tube flarring tools

Whats a good and easy tube flaring tool ridgid #377 or #23337 or some other brand Thanks

A cheapie will work good for single flares. here's a BTT for ya.

Ive used my Blue Point from Snapon for over 30 years.Cant beat itfor double and single flares.Ive done probally thousands of flares at work and home with it. Rocky

I replaced all of my brake and fuel lines myself. All with a cheap harbor freight kit.

I think it's a little less about the tools, and a little more about the user's attention to detail.

Good luck

https://www.amazon.com/Mastercool-71475-PRC-Universal-Hydraulic-Flaring/dp/B007TN15EG

This is what I use, it's too expensive if you're only going to use it one time but if you plan to make many brake/fuel lines in the future it is worth it. It will make inverted flares, bubble flares, and push connect lines and it's easy to use.

Lots of truth here.

I have 3 flare tools of various pedrigree. They all will only flare as good as I prep.

I love my Mastercool setup. Most other flaring tools are not intended for thick wall tubing and will offset the flare or create a crooked sealing surface. You find this out the hard way with stainless lol.

Me too, my first and best set came from Snap on and has blue point on the tool. It is actually made by Imperial Eastman and is the best there is in tubing tools.

Since then I lent it out and a couple of the inserts got lost, helped me decide years ago not to lend tools out no more.

I still lend out my engine lifting chain about 3-4 years ago and I can't remember for sure who I lent it out to. When will I learn not to lend out tools? Now I need it.

Imperial.

^^ This ^^

I picked up a USA-made Cal-Van set cheap off of Ebay and it worked fine for me when I redid all the brake lines in my '55 Plymouth.

One nice thing about the Mastercool is you can make flares on the car. By the time you buy a good 45 and 37 flaring tool the Mastercool is not that expensive.
I just have cheap flaring tools that a friend gave me and they work fine for single flares with mild steel.

Challanger I broke a few of the inserts but they were warrantyed.I bet in the last 30 plus years Ive flared more lines than people could count.The rust belt is rough onlines.My kid bought a setup at Summit for like 10 bucks.It was clearance and works OK also.Rocky

Ah yes the rust belt. What memories I have from childhood. Brake lines and exhaust systems were good for 3-7 years lol.

Since I moved out West everybody brings me there broken off bolts and stuck plug repair jobs. No coincidence there.

I will also agree that the ability to flare line on the car usually makes for a nicer finished product and/or quicker repair. The user will have long forgotten the three hundred bucks they spent years later when the tool is ready to work sitting on the shelf.

I looked at the Imperial catalog and all of there flaring sets are for thin wall tubing from what I can tell.

First of all use 90/10 copper-Nickel alloy for the tubing. It's easier to flare, doesn't rust and isn't that expensive. It's used by many auto makers.

Second if you're fabricating lines off the car, then the expensive Eastwood tool looks nearly foolproof.

Third, Buy the best tool you can afford. If the little tubing holder teeth weren't formed properly and the tube slips backward as you apply pressure, it isn't much of a tool, is it?
I don't care if some of you are able to make double flares in steel tubing using a tool from the "all tools $4.98" bin, it doesn't work that way for me.

Fourth, the Imperial Eastman tool has been the standard of the industry for about a century. The max wall thickness they list matches nicely with DOT approved brake line sizes. See below. First are DOT approved sizes, second is the max wall thickness chart from Imperial Eastman.
R.

Had my eye on that one for a long time...need....thanks for the reminder

A tip for using the old fashioned/traditional flaring tool.

It is important how you approach the clamp job. You want the short side of the tool clamped down first and use the long end of the clamp to tighten it down last where you have more leverage. You don't always want the clamp bottomed out, if you do you can distort the tubing.

By doing this way one can even get most cheapo ones to work enough for a while on steel double flaring until the tool wears out and becomes worthless. Won't happen with a I Eastman tool.

Who uses single flares on steel? Not a good idea because of the seam on steel tubing and why double flares are used.

Now single flares in soft tubing is the normal in like copper and aluminum.

I have made many AN aluminum lines with my 45° flaring tool. The type of fitting where you slide on a nut and then a 37° fule on aluminum tubing. I flare the aluminum to 45° and when I tighten it down the first time it is flared the last 7° against the fule and male AN fitting. Have done it dozens of times and never had one problem.

So you do not need a separate 37° flaring tool for soft line AN tubing work.

I use one of those and still have an occasional flare leak on brake lines; lapping the flare ensures a good seal.

http://www.jegs.com/i/KOUL-tools/581/P45/10002/-1

Stainless steel fuel line to AN?

Yes that's right, seamless stainless forgot about that. Like on my fuel pump by pass. Stainless AN hard line flared with a 45° flaring tool.

I picked this up from Eastwood and it works great on 3/16 brake line.

Eastwood on-the-car flaring tool

Best advice in this entire post.

Ridgid. I've worked 1/2 inch stainless with mine. no issues. Stay away from cheap tools.

I have a Parker roloflare which works on 37 degree stainless up to 1/2" for larger, I had to get a rigid for my 3/4" 37 degree oil lines because the roloflare just pushed the tube out. For my 45 degree flare's I have the snap on tool. Tim