How to Bend Steel Brake Lines

Brakes are vital to the safety of your vehicle. A brake system uses hydraulic pressure supplied through the brake lines to cause the brake pads to stop the vehicle's wheels from spinning. Hard brake lines are the main method of transferring pressure from your master cylinder to your brakes. When installing steel brake lines, you will encounter obstructions. To route around obstructions, you will need to bend the steel brake lines. Bending thin-walled steel brake lines requires a tool that places a bend without kinking the line. Kinking a steel brake line restricts the flow of fluid through the line.

Instructions

1

Measure the distance from the end of an installed brake line to the nearest obstruction with a tape measure.

2

Hook the end of the tape measure on one end of the steel brake line. Place a mark at the length required for the bend with a permanent marker.

3

Open the articulated bender to align the zero marks of the top and bottom jaws of the articulated tubing bender. Slide the marked length of steel brake tubing in the articulated tubing bender.

4

Squeeze the handles of the articulated bender until the zero mark on the top jaw of the articulated bender aligns with the degree mark required for your bend. For example, stop bending when the zero mark aligns with the 90 degree mark if you require a 90-degree bend.

5

Push the handles of the articulated tubing bender to align the zero marks of the top and bottom jaws. Slide the bent steel brake line tubing from the tubing bender.