Flaring tool for brake lines

Im going ahead and doing the 95-96 XJ brake booster mod, and was wondering what kind of flaring tool/ kit do I need to get? Can I go to Harbor Freight and pick a cheap one up or should I splurge a bit? Also I noticed that there is a metric and SAE flare kit. Which one would be suitable for the Brake Booster lines?

thanks in advance.

TheLaredo said:

Im going ahead and doing the 95-96 XJ brake booster mod, and was wondering what kind of flaring tool/ kit do I need to get? Can I go to Harbor Freight and pick a cheap one up or should I splurge a bit? Also I noticed that there is a metric and SAE flare kit. Which one would be suitable for the Brake Booster lines?

thanks in advance.

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Contrary to what people are about to say some CHEAP flaring tools work great. Just make sure you heavily tighten the clamps and poperly space for the flare. I bought mine for 14$ and it worked great.

Double flare is what you need.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00061SGG8

This is the one I purchased to do my dual diaphram booster swap/abs elimination.
Like I said the tightness was stressed to me so I cranked that clamp as tight as I could using the flare tool as leverage. All of my flares worked great.


I also recomend a "close quarters" line cutter it will make your life a bit easier.

Personally, I've always hated the bar & yoke style tools. Even tightening down the bar *AND* clamping it in a vice never got me a decent flare. I picked up a pliers style flare tool from JCWhitney probably 10 years ago, and I've been really happy with it.

Albandit pretty much said it all. i all ready had a double flare tool from NAPA, but i paid alot more. about $60 if i remember correctly. but i am betting the less expensive ones will work fine as long as you keep it clean and use it properly. and yes the close quarters line cutter is a huge time saver, not to mention a stress reliever when needing to make a cut at a short bend. i would highly advise getting one. if you dont all ready have a good reamer or something to clean the inside of the tubing after you cut it, get one. my flaring tool came with a nice one, but a good counter sink style bit will work too. it will make the flare come out a lot cleaner and nice, and will help keep the tubing from splitting at the flare.

Thanks guys. I will be ordering the tools next week and grab a close quarters line cutter this weekend.