Bending brake lines

[Tom Powell]

I recently broke both of my front brake lines at the fitting to the hose on my '69 camper. I've been able to get lines longer than OG and am attempting to bend them to the OG shape with several different tools.

Are there any shops or tradesmen in SoCal that could match the OG lines for length and shape?

Aloha
tp

[aeromech]

You should never have given me your tube bender. Need it back?
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
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Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[TDCTDI]

I usually bend the lines carefully with my hands unless I have to bend a tight corner & that's with the steel line. The new nickle/copper stuff is REALLY easy to work with. You can get a flare kit & a tubing bender for cheap.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Tom Powell]

[TDCTDI]

If you were on this coast I could whip one up in about 10 minutes. They're really not that hard to make.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Tcash]

Call hose and fitting vendors in the area and ask if they can make ISO Flares on the brake lines you have. That way you can bend them to the shape of the originals and have them cut and flared.

Link


Good luck
Tcash

[aeromech]

I believe what you need is called a bubble flare. Other cars use a double flare which is more common. I’ve always just bought pre made hard lines at my flaps. I think it was because doing a bubble flare myself required tooling I couldn’t find or some other such reason. I could buy pre made lines easier and cheaper but sometimes they would be long and require some looping to take up the slack.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[pittwagen]

Bubble flare (4.75mm) and tubing bender. Everything was custom on this puppy.

[aeromech]

I’d look pretty bad ass driving that up the three blocks to my local liquor store.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[Yarkle]

I remember germansupplyscott saying something about its kinda better to get them a but longer, because you are never going to get them to bend as tightly as they did on the jigs at wolfsburg.

Caleb did this on his bus with the closest NAPA one we could find (i believe you tell them you want european bubble flare?)

and i thought it came out pretty good, especially since this was like the second brake line he had ever bent in his life. Unlike me, who probably destroyed about ten trying to get the bend just right.

he just used the cheapy tool. I think you can get the cheapy one , a little bit more expensive so it can do bigger bends easier (so it got like 3 or 4 grooves instead of one?)

trying to use the eastwood one with the levers and stuff seemed to be like trying to work a gyrocopter or fight a robot, so i gav eup on tha toen really quick.

Some people swear by them though
_________________
Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Tcash]

For those tight corners
Brake Line Forming Tool
https://www.harborfreight.com/tube-bending-pliers-95782.html

[Tom Powell]

[OB Bus]