habahnow

Hello, I'm trying to get all the tools I need in order to bleed the brakes by myself. I like the idea of using tubing to prevent leaking,
but I am unable to get a confirmation on the inner diameter of the tubing I should buy.

Does anybody know?

I have already gotten the 10mm wrench (to loosen the bolt securing the wheel cylinder and
to remove the brake line that connects to the wheel cylinder and a new wheel cylinder ).


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drizzoh

I've learned over the years that it's best to have a flare nut wrench as brake bleed bolts like to round off and that provides the best chance of not damaging anything.

For a hosing size, 3/16" - 1/4" works well. I believe 3/16" is what I have. Cars with bigger brakes sometimes have larger bleed nipples but it can usually fit over with a little muscle - never had any issues.

habahnow

Yes i should have clarified that i have a flare nut wrench and not a regular one. I figured since i have to buy a new one anyways, i might as well buy the best one.
Thanks for the clarification! I'll go ahead and purchase that size range then!

habahnow

Wait to clarify, you mean a hose with an inside diameter from 3/16" to 1/4" right? or do you mean an inner diameter of 3/16" with an out diameter of 1/4" ? Thanks in advance.

drizzoh

Tbh either should be fine, 3/16-1/4" ID on a flexible hose will work great.

Something like this:

MileHightC

You can get clear vinyl tubing in the 'fish' section of about any pet store...

2stroked

I would not recommend a flare nut wrench on anything except a flared brake line fitting. Why? Because by design, a flare nut wrench is open on one flat. This causes two problems. First, you're only using five out of the six flats to apply torque. Second, since the wrench is open, theoretically, if you torque it hard enough, it will open up. Both of these issues will allow you to round off a fastener easier than a conventional 6 point wrench. Just my professional opinion.

drizzoh

You know this has to fit around a hose right? They're the best option for something that has to fit over an obstacle. I agree that more contact is always better, but a flare nut wrench is significantly better in this application vs a normal box wrench, which is what I was getting at.

MileHightC

How does it have to fit around a hose? You're bleeding at the nipple, which means I could put my box end wrench on the 'nut' portion of the nipple and then I put my [insert hose of choice here] over the nipple. You're not putting a brake fitting into a union where it is attached to a line and once fitted would need the flare wrench in order to get it off.

There's always these, which is what I use on my bikes...

drizzoh

You guys just like picking fights on this forum huh? I suppose you could use a normal close-ended wrench to initially break the bleed nipple loose then snug back up the bolt, remove the wrench, connect the hose, then use an open ended or any other wrench to do the bleeding process.. I've just never been in a situation where I could only get away with using a closed ended wrench without having to remove and readjust it - they typically don't fit over the hose which makes things difficult and I generally can't get enough looseness on the bolt to have it bleed in one shot without repositioning. I've stripped bleed nipples with just an open ended wrench but never with a flare nut wrench. This method works for me with great success. You guys can do whatever makes you happy though.

2stroked

That's exactly what I do. I've only been doing brakes for over 40 years though, so I might be wrong.

RichBinAZ

I use a ring spanner, but then I'm a brit, so a hood is a bonnet to me

habahnow

So i ended up using a regular wrench's box end to loosen the bleed nipple. I used it in the way mileHigh indicated, place it first then the hose after. There was also enough room with that hose for me to left up the wrench and reposition it if i needed to tighten or loosen it more.
I got a hose with a 1/4 outer diameter. I'm uncertain of the inner diameter but it was very tight on the nipple which was nice since no air could get in easily.
I ended up make a solo bleed kit llike in the following video by chrisFix
Also, i found out that the brake self adjuster sold by oreilly's seems to be the incorrect side. I broke the rear passenger adjuster and was given the self adjuster for the driver side (didn't match the one i took off) but the adjuster arm seems to be the correct side. I didn't see any way for the adjuster given to me, to correctly expand the brake shoes.
Thanks for the help everyone!

MileHightC

Nicely played, my friend. Super-easy to do it that way and, as you found out, the hose is usually small enough that you can move and re-position the wrench if you need to. Hope you get the self-adjuster issue figured out.

If you have problems, throw some pictures up as I'm sure you'll find a few folks on here who can help point you in the right direction.

RichBinAZ

The drum brakes are easy to assemble incorrectly. Have a cruise thru this video, there are some pointers near the middle that may help you re-assemble it so they adjust instead of "unadjust"