Bending brake lines/tubing ???

adventures_more · Post by **adventures_more** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:03 pm

I just got a new master cylinder for my 4x4 as my last one shat itself , so after much hunting around & get a brand new one , but the friggin pipe for the front brakes screws into another spot on the master cylinder ( closest master cylinder match i could get with bugger all time up my sleeve ),

so I went to a heap of places Brake shops, CBC , etc to get them to bend the original line like 1 or 2 wee bends to make it work & all they all stated that they bend them by hand , seemed really weird as everyone & everyplace i have seen it done before this( even in heaps of USA car magazines, etc , they used a special little tool ( Brake line Bender ) that can bend tight corners . I ended up getting one made ( alloy ) & me bending it , well before i friggin put a kink in it in 2 places tryn to get a tight bend to make it work , so just slowly bent the original steel line & worked , but a struggle .

Curious how everyone on here does it ?

91Rangie · Post by **91Rangie** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:35 pm

I use a set of hand benders that I use for work bending copper pipe

Jerry · Post by **Jerry** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:37 pm

What vehicle is it? , my new prado one came with the holes in the wrong place, closest one with the same bore was a hilux one. we ended up carefully bending by hand and redoing the connection.

adventures_more · Post by **adventures_more** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:33 pm

same vehicle mines a 89' LJ71 , i got a slightly bigger bore , stock= 7/8 New one = 15/16 & it feels heaps better & stops harder , weird but true. Cost me $120 brand New from Butler Auto in sydenam , they ordered it in from AUK .

91rangie >>what do the hand benders look like ?

91Rangie · Post by **91Rangie** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:07 pm

MAHINDRACJ4A · Post by **MAHINDRACJ4A** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:28 am

when we put the hilux brake booster into my mahindra jeep we just bent it all by hand worked pretty much perfect

tristanp · Post by **tristanp** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:02 pm

a stubbie also works real well.. and we all have a few empty ones in the shed.. dont we?
bend the pipe round the big radius on the bottle

adventures_more · Post by **adventures_more** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:01 pm

How do you get really tight bends like a 50c coin sorta bend ,when you do it by hand? Only i can see it done is with a wee bender like 91Rangie's , have seen other hand bending tools around too, how would oyu bend stainless steel line's by hand then( alot stiffer than ally ) ?

oldblue · Post by **oldblue** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:16 am

I got a small roller bearing race, and removed the outer race and balls, the balls were about 5mm size, about the same size as the bundy tube.
Weld this to a steel angle iron.
Can bend about a 1" dia with this set up.