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Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 16:22
by soulfly71
hiya again, recently I had a brake pipe failure whilst driving the other day which wasn't eventful thankfully, the pipe in Question was on the n/s rear, burst at the flexi Union, ordered new flexi's for both sides as well as pipes from the flexi to the T-piece and a new T-piece, these are too krusted up at both the flexi end and the t-piece ends to remove hence the new ones ordered, now, the question I'd like to ask is, I've got pipe flaring tools etc and want to make my own pipes bc it's cheaper for me but the only male Union nuts I can find on eBay are 10mm but suitable for 3/16 pipe, not 11mm, can't find them anywhere, would a 10mm Union male still button up to the flexi and calipers which have 11mm unions fitted, I'm wondering if the threads are the same diameter etc??!!
Any links or advice would be very welcome as we'd like to make Volksfling in less than 2 weeks.
Thanks in advance.

Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 16:28
by lloydy
the brake unions on our vans are 10mm. Or am i misunderstanding your question
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 17:21
by soulfly71
I tried 10mm on the crusted unions, wouldn't fit, 11mm fits, when my local garage made me the small 4/5" pipes on the calipers he asked if it was standard 11mm Union nuts, which is what's on my van? Just double checked and i do have 11mm Union nuts on the Caliper copper pipe from the flexi and same on the back??
Maybe a 10mm Union which is also suitable for a 3/16 pipe might fit the female flexi's, could the threads be the same size but with a 10mm head?!
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 17:28
by bigherb
Are you confusing the spanner size 11mm with the thread size which is M10x1mm
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 17:34
by marlinowner
Looks like it, a quick perusal of brickwerks confirms M10x1 thread, 11mm spanner, 3/16 pipe.
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 18:01
by soulfly71
Just went back to the Tpiece at the back of the van, like you say they've all got M10x1 =11mm nuts, except the one exiting left from the Tpiece has a 10mm head? Bit weird, ordered new M10's, see how we get on this week when they arrive, will update this post with my findings,

Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 18:20
by bigherb
soulfly71 wrote:except the one exiting left from the Tpiece has a 10mm head? Bit weird
They do make ones with 10mm head for restricted access situations.
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 19:00
by Smcknighty
10mm ones are a communist plot
Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 12 May 2015, 20:17
by CovKid
9mm would be for sure.

Re: Brake pipe making and fitting
Posted: 21 May 2015, 07:21
by Simon Baxter
Vauxhall used to use 9mm heads.
I still have the now redundant snap on brake pipe spanner.....