Earl's Brake Lines

[Guest]

I replaced all of the factory brake lines last year with Earl's D.I.Y. stainless lines from A&N Plumbing. Since then I've had intermittent "weeping" of fluid at the front caliper fittings. I've tightened the threads many times, but the fittings continue to weep fluid when the bike is at rest. When the brakes are applied there is absolutely no softness or fading of the handle, but after sitting for a couple of hours there very often appears a drop or two of fluid inside the collar that screws onto the fitting. (The leak is definitely not from the washers or the banjo bolts.)

This morning I took the worst fitting apart and carefully trimmed the Teflon tube with a razor, trimmed the stainless sheath with cutting pliers, and reassembled with a brand new "olive" or ferrule. An hour later, the fitting was again wet. I'm at a loss on this one. The A&N Plumbing video on how to assemble these fittings has disappeared from You Tube, but I'm pretty sure I've assembled them correctly. BTW, I also replaced the rear caliper line with Earl's and that on has been perfect. I'd appreciate any help from anyone who is familiar with these particular brake hoses.

[hikermikem]

Perhaps the banjo part of the fitting is scored or defective in some way, not allowing the olive to seal against it?

I would try a new fitting on that line & see if that did the trick.

[Nessism]

Yeah, pull it back apart and inspect the hose end carefully. Maybe some scoring somewhere.

When installing those lines it's important to have a clean cut. Use a xacto or similar to dress the inner liner and remove any strands of frayed teflon. When installing the ferrule, make sure there aren't any stainless strands getting between the ferrule and the teflon liner, also make sure you are pushing the ferrule on all the way. After pushing on the ferrule you should look on the inside diameter and make sure the liner is fully seated. Remove any fray teflon again before inserting the hose end and tightening everything up.

In my experience those Earl's parts are high quality, but mistakes do happen.

Good luck and report back on how everything works out.

[qisteve]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I found that the fluid was actually weeping downward from the upper fitting, not the one I was seeing drip. The fluid wicked through the stainless woven cover and puddled in the lower fitting. I could only verify this by taping some tissue to the stainless line and waiting for it to soak up the fluid. This might be a handy tip for others experiencing this issue. I think I may have finally fixed this by really tightening the upper fitting. We'll see soon.