brake line fittings torque

[onefastmustang]

Do brake line fittings require a certain amount of torque? I have one that is being tempermental and I don't want to over torque it. However I took it apart and the flaring looks clean and the socket it is going into looks good as well. So I am a bit befuddled why it insists on dripping.

[mickmate]

Check the angles jive on both ends. AN and pipe are different (37 and 45 deg). You can also see from the wear pattern between if it's seating properly across the flare rather than just a narrow ring. They can handle a pretty good torque on steel and stainless fittings.

[Rick Parker]

Is it a hard line or AN fitting? Wipe the male flare clean with brake clean or carb cleaner on a rag, paint the contact area with a felt pen marker, tighten it and remove, check for a complete clean ring indicating complete seal.

[Aussie Mike]

To quote from the Ducati Workshop manual "Tighten it up till it strips and then back it off half a turn"

I've often been curious about torque settings for AN fittings as I have a heap of them. The one thing that you'll struggle with is finding an open ended torque wrench to tighten them. Most torque wrenches are designed to work with sockets.

Cheers

[Chaplain]

I had to make up a few new brakelines when switching to Wilwoods. As precise as you try to be there will be slight eccentricity in the flare and the cone of the fitting you're mating up. I have a good set of tubing wrenches that don't slip on the hex of the fitting. Believing that the length of the wrench limits the amount of leverage I can apply, I tighten them as hard as I can to ensure that the mating surfaces align to form a good seal. So far no leaks...no stripped threads...no rounded over fittings.

[vector1]

make sure the flares are the same, use a flare fitting wrench, and tighten and loosen the fittings 3-4 times to get the sealing surfaces to mate, this doesn't take a lot of tq, you just want the surfaces to wear in. i do it this way and it doesn't take a lot of torque on the final tightening, pretty easy.

[CowtownCobra]

I usually give a bit less than a grunt, as opposed to a full grunt or the infamous grunt 'n a half

[MaSnaka]

I found a fitting that kept leaking and so I just kept tightining and tightening. The drip never stopped and so I took the tube off the fitting and found the nut had basically collapsed around the outside edge of the flare on the tubing. So no matter how tight the nut was on the nipple, the tube flare was still loose inside the nut. $3 later at NAPA and the new tube and nut fit fine. Snug it up good and leave room for a little more twist if it leaks.

[onefastmustang]

Lol.. thanks for the tips guys.. I'm going to try some of these when I get off work at noon today.

[FWB]

Originally Posted by CowtownCobra

I usually give a bit less than a grunt, as opposed to a full grunt or the infamous grunt 'n a half

heheheh, i like this......1\2 grunt.......full grunt.....lol very technical
but i can relate....good way to describe it


fred