Brake line connection frozen

[cefalu]

I would like to replace the flexible rubber brakes lines which connect directly into my front brake calipers. 1974 280C in question. The problem is the opposite end from the caliper.

This is the point where the steel line connects to the rubber line. I applied PB blaster and soaked for several days first. And I used the proper 11mm flare nut wrench which was tight fitting. It seemed as good as it gets. But the nut is frozen, and now rounded.

What the heck now?

My only thought is to cut the steel line and splice in a new section of hard brake line to replace the part I will have to cut off.

Any thoughts?

[vandor]

Answer: straight jawed vice-grips. It will grip even the rounded nut. You just have to grip close to the hinge.
You may want to use the blue wrench first (torch).

Csaba

[Nate]

Yes, dont be afraid to heat it up, you're replacing the rubber line anyways. Once you're good to go and get it apart, you may be left with a mangled end. Thats fine, you can either vice grip it back together, or replace it.

You can get the proper easy bend powder coated line from a parts store, with the proper ends and flares, and replaced said hard line.

There are standard and bubble flares, American and metric threads, and varying sizes of each. Bring what remains of your current line to ease in finding what you need.



~Nate

[meltedpanda]

its a pain but they will all be trashed, when I did my 72 I had to cut them , and then took the calipers off in order to get proper leverage to get them off
Finding the right lines is tricky business for the older gals . pay attentoion to threads , bubble, flair, euro flair ect . Took me months to sort out on mine.
Great fun tho...
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/sl-forum/311033-pearl-blows-brake-line-72-450sl.html read this all you wanted to know and more...it started simple for me but....

[Coastal220]

I recently had a similar problem on my front left hard line -- the nut was pretty rounded off when I got to it. Luckily it is the shortest of the bunch.

In any case, I ordered a new hardline direct from the dealer. It cost maybe three times as much as it should have ($30?) but it is the proper length and just needs to be bent which is pretty easy to do with a short piece like this. I should have taken the old line into Napa first to see if they had the right flare and threadsize, but I was feeling impatient and couldn't get a good answer from the guy over the phone.

The Napa near me has a selection of different lines in small increments leading up to 60".

[Tomguy]

I bet Napa did have it. Just picked up a line for my Jeep, their selection is impressive. About 5x the choices of Advance. But you can't go wrong buying the line you KNOW will work and is the perfect length. The Napa lines you always need to bend a little of the excess in such a way so that it fits but doesn't rub anything. On the bright side they're actually polymer-coated, so they're pretty darn rust-resistant; they'll outlast my Jeep I'm sure.

[cefalu]

OK, thanks. Since the nut is badly mangled , I will opt for a trip to NAPA and splice in a section. I have all the double flare tools so that seems the easiest route.

Maybe on the other side I will try the torch first, nothing to lose if I burn it up.