place them where the brake lines are going to be routed.
Remember that your vehicle’s body mount and frame mount can move during vehicle operation. During the layout process, you should put some slack on the brake lines that bridge the gap between the body mount and frame mount. This ensures that the brake lines can have some flex when the vehicle’s chassis moves.
If you’re replacing an old damaged brake line, you can use the old part as a template. You can simply try to take note of where the old line is bent and copy the measurements. Take note of the angle at which the old line is bent and the line’s length before they’re bent.
Brake line benders have markings that indicate the bend angle. You can try to insert the old line onto the brake line bender and take note of the angle that you’ll try to replicate. Alternatively, you can simply place the old brake line side by side with the new one as you’re bending it.
You typically need to create multiple bends on a single brake line. Often, these bends aren’t in the same plane. When planning bends, you can use a marker to determine where you plan to bend the brake line.
Once you’ve marked the brake line, place it where you plan on routing the line and visualize whether the bends will be in the right location. Getting it right the first time is important since undoing bends is difficult.
Since there can be multiple bends on a single line, you must inspect the brake line after every bend before you add another bend to the same line. Reevaluating the line after every bend is crucial so that mistakes don’t compound.
Once you’ve placed the brake line onto the tool, operating it involves squeezing the two handles together like a bolt cutter. When squeezing the brake line tool, you must bend it in one motion without stopping. This prevents creases from forming on the brake line.
When using the brake line bender, remember that you should bend the line less before you double-check its fitment. If you’ve bent the brake line too far, it’s more difficult to bend the brake line back. On the other hand, if there isn’t sufficient bend, returning the brake line to the tool and bending it a little more is easier.
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Any information provided on this Website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace consultation with a professional mechanic. The accuracy and timeliness of the information may change from the time of publication.