Recommend a tubing bender please

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MrJLR

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I'm looking to buy a good quality 3/16 and 5/16 automotive tubing bender.
I want to know what you guys use and/or recommend.

Good tools make a job go smoother....crappy tools, not so much!

Thanks in advance!

Jeff
 
I'm looking to buy a good quality 3/16 and 5/16 automotive tubing bender.
I want to know what you guys use and/or recommend.

Good tools make a job go smoother....crappy tools, not so much!

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

Depends on what your bending (Nicop, Stainless, etc.) I have a bunch but honestly they are nothing more than something from Home Depot or maybe a Lisle tools. What I learned about bending tubing is good measuring, patience, and buying it in a roll which means you need a way to straiten it out. You can probably get away with murder on this tool however flaring is a different story. The one I got from Eastwood with the dies is a bad mother.....

JW
 
Depends on what your bending (Nicop, Stainless, etc.) I have a bunch but honestly they are nothing more than something from Home Depot or maybe a Lisle tools. What I learned about bending tubing is good measuring, patience, and buying it in a roll which means you need a way to straiten it out. You can probably get away with murder on this tool however flaring is a different story. The one I got from Eastwood with the dies is a bad mother.....

JW
I ordered the Eastwood flaring tool after reading and watching several reviews. ....nice tool.
I would have ordered their bending tool too but it's out of stock until freakin December!

I'll be making all new custom brake and transmission lines.

Jeff
 
These cheap brake line pliers are the best tool I've ever used for bending up brake lines:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011W8K9S6/?tag=fabo03-20

They enable you to make very tight radii. Also, you can flare an end (w/ fitting) and bend it afterwards to get the lines tight to the fitting. I recently used them to bend up all new lines for my 66 Dart. Here are some example of the bends:

upload_2021-6-19_17-27-28.png


upload_2021-6-19_17-28-0.png


upload_2021-6-19_17-27-37.png
 
These cheap brake line pliers are the best tool I've ever used for bending up brake lines:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011W8K9S6/?tag=fabo03-20

They enable you to make very tight radii. Also, you can flare an end (w/ fitting) and bend it afterwards to get the lines tight to the fitting. I recently used them to bend up all new lines for my 66 Dart. Here are some example of the bends:

View attachment 1715753592

View attachment 1715753594

View attachment 1715753593
Wow....that's nice work!
So just lots and lots of little bends, nibbling away at it?

Jeff
 
Not sure those brakeline plyers will work on 5/16" or 3/8"

I just bent up 3/8" trans cooler lines for an O/D trans. I had a cheapie bender that had index marks on the side so you can see the number of degrees your bending the line. I kept collapsing the steel line in the outer radius of a 90° bend with it. I ended up capping the one end with aluminum tape, filling the tube and packing it tight with sandblast sand, capping the other end, and then bending the tube. After which I shook and blew the sand out. Worked fine. Old skool way of mandrel bending.

20210529_172326.jpg


20210529_165352.jpg
 
Not sure those brakeline plyers will work on 5/16" or 3/8"

I just bent up 3/8" trans cooler lines for an O/D trans. I had a cheapie bender that had index marks on the side so you can see the number of degrees your bending the line. I kept collapsing the steel line in the outer radius of a 90° bend with it. I ended up capping the one end with aluminum tape, filling the tube and packing it tight with sandblast sand, capping the other end, and then bending the tube. After which I shook and blew the sand out. Worked fine. Old skool way of mandrel bending.

View attachment 1715753611

View attachment 1715753612
Damn good tip about filling the tube...thanks!

Jeff
 
Out to eatwith the family now but get a tool that pulls the line around the form. I sold a Robinair unit the worked so well.
 
I'm looking to buy a good quality 3/16 and 5/16 automotive tubing bender.
I want to know what you guys use and/or recommend.

Good tools make a job go smoother....crappy tools, not so much!

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

I’ve had a ton of luck with this inexpensive bender from OEM. I did every brake line, fuel line, and trans cooler line on a ‘59 Chevy truck and fell in love. Prior to this I bent every thing by hand b/c never found a bender I liked.
16D4C0AB-D83C-4C9F-AD0F-1E9D41D66C9E.png
 
I’ve had a ton of luck with this inexpensive bender from OEM. I did every brake line, fuel line, and trans cooler line on a ‘59 Chevy truck and fell in love. Prior to this I bent every thing by hand b/c never found a bender I liked. View attachment 1715753635
This is the one I have, and I still filled them 3/8" lines with sand prior to bending. I would imagine that on 1/4" or 5/16" it would work well as is.
 
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