Brake lines... SS problems

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frankroche

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May 5, 2016
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Location
Vista, California
How do you get the union of original rubber and steel pipe to come apart?

I managed to get the front Left brake done in HEL stainless/Teflon line, and got it bled.

Started on the Right and couldn't get the union to move. Soaked it in PB Blaster, used Flare Wrenches (yup metric). Managed to bend the steel line some so I quit.

Thinking about cutting the steel line and reconnecting it after with a water line type compression union.

Any ideas?
 
Heat, shock, hot wax maybe...heat the fitting untill candle wax will be sucked in like solder to a sweat fitting. Then let it cool before trying to loosen. If you must cut it, not just any compression fitting is going to be good enough. One brand of fitting that will be good enough is called SWAGELOK (look em up online). They are available in stainless and other metals, will hold pressure high enough to burst the tube, are reusable or i should say they can be opened and closed again without leaking. These are the fittings that are acceptabe for use on the space shuttle where it just can't fail. Oh, and these are pretty expensive, but it is your brakes.

What bike/line are you want gto repair
 
So I got them changed!
Boy you need to take the fairing off, the left rear saddlebag, the battery & its holder, the airbox, some of the electrics, and maybe more!

I couldn't get the right front union apart with wrenches (regular and flare), so I got a tool from a machinist friend, thinking it would help.
machine shop tool.jpg

No luck, so I bled the front and rear linked brake, took it off the front and pulled the steel line out. Used a machinist vise that I had.
Machinist-Vise-4-wide-Drill-Press-Vise.jpg
Place it across the frame and clamped the 10 mm captive brake fitting adapter and used a hammer to really clamp it, and finally got it removed. Left it clamped and attached the SS/Teflon line and tightened it down, fed the line through and bent the steel line back. I made a hose "holder" like the front right side had for the left side, just a little bit of coat hanger but it held the left side exactly in the middle where is goes through the front end.

Whew!

Next had to take the rear line off and that was easy 10mm flare wrench and a 17mm open end.

All done!!!!!
Cleaned up the rear reservoir and filled it, did a back and front bleed till the pedal felt good.

Called it a day, still have the tupperware to put back on, and a few other items but nothing big like this was...
 
Glad you got it fixed. Yes, the wax trick does work, my friend the master mechanic told me about it. You must heat the fitting hot enough for the wax to be sucked in like a sweat fitting with solder. Then let it cool and threaten with a wrench. The wax acts as a lubricant. This didn't work for me on threads that were rusted solid from a through-hole on a stud. This probably isn't advised for rubber/steel brake lines either, but it has worked for me.
 
I tried it on a removed part, a front brake line with the metal still attached. Heated it and let the wax flow, cooled it down and lo and behold no movement with wrenches.

Heated it until the rubber "shot off" and doused in wax, cooled an no go!

Used the vise and got it off, started my thought process that finally did it.
 
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