Mastercool 72485-PRC Universal Hydraulic Flaring Tool – 45° Double & Single Flares, Push Connect, GM Fuel Line, Brake Line & GM Transmission Cooling – Includes Hydraulic Ram & Mini Tube Cutter

Works amazing! Perfect double flare everytime.

I bought this in preparation for doing some brake work on several different vehicles where I would be making my own lines. Being able to make fuel line and transmission line connections is a bonus too.So far it has performed flawlessly on everything I have used it on. Inverted double flares come out perfect with no worries about leaks.Granted I have not used every fitting and adapter it has yet, but I did play around with some of the ones that I have not had a call to use just to verify it would indeed make the proper ends without any trouble.Being a mechanic since the late 1980s, I have seen all sorts of shade tree hatchet jobs on transmission, power steering, and even brake lines over the years. Most of the time it is because they did not have the proper tools for the job and/or did not know any better. Compression fittings are fine for non-critical, low pressure use but I would never trust such a fitting in a brake system that has to work in emergency circumstances with pressures over 1000psi. I have seen many of these develop leaks over time and have heard of them blowing apart. I have even seen a brake butcher job where someone tried to use just a single 45 degree flare to join the lines. Thankfully they could not get it seal off and brought it to me to fix it properly.Before this tool, I would just buy lines in predetermined lengths as close to what was needed as possible and bend them to shape and try to make sure any excess was safely out of the way somewhere or buy line with the correct bends already in place. Now, thanks to this tool, I am no longer confined to those two choices as I can make my own lines the exact length I need without worrying about the ends.I have seen numerous PS & transmission lines patched with rubber hose over the years that often leak later because people just slide the hose right up on the smooth metal line. Eventually the hose slides off because there is no flare for a clamp to hold against. This tool solves that problem too. Just use the fuel line fitting dies but do not crimp them all the way. About 3 to 6 pumps (depending on the line) after all the slack is out of the tool will leave a nice rounded bubble flare in the line that doesn't have any sharp edges so a hose can easily be pushed over it but have enough flare to keep the hose clamps from allowing the hose to slide off over time. It may take a bit of experimenting to get the proper size bubble in the line. I have included a picture of such a bubble & the fuel line flare that results if you go until the tool stops.The included tubing cutter is the small type intended for close quarters and works well enough. I would advise buying a dedicated tool for reaming/deburring your lines after you cut them.The case is also a decent case with an actual hinge & decent clasps to hold it closed. Not just a thin plastic strip hinge that always cracks after a few years leaving you with a box that no longer stays closed & loses components.If you regularly work on automobile hydraulic or fuel lines I would say buy this tool. The only thing that would make it better is if you could buy it with the 37 degree dies for AN fittings already included with these instead of having to buy them separate.

JB Tools is great doing business with. We buy tools on here or their regular tool store site.

Makes new ends so much easier and they come out perfect. Already well worth the money spent and tossed all my other fitting tools in the garbage. Nothing worse then having fresh lines leak because an end wasn't formed properly. This is night and day better than anything I had used prior. Plus still being able to use on a vehicle if need be.

I've fought the cheap double flare tools for years. Working on a vehicle where I'm replacing all the brake lines I figured I would spend the extra money for this tool based on previous reviews. This tool makes beautiful double flares as where with my old setup I would have wasted alot of time and most likely would have had to redo many of them. With this tool it's easy, fast and it produces flawless double flares. I wish I would have bought it alot sooner.

Will form Stainless Steel Tubing with conditions – some design flawsI got this tool mostly for forming fuel line metal tubing Quick Connect ends. With proper tubing preparation, this tool will easily make a perfect fuel line metal tubing Quick Connect end shape in soft malleable steel tubing or super soft super malleable Nickle Copper metal tubing. However, for Stainless Steel tubing you must do a lot of preparation. The so called “annealed” coils of Stainless Steel tubing are not really annealed and are too hard and too brittle to form shapes using this tool. Such Stainless Steel tubing will just slide out of the holding clamp dies because the sharp die teeth cannot bite into the hard surface. I am able to use this tool to form Stainless Steel tubing ONLY by truly annealing the Stainless Steel tubing. With the Stainless Steel Tubing out of the vehicle, open on both ends, and blown dry, I use a propane, or MAP, gas torch to heat a couple of inches of the end of the Stainless Steel tubing to cherry red hot for a couple of minutes, then I let the Stainless Steel tubing “soak” in the heat and slowly cool off in air. You must not use an Acetylene Oxygen torch because that flame is TOO HOT. Of course, this bench top annealing destroys the perfect corrosion resistance of the Stainless Steel Alloy. I use a fine grit Emory Cloth and polish the exterior of the Stainless Steel tubing. I use a very thin layer of lube on the inside of the forming die and I slowly move the die. The formed diameter of the circular ridge must be measured against a factory diameter. The backside of the circular ridge, furthest from the opening, needs to be a good sharp bend to securely hold the plastic clip. You must always test the holding power of the Quick Connect you make.There is a design flaw with making an inverted flare for a brake line. Making an inverted flare is a two step process. First you use a bubble forming die to shape a “bubble” flare in the end of the tubing. The bubble forming die perfectly centers itself being guided by a center protruding stud. Second, you use a cone shaped die to invert the bubble into a double wall thick flare. The design flaw is that it is very difficult to center the cone die exactly. The design flaw is that the cone die flops around in the hydraulic ram, so you have to really try hard to correctly position the cone die so that it lands in the center of the tubing. With the conventional screw down flare forming tool, you can easily center the cone die in the tubing and then twist the screw to force the perfectly centered positioned cone into the bubble. I took off one Star Rating point because of this design flaw.

Best flaring tool in my opinion. Once you have this, you will give your other flaring tools to someone you do not like. It gives a perfect double flare every time. No more wasted brake line due to a lousy flare from the other kind of flaring tools. This is a must for making your own lines.

So far this tool worked right out of the box and made a perfect bubble flare, something the last tool could not accomplish after several attempts. I will update as this tool is further used. For now my expectations are high for performance and durability and longevity. Sorry First Picture was a double flare. Last 2 pics show the bubble flare.