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Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:35 pm
by bmw9818
Was removing the line, and threaded the nut on the car pipe! One side came off easy after a few shots of wd40,

Other side was pretty badly stuck, and it eventually rounded

Tried with vice grips but that's just making it worse,

Can I just cut the line and get a new join?

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:48 pm
by maggspower
Brake lines need to be done at the first atempt as the nuts are sometimes brass and round very easy. Get yourself a propper brake flare spanner for next timethey are less likley to slip.

What is the flare nut coming out of? A flexi or a junction?

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:55 pm
by bmw9818
Yep was using a 11mil flare wrench had a 14mil locked on the strut and just went in,

Erm its the brake pipe coming from the car through the inner wing? It's the 11mil join nut thing... Where it connects to the caliper line,

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:58 pm
by Speedtouch
You could try small Mole grips.

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:54 pm
by DanThe
Correct sized Vice grips will do it, heat it up first with a blow torch but dont go mad :)

If its the passenger side its not much work to replace the line back to the master cylinder or ABS pump

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:27 pm
by bmw9818
its the drivers side, ive got a doner car with the pipe and nut intact, how hard is it to replace the line, does it bolt straight to the mc?

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:43 pm
by DanThe
depending what engine you have it might be difficult as the line is clipped along the bulkhead

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:55 pm
by bmw9818
engines coming out soon, so should be an empty bay, easy job? the nut on the mc wont be rusted or anything will it

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:28 pm
by Ralphead
I'm going through the same sort of thing with a, spit, Peugeot 206 (not mine)

The nut won't be of any use if it has rounded. So cut the pipe right close to the nut and get the old nut out with a socket or something more brutal.. If you can't budge it then worst case scenario is you'll need a new flexi line, not too bad.

Now you have to hope that there's enough hard pipe left to still reach where it needs to go. There should be enough slack but don't put it under tension. Put a new nut on and flare the pipe.

You're better of paying to borrow a decent flaring tool than buying a cheap one.

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:30 am
by capri_rob
Had to replace the passenger side one on my touring from the ABS pump to the n/s/f corner as it rounded off where it joins to the flexi pipe :evil:

I don't plan on doing loads of brake pipe renewals in the future as they'e all plastered regularly in waxoyl so didnt bothe buying the pipe and tools - just Bought the pipe from BMW so it was exactly the right length but still had to bend it to fit.

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:14 am
by Ralphead
Oh yeah, if you have ABS then don't let air get into the pump, this is not a good thing.

Double check with someone who know for sure on this as I don't really deal with ABS much, E30s are modern cars to me..

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:41 pm
by bmw9818
yeah i dont wanna spend any further money on the car, buying flaring tools or anything else than whats neccessary, il just switch the pipes over should be easy enough with an empty engine bay,

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:22 pm
by daimlerman
bmw9818 wrote:yeah i dont wanna spend any further money on the car, buying flaring tools or anything else than whats neccessary, il just switch the pipes over should be easy enough with an empty engine bay,
Kunifer pipe and fittings cost pennies.....

Re: Rounded brake line nut...

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:24 pm
by bmw9818
I've spent all my pennies, and blown my budget sky high, so every little counts at this point, I've got a complete pipe on the other anyway so I should be good,