Help! Can't get my front brake hoses to stop weeping brake fluid at the crush washers. I have tried just about everything to stop the leak. They weep just sitting there, no pedal pressure on them. 2 sets of hoses, many new banjo bolts, many copper crush washers, and I even tried "Stato Seals". Tried kinda tight, tight and very tight. Speedway disc brake kit using Chevelle metric calipers. Hoses professional made. Any ideas?
Maybe the new washers (China?) are made out of a harder copper alloy. You have an old one you can swap in to see?
Everything made in China so you need to make it work. Some crush washers are too hard, some bolts are too long, some hose ends ain't flat, some bolt heads aren't true. Add all that up and you'll see a leak.
Are they leaking at the hose to bolt side of the connection, or the hose to caliper side? or both? If the calipers are rebuilt, are the washer seats in good condition? McMaster Carr sells metal sealing washers in metric sizes, I would probably give them a try if it appears the washers are the wrong material.
Leaking between washer and caliper which are new, sealing grooves look good used the thickest, softestvwashersbi could find.
I had the same issue with the same set up. It tightened them to the point I thought I was going to break the banjo bolt. I also heated up the copper washer to maybe help make it soft. I concluded that the caliper was a rebuilt unit that was worn out at the mating surface of just a crappy new unit.
If your hose has a block on it where the banjo bolt goes through flip it over and try it, sometimes the block barely touches the caliper and it won't let the crush washer seat completely even though it may look like it.
Banjo bolt might be a hair long also. Dorman has the copper washers if your counter guy can find them.
An ideal mating surface for the copper washers should have tiny serrations that will bite into the copper where as if the surfaces are flat it takes a lot of tightness to get the washers to deform enough to seal..If you make alum washers out of 6061 and heat them up and quench in water they should get pretty soft..
As rice n beans garage said make sure it doesn't go on one way...just had that happen on a Chevy truck the hydraulic hose line came off the banjo block at a very slight angle keeping it from seating flush with the caliper, I just flipped it around and fixed it.. Even a cheap "China" copper washer should seal if it's sitting flush
You might look at some of the crush washers for motorcycle brake lines - some copper, some aluminum, some even have o-ring inserts.
Last time we had a similar problem, I heated the new copper washers up to red hot and then let them air cool. This softened them up and they worked on reassembly.
I had the same problem with a customers early Mustang. He tried everything. After much research I found that the copper washer is too thick and too hard and wont crush. Annealing the washers (heating them up red hot then quenching in cold water) did the trick. No more leaks. Bill
I have used a THIN coat of red loctite on each side of the sealing washers with success. Both on bikes and vehicles. D
Thanks for all of the suggested fix's. I will try annealing the washers first. If that fails, a call to Speedway to see if they will replace the junk calipers. The sealing surface rings machined on both calipers are very shallow and just barely make an impression on the washers.
Get the correct size copper washer, washer must fit inside the rings and not too loose around the bolt. Bottom line you have the wrong washer size! Oriely sells a kit with 4 different size of washers. 4 pairs
Well, you do have to admit, although not at all timely, it was on topic; not way off base like many "new guy" first posts.
My fix was getting speedway to replace the calipers with new ones. Problem solved. Sent from my VS500 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
