Ponyman66
Yak, yak, yak
While I tend to be frugal with my money, I try to spend it on the best possible deal for the best products. Tools are no exception. With all of the brake line work I have to do on the coupe I dreaded using the standard old flaring tool. I've used them before for double flares, with mixed results. Not to mention slow and a real pain. There's a number of higher end flaring tools on the market now, but they're usually cost prohibitive. The other day was an exception. While tools from Eastwood can be spotty (depending on what you're getting), some are pretty darn good. Others are the same exact thing from Harbor Freight, just at a higher price (and I do mean the EXACT thing!).
Okay, what's this all about? Their brake line flaring tool. It normally runs $250. Just a bit to rich for me as often as I'd use it. Well this past week I found it on Ebay (from Eastwood), at $199. Better, but still not good enough. Due to purchasing from them through the years, I am on their mailing list. The other day I got a sale email from them. I decided to check the website and, lo and behold, the flaring tool was on sale for $179. I pulled the trigger on it. It only took a day to arrive (today as a matter of fact), and I had to play with it immediately. HOLY CRAP!! This thing is unBELIEVABLY easy to use. The double flares come out perfect with almost no effort. All you do is chuck the whole thing in a bench vise, place the dies around the tubing, set the die in place, pull the handle once with the turret in the "0" position to set the tubing stick out. Then you turn the turret to the proper size tubing and the #1 position, pull the handle, turn the turret to the #2 position, pull the handle and it's DONE! It probably took you longer to read this than it actually takes to do the flare! It's super quick and definitely a specialty tool I'm glad I got! If you can spring for one, I highly recommend it. If you've ever done double flares before you know what I mean when I say, it's worth it just due to the minimizing the frustration factor.
http://www.eastwood.com/professional-br ... -tool.html
Okay, what's this all about? Their brake line flaring tool. It normally runs $250. Just a bit to rich for me as often as I'd use it. Well this past week I found it on Ebay (from Eastwood), at $199. Better, but still not good enough. Due to purchasing from them through the years, I am on their mailing list. The other day I got a sale email from them. I decided to check the website and, lo and behold, the flaring tool was on sale for $179. I pulled the trigger on it. It only took a day to arrive (today as a matter of fact), and I had to play with it immediately. HOLY CRAP!! This thing is unBELIEVABLY easy to use. The double flares come out perfect with almost no effort. All you do is chuck the whole thing in a bench vise, place the dies around the tubing, set the die in place, pull the handle once with the turret in the "0" position to set the tubing stick out. Then you turn the turret to the proper size tubing and the #1 position, pull the handle, turn the turret to the #2 position, pull the handle and it's DONE! It probably took you longer to read this than it actually takes to do the flare! It's super quick and definitely a specialty tool I'm glad I got! If you can spring for one, I highly recommend it. If you've ever done double flares before you know what I mean when I say, it's worth it just due to the minimizing the frustration factor.
http://www.eastwood.com/professional-br ... -tool.html
