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It's probably gonna be a week or more before I get all the parts for this job. No problem. It's been 29 years. What's another week?
How about heating that flare nut?
While it isn't explosive like gasoline, brake fluid is VERY flammable. When I flush brakes, I save the old fluid rather than dump it and use it to start campfires. Pour some on wood and it burns slow but hot and will light wood up, even with high humidity. So, it's really not a good idea to use a torch. Lot's of penetrant and short raps if need be with a light hammer.
While it isn't explosive like gasoline, brake fluid is VERY flammable. When I flush brakes, I save the old fluid rather than dump it and use it to start campfires. Pour some on wood and it burns slow but hot and will light wood up, even with high humidity. So, it's really not a good idea to use a torch. Lot's of penetrant and short raps if need be with a light hammer.
Cool. I have a fire pit out back surrounded by 4 - 5 cords of wood I split myself from all the dead trees on my property. I also have a few quarts of spent brake fluid. Thanks for the non-Dodge tip!
If you choose to use heat, don't do propane its not hot enough to concentrate the heat in one spot.
When I did my exhaust manifolds I only heated the stud to cherry red which took less than 30 seconds with an oxyacetylene torch. Once it cooled down for a minute or so the nut broke free easily with the wrench. The fast expansion and cooling of the stud broke it free. Propane would have heated the whole area up before the stud could get cherry red which would have defeated the purpose by preventing it cooling down fast. .
If you choose to use heat, don't do propane its not hot enough to concentrate the heat in one spot.
When I did my exhaust manifolds I only heated the stud to cherry red which took less than 30 seconds with an oxyacetylene torch. Once it cooled down for a minute or so the nut broke free easily with the wrench. The fast expansion and cooling of the stud broke it free. Propane would have heated the whole area up before the stud could get cherry red which would have defeated the purpose by preventing it cooling down fast. .
I'm feeling a bit confident I'll get those flare nuts off the master. They're not corroded much...pretty clean. I started hitting it with the PB today. Will do it every day till I get my parts (about a week). And I'll do the Ol' Grouch tap dance on it too. Got the line wrenches and I'll keep working it and see how it goes. I think if it comes down to having to torch them I'll just hire my mechanic. I don't have access to oxyacetylene and I don't have a MAP-Pro/Oxygen set up either. I'm pretty sure my mechanic has oxyacetylene. You're right though, propane or MAP-Pro (alone) is just too damn risky and inefficient.
My other option is to cut the damn lines and splice in new ones for the new master using unions. No, not compression fittings but genuine brake line unions. I have the Titan double flaring tool (does a fantastic job...thanks Ralph for the recommendation) and all the fittings and copp/nick line on hand. I prefer not to do that but there are far worse options. I can see where this job can lead to further headaches...namely, having to try and take the fittings off the proportioning valve. I'll be right back to where I was. So I really don't want to have to mess around taking fittings off that proportioning valve.
No problem removing mounting nuts or flare nuts. Probably helped I hit it with PB Blaster every day for a week. Not sure how much that helped but I know it didn't hurt. Plenty of play room pulling the old master off and mounting the new. Some rust dust in the booster hole but no fluid sitting around. New Raybestos MC bench bled nicely. All four wheels bled nicely (probably didn't even need to do it). Easy job on a Dakota. I'll report back in a week or two to update how much of the brake clunking I got rid of. The initial test drive seems promising.
I just made and replaced every brake line in my 96 Dakota. All standard flare no bubble flares. And all SAE threaded fittings.
I Always cut the old line as close as possible to the fitting, run a drill bit thru them and reuse the original flare nuts.
I just made and replaced every brake line in my 96 Dakota. All standard flare no bubble flares. And all SAE threaded fittings.
I Always cut the old line as close as possible to the fitting, run a drill bit thru them and reuse the original flare nuts.
I did similar on some broken brake lines ahead of the brake hoses. Couldn't do that on the master tho due to not having enough line to get a fitting and flaring tool on. Thankfully, it didn't come down to that because they unthreaded without breaking the line.
I did similar on some broken brake lines ahead of the brake hoses. Couldn't do that on the master tho due to not having enough line to get a fitting and flaring tool on. Thankfully, it didn't come down to that because they unthreaded without breaking the line.
For the really short ones, I like to measure them out, cut the line to length, flare it FIRST, and then do the bending. Makes life easier.
For the really short ones, I like to measure them out, cut the line to length, flare it FIRST, and then do the bending. Makes life easier.
Good idea except when the other end of the line is spoken for. But had I spliced a new line near the master your idea would have worked nicely. It is tempting to unbend the line, do the flare/fitting, then rebend it. But I'm guessing that steel line can't be unbent and rebent. Never tried it. Might work on copper-nickel.
