DucatiDon

Anyone have a special recipe? Ive rounded one off, using a brake line wrench....dont want to ruin another......

Help?!

D

babbah

If brake line wrench fails - get the Vise-Grips out.

wombvette

Brass?

jimmies63

Wd-40?

65hihp

Heat? Warm fitting with heat gun?

jim lockwood

I saw that, too. Impossible.

vetrod62

Put your brake line wrench around the fitting and clamp the crap out of the wrench, with Vice grips. It has never failed me.

wombvette

Thats a great tip, but there are no brass brake lines on any Corvette that I know of, and if they are in fact brass, they need changing anyway. There are some brass block fittings, but no lines.

vetrod62

Dhaaa, It was not specific to brass, But to any line fitting. Works especially well on heavily rusted lines.

Westlotorn

I stripped my old donor frame today, my tubing wrench rounded the corners of the brake fittings but the vise grip trick tapped with a rubber hammer while applying pressure never failed. I wish I had read the tip to clamp the tubing wrench, could have saved some corners. Duh. Oh Well, next time.

MikeM

I use heat on the fittings. If I didn't have the acetylene torch, the vise grips on the flare wrench are a good idea too.

MikeM

I use heat on the fittings. If I didn't have the acetylene torch, the vise grips on the flare wrench are a good idea too.

The flare nut usually seizes to the flare on the line and when you try to turn the nut, it tries to twist the line. The heat breaks that loose.

Powershift

Or buy a line/tubing wrench from Snap-on. A bit pricey, but they probably have the best fit of any on the market.

I purchased one awhile back just for this job. A bit of Kroil on the fittings and brake lines a day before removal also helps.

Larry

Mike Geary

This style of vise-grip is supposed to work like a champ on brake line nuts.



Kind of combines to 2-wrench approach into a single tool.
Comes in 3 sizes -- the smallest is the best fit. I recently bought one but haven't had the "opportunity" to use it on a stubborn fitting yet.

csherman

soak with Kroil
you can cut the line close to the fitting and use a 6 point socket to get the fitting loose from the block or whatever it leads into
lines can be cut by hand with side cuts

chris ritchie

Why are you trying to save them? Don't you want to replace 50 year old brake lines anyway?

dirkdaddy

PB or Penetration Blaster works well. some company also makes some stuff with "freeze" in the name that is supposed to be quite effective for very rusted stuff, it breaks the bond and then the penetrating oil gets in there. If you end up replacing the caliper and line...which might not be bad idea on something that old...you maybe won't need to be so gentle just cut the line and remove the caliper/cylinder.

BobT59

I used a super penetrant called Rust Buster by LA-CO...woked pretty good in most cases but I too rounded some off. Soon came to the realization that it was really time to replace all the 50+ year old lines so I bit the bullet... was a relatively easy job and now I rest easy...

DansYellow66

This is what I do. Even high quality brake line wrenchs will start to spread when you start torquing on the fitting. Liberally spray the fitting with penetrating oil, use a good quality brake line wrench and clamp it down tight with vice grips.

dirkdaddy

Thanks everyone for sharing that tip with vice grips, I had not heard of that one before but not in rust belt.