Need recommendations on fuel line forming tools

[jdcaples]

Greetings,

In the next few weeks, I want to reorganize my CJ's fuel lines from the pump to the carb. I have steel and rubber lines right now, but it's looking like a hack job and I think I can do better.

I haven't bent and flared steel since 1978 and my late father's tools for such things were sold with the shop when he tried to retire (I do still have his beloved pickle fork and a few SnapOn ratchets).

So, what's your favorite tool for bending lines and flaring the ends?

Thanks!


-Jon

 

[Torxhead]

I did a bit of fuel line tube work a while back and what I used was over the counter 5/16" fuel line and that was already cut and flared to various lengths. It was reasonably easy to work with bending it slowly by hand as it is made of a softer steel than the hardened factory stuff.

 

[mtnwhlr]

This is what I use
Sears.com

 

[jdcaples]

I did a bit of fuel line tube work a while back and what I used was over the counter 5/16" fuel line and that was already cut and flared to various lengths. It was reasonably easy to work with bending it slowly by hand as it is made of a softer steel than the hardened factory stuff.

Good to know that tubing's gotten more malleable.

I was a 13 year old struggling with not kinking brittle tubing while my late father's customer looked on - with both a disapproving-of-child-labor look as well as an oh-my-god-an-incompetent-child-is-making-life-or-death-brake-lines! - as I fumbled like the ungifted wrencher typing at you today.

I remember sneaking the tubing into the bathroom with an empty beer bottle to get the bend between the scribes, eye-balling it.

That poor uptight yuppie. That stress... I probably took a few months off of his life.

It fit though. I remember my dad saying, "a bottle? You bent it with a bottle?"

I couldn't tell if he was proud or sincerely wondering if I'd ever leave the nest, ever get by in life without him.

Thanks, torxhead!

-Jon

 

[jdcaples]

This is what I use
Sears.com

Sears is, as it's been all my life, completely awesome!

Thank you!

-Jon

 

[jdcaples]

I don't trust my memory:

I think I remember that it's proper to use a single flare for metal fittings and double flares are for rubber hose + clamp unions.

Is that true?

-Jon

 

[Torxhead]

I have made and used single flare with success in both automotive and industrial hydraulic applications but I will stick to the double flare for safety. I have tried the craftsman double flare kit with poor results plus a few bending tools, the method I described works good for me but everybody is different. I have had good success with inserting a coil type spring around a tube and it seems to work good for me also.

 

[jdcaples]

Using a coil spring matching the ID is gold!

Thanks!

-Jon

 

[IOPort51]

The brake line sections available at the parts house work great the fitting threads right into the fuel pump, no flaring needed. The tubing is pretty hard and I would recommend not trying to bend it with your hands and expect it to look good.

I think this works as well as anything I ever used.

Tubing Bender - Save on this Manual Tubing Bender

 

[jdcaples]

The brake line sections available at the parts house work great the fitting threads right into the fuel pump, no flaring needed. The tubing is pretty hard and I would recommend not trying to bend it with your hands and expect it to look good.

I think this works as well as anything I ever used.

Tubing Bender - Save on this Manual Tubing Bender

It's been years... brake lines have flares and fitting on both ends,
or because of relatively low pressure, it's ok to clamp a rubber hose to an unflared tube end?

-Jon

 

[IOPort51]

I just used one flared end and a rubber fuel line from the line to the filter and one to the carb. I think it best to have a rubber section in the line to relieve vibration stress.

and the other end threads into the carb.

 

[jdcaples]

I just used one flared end and a rubber fuel line from the line to the filter and one to the carb. I think it best to have a rubber section in the line to relieve vibration stress.

and the other end threads into the carb.

Your line routing and how you secured the fuel filter is pretty much my envisioned improvement! Great minds....

Thank you!

-Jon

 

[Shifter]

Inverted flair... Most brake and fuel = 45* double flair
An fitting= 37* single flair
Then there is ISO metric bubble........

 

[Shifter]

Olde Forge makes a fairly decent double flair kit. Available at the old time auto parts stores.

One important step is to debur the inside of the tube after cutting. This will make the double flair easier and not break the tip off the dies.