Ratcheting Flare Nut Wrench Are you Nuts?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- Today we will review and compare two flare nut wrenches. GearWrench ratcheting flex flare nut wrench provides unparalleled access to the most difficult-to-reach flare nuts, making it easier and quicker to complete jobs. But do they really, you be the Judge.
Used on brake lines, fuel pumps, and in plumbing applications, flare nuts are typically softer than regular nuts and can be easily damaged. The flare nut wrench head drives on multiple sides of the flare nut, allowing force to be applied without rounding or crushing the fastener. The flex head can be positioned through 180 degrees to access hard-to-reach fasteners and the open end flare nut head slips easily over lines. Exceeding ANSI requirements for strength and durability, these flare nut wrenches feature a bright chrome finish for high visibility and stamped size on both sides for quick identification.
i'd probably still buy a set of these with the understanding that they're merely runners and not breakers or tighteners.
I can think of many times i would need those special wrenches. It sucks driving in a power steering line nut that is ALWAYS in a tight space with a regular flare nut wrench 1/8 of a turn at a time. With these you run it it in fast n tighten with the other one.
Agreed
Absolutely, too many DIYers say I would never buy that because I don't need it but they don't really have any tools anyway. Once you've got 5 sets of wrenches and don't need any new tools desperately you look for something that would be nice to have.
@@forgedsteelwrench9249 I would never get them because with flare nuts the threads are fine pitch and easily crossed an 1/8 of a turn prevent damages. With a regular flare nut wrench you can feel everything.
These would have made my life easier removing the lines off a steering box
I could see the ratcheting ones being good for saving time after you brake the lines loose with a regular one, so you don't have so much wear on the ratcheting ones but I'd be willing to give them a try. Definitely not good for breaking stuff loose but in tight spaces it could save some time over a regular flare nut wrench
If you have a set of these ratcheting line wrenches, I would suggest braking the line nut free first then screw it off the rest of the way with the ratcheting line wrench.
@@georgecroney6168 in the rust belt they never come off with fingers. At least every car I've worked on.
The problem I see with the ratcheting flare nut wrenches is a lot of the time you are dealing with soft materials like brass, those would be rounded off in no time.
Although the head of the wrench is thinker and expands the with of the nut. It still stripped the nut. So now I have 2 corners damaged and 4 more to go. That's only 2 more trys .
Now I'm going to try the crows feet flare nut wrench. With impact drill
Have you tried the knipex raptor pliers?
I would definitely get a set because they could still come in handy in certain situations that might make life a lot easier. If it comes down to it you can use the standard to just break the nut loose and then use the ratcheting wrench to go the rest of the way which will at least save you from having to constantly reset the standard flare wrench over and over again 🤔
flare nuts usually are from low strength materials like aluminum or copper alloys, they are intended to grab this nuts as good as possible from all sides to even up the pressure on them... the tightening spec is not so important, but the best grabbing on them... I go on fixed ones...
I think you have the right conclusion! Thanks for the video 🤜🤛
I think it's more to break loose with a regular flare but wrench then take the rest of the way out with the ratcheting
I promise you; from a VERY bad encounter with a power steering line, the only brand that I trust when it comes to flare nut wrenches (and I had three brands at the garage that day) is Snap-On. Period
Of course, the Strap-On fanboys think that they are the only brand that works. No other brand has apparently ever been used to fix things..
I’ve been dying to see a review on these but haven’t had the curiosity to search it
A good flare nut wrench is designed to be in harmony with the nut no matter if it is stainless steel, brass or plain steal. The idea for loosening is the gripping power without damaging the nut.
When tightening you need that feel feedback from the wrench not to cross thead, not to damage the nut and to stop when you get to that desired toque point.
That line wrench looks nice from what you are showing
i think you have positioned the racheting jaw the wrong way ...just like a n adjustable wrench you have to use the solid jaw to make the turn so i believe that if you flip it around IT WILL TAKE THE TORQUE
That 7/16 ratcheting flare wrench would be an absolute dream for datacom technicians working on hard to reach utility lines taps. And you don’t need anything more than 20inch pounds of force anyway. Any tool that doesn’t require you to take it off and on or what you’re working on is a life saver cause you’re really going to get mad if you drop it.
They are made well and a number of people sell them but to be honest I really don’t use them much because of how much swing they need
Ever since Koon talked bad about them I been wanting to see them in action, thanks for the video. I actually found a german made ratcheting line wrench that opens up and does look like it will work in tight places. I think they're meant for aircraft work.
Yota Doug's Tool Collecting Channel these are not the same design as the ones reviewed by koon
I use mine... same set..sae & metric...I like em...👍
Amazon had them for a good deal...obviously not the first wrenches you go for but really nice to have in the arsenal for the price
4:58... wait until you need to take off or put on your exhaust manifold that is heat wrapped and it's the only thing that will fit on the stud and nut to get your turbocharger off or on...lol
Honestly if anyone is using the flex head flare nut wrenches and torquing down on a fastener you're using them wrong...that's not their intent....
Good stuff Chris...👍
Nobel prize goes to the person Who can invent a solid ratcheting flare wrench... 🤣
www.amazon.com/Stanley-Proto-J3800A-Ratcheting-7-Piece/dp/B000PS1XDU/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=ratcheting+flare+wrench&qid=1578616157&sr=8-8
@@deltahawk1001 have you used them?
David Anderson they aren’t flex tho..
@@meagaindave2049 I use a specific size of one regularly. I don't have a full set.
@@AutobahnDan you didn't specify that...
I used to have the gearwrench flare nut wrenches and sold them to get Carlyle. I am much happier with the Carlyle.
Honestly I could see the use of these came with a ratcheting flare end on one side and a standard flare end wrench on the other side. You could easily break a fastener loose with the standard end and then use the ratcheting end to speed the fastener out. Likewise, you can quickly screw the fastener in and then torque it down with the standard end.
One question where should I get these type of wrenches standard and ratch wrench, best brand do they sell sets? Thanks
I have some standard flare nut wrenches by Carlyle and duralast that have never let me down
Thank you for taking time and doing these tests!!
Man I'm glad I found this thanks for posting this I was just about to pull the trigger on a set of these
Sometimes there is no real substitute for a tool that has been successful for decades on end. Thank you! 👍
just use them to run the nuts on and off . Once you meet the wall tighten with a normal flare, then obviously for your initial breaking loose. Good to know that they do have some problems
Seems like it’s the flex function that causes the ratcheting wrench to slip off. One can see the joint flexing right before the wrench slips off. Always hated that feature.
The best Flare nut wrench is a set of Snap On. I have destroyed so many flare nuts and that is such a headache.
The problem with the Snap.On is the cost but it is worth it 100% when you don't have to worry about the flare nut or the wrench.
The big problem is not tightening but rather loosening the flare nut.
Useful video! Changed my opinion on these things.
im so glad i seen this video i was about to buy these
It was mint to you said flex head.
Thee be nice if they could lock close
On aircraft, fittings are rarely accessible enough for normal flare wrenches, anything bulkier will not work. Being able to get on and off of a nut may be handy though, most lines are hoses which are fatter than the nuts. For that purpose these may be worth a try. High torque is not usually possible without damaging everything involved. Edit: they would need to be reasonably priced enough to attempt to use them in case they don't work out.
They work pretty well, they're better if you're able to break it loose first, the flex head is huge. You can break fittings loose and get them really tight if you make sure they hook the corner befor applying full force, they take a little practice to get the hang of, if you ratchet it like a ratcheting wrench or a ratchet, it doesn't work too well
Glad I saw this video before I made a purchase. They could have a place though as others mentioned.
I also always to final tightening or break away torque with a fixed end flare wrench
I got the snap on flare nut wrenches but for ones super rusty I use the OTC locking plier for flare nuts
Hello again Chris
Thank you for the Great Video. I don't think I 'll be purchasing Ratcheting Flare Wrenches. I like the idea, but I 'm not sold on it yet. I saw Tribus version. And I am still not sure
For now I 'll stick with the standard flare nut wrenches. Again thank you
I wouldn’t mind a flex head standard flare but wrench. But the ratcheting mechanism is gimmicky to me. A lot flare nuts are soft brass. I could see the wrench causing slight damage to the fastener During the ratcheting action. Which you want to avoid and defeats the purpose of using a flare nut wrench in the first place
Probably would use these tools side by side. Fixed wrenches break loose ratcheting take off. Ratcheting get fastener started then fixed tighten down. I think if anybody buys these they would be interested in how well they ratchet. Maybe show these ratchet a couple turns. I mean if your not going to turn anything more than 90 degrees with a ratcheting wrench then what was the point. Of course fixed is stronger than ratcheting. This is like comparing a ratchet to a breaker bar. If it can be used to make a job quicker and easier then it could be worth it like a battery powered ratchet that doesn't torque up to as much as hand ratchet but it's a heck of lot nicer to zip out trans pan bolts with one.
I was wondering how those Husky ratcheting open end wrenches would hold up. Probably not even as good as the GearWrench. Nice video Chris.
Hard to say, some of their stuff holds up very well.
I had them... they're not very good. The ratcheting end is spline. And the
"ratcheting" open end isn't that great...
ok... but not very good.... sometimes they work but not very well.. my opinion....
There hasn't been an open end ratchet that works great. line wrenches really need to grab tight cause a lot of the time rounding a fastener means replacing a line.
The gimmic is cool but if it just had a regular head on it but I like that it can bend to fit into places.
It’s a great idea, just needs to be improved
Don't miss that pic in the beginning one bit. Any tool box sold in the northeast or anyplace where rust is an issue should have come standard with a printout map of those under bed chassis rail mounted ABS distribution block. The damn thing was implemented for profit. They looked where the money in service was rusted brake lines and decided to double them up by running them back and forth
Great vid thank u
These have been out a while, I've use the hell outta mine , they have moment that they work and times they don't but they beat Tribus for the price
Search WTF wrench on Amazon. Same idea.
Definitely not trying those thanks brotha great video
Brake lines take only up to 15 lbs., so I'd use it for intermediate threading, not opening or closing.
2 workers from gearwrench thumbed this video down
Is that why Gearwrench basically abandon the production of those So called speed wrench?
Hey, I sold you those ratcheting wrenches!
Well thanks, I think🤫
WTF! Hahaha
Nissan has a ton of abs actuator recalls lately and I think I might pick up a set to make the jobs faster. Break em loose with a regular flare nut wrench, and than use the ratcheting one the rest of the way. And tighten the lines down with a regular one. I think anyone using them to break nuts loose or torque nuts down with them, is using them completely wrong.
Good to use once the line is broken. Not the go to wrench when starting to try and move the line
Tell me which car will those long things work in? Just name me one car.and which line?
@@rickyperkins232 your not wrong
All flare nut wrenches feels soft, I bought a set of ratcheting wrenches just to speed up the process of removing it not crank loosing it
I been looking into picking up the ratcheting flexhead flarenut wrenches from gearwrench
I bought a set of them from advanced and sold them a week later just like in this video they just were more of a gummi k than a good wrench
Them gearwrench ratcheting flexhead flare nut wrenches are nice but if they dont perform there not worth it
I have a problem with the regular flare nut. There's play in my 14mm . That lil bit of play allows it to strip nut.
thanks advance has them on sale was about to buy but not now
I probably will seem like a monster here but I never knew there was flare nut wrenches. I work on my own rigs and have always used vice grips to break flares loose and the pliers to run them off.
That can cause problems is its stuck though, because they're made of such soft metals.
@@FahimibnDawud I have since learned about that from researching flare nut wrenches. I am saving up for a decent set now but have bought individual carlyle for my rigs.
The first test for flare nut wrench is HOW TIGHT the fit to the flare nut .
Tight fitting flare nut wrench has better chance of loosening the nut and not rounding the nut.
These wrenches are for just running the flare nut on or off, never really to tighten or loosen since it has such small torque ratings
Such a disappointment. Sorry Chris, but thanks for giving a heads up demonstration and God bless!😁👍
The easy red style ones are better design they go on every side of nu and ratchet as well
This is better than a speed wrench as this wrench has a real large head limiting access in tighter area.
Great Test , Won't be Buying those Wrenches, Thanks for the Video, and TEST !!!
3:42 did you bust it?
I have a set of the gearwrench flare wrench ratcheting pieces of garbage. I have found them to be the most useless piece of garbage branches I've ever boughten. How about ready to throw them in the trash pile you can't even get them to grip even if you hold onto it with your hand. I've referring to the castle night and the actual ratcheting mechanism in order to try to get it to latch on but the springs are always overpowered by any kind of force you put behind it leaving you with air fastener that cannot be loosened unless you have a different type of pliers. I have found that Knipex pliers get the job done far better than anything that came from gearwrench!
Thank for the video 👍👍👍👍👍 there a wast of time and money and way to long to get in to most spots.
You gotta be kidding me. The manufacturer's exaggerated their specs!!!
I don't believe it. I just don't believe it
Bummer on the performance, its like a one use tool.
What is wrong with using just the crow feet?
I use flare nut crows feet and have never had an issue.
Gear wrench tools aren’t as good as they used to be, at least in my opinion and warranty is a pain too.
they could work for just loosening and tightening, not torquing. It is a no-brainer when you see the design that it cant take any amount of torque.
As I've mentioned in a previous comments gearwrench sucks with line wrenchs. I spent nearly $90 on a set of three and completely diisappointed
What do you think about those universal snap wrench
The type of flex wrench that has a all around the flange works great. I have never had them slip. Forget the name of the flex wrench. Sorry
What, you went in a "different direction" but you turned around the wrench?
1. You CANNOT test the Ratcheting Flare Wrench going the other way.....it's still going the same way! 2.These would only be helpful, after breaking the nut loose with a Proper Flare Wrench, and using the ratchet to speed up a loosened nut.
For some reason the way he talks reminds me of the AVGN guy (in a good way)
Flare nuts are the BANE of mechanics. They are misery incarnate. The need for a ratcheting line wrench is dire. I bought this Gearwrench ratcheting line wrench with high--and naïve--expectations. It SLIPS under typical flare nut load, and will neither break nor tighten. Upon discovery of this video, I now know at what torque it fails.. 20ft/lbs..!? Can you believe that?? I returned my set... angrily. Back to crow-foot... grumble.
It might be helpful to mike the regular flare nut wrench jaws at spec'ed torque and for every 5 or so ft/lbs over until failure. I don't think you could accurately measure jaw spread on the rats though, too many variables.
Is that test supposed to be done on a brand new perfect fastener?
It seems to me that every time you "flip" the wrench, you also flip the way you pull/push. So your not switching anything. I would pull on it the same way you loosen using a crescent wrench: adjustable jaw should not be applying max torque. Bad testing methods here. However I do agree with the rest of the comments that these are probably for running down fittings only.
Can you do test on 12 vs 6 points wrench please? Im curious about the myth that 12pts will round the bolt head.
I'll stick with my S&K wrenches. Gear Wrench seems to soft, and the ratcheting ones have too much give for brass.
I've heard bad things about them being sloppy.. you've never had that issue? I wonder because I wanted to buy some at one time.
It’s hard to to really see if the the ratching flare nut wrenches Technology are any good unless you can do a demonstration with a real brand like snap on or Mac tools or s-k tools Cornwell or Matco tools or any real American made tool company and not cheap imported garbage from China soft metal pot metal or whatever you want to call it and then we can really find out if the Technology is a gimmick or not
Gear wrench makes good tools this is just not one of them
How much
Defenitly looks like a 1 use tool
Lol. NO!! You test to UL’ Standard,,, 3 times the maximum limit.
I'd like to see you include a standard end wrench in the torque tests. This would demonstrate if there is any advantage of a flare wrench design over a regular end wrench. I know that the flare wrenches LOOK like they should work better, but I wonder if they actually do. Flare wrenches seem to have a problem of spreading open at higher torques, which standard wrenches don't seem to do.
Tom G that would be a pointless test, the only reason you use one of these is if you need to fit it over a hydraulic hose.
I have used many flare nut wrenches and I think the very best set out there is Snap On. The only drawback on these wrenches is the crazy price but if you ever broke a flare nut you quickly realize the even bigger headache of the fix.
@@rickyperkins232 Also the Snap On wrench that has flare on one end,open end but unusually thick on the other,that would beat the gimmick "ratchet" wrench at quickly running the flare nut after it has been broken loose with the flare end.
@@davidpowell3347 agreed
Try out the carlyle set their way better design PN : LWFL4
Time to get a refund on the Ratcheting Flare Nut Wrench .
Wow at how bad there performing
Probably be more accurate if the wrench was all the way on the nut buddy
Only place it belongs is in the trash way to gimmicky
Almost as bad as @tribustools version lol
All ratcheting flare wrenches are junk including tribus tools 350$ set.
Looks like garbo
xucks
Thanks, not gonna buy those. Heard the same on other reviews.