What am I doing wrong? I have a terrible success rate with these things, where the hard line flare nut screws into the flex hose:
About 85% of the time, the flare nut twists the hard line as it unscrews, resulting in a damaged or snapped hard line. With coated lines, it's not obvious that the twisting is happening until it's too late. All fittings are pre-soaked with PBlaster and it's not like there are extreme forces or rust involved.
Please... tell me the secret before I strike again!
I assume you're cleaning all the crud around the fittings before getting out the PB Blaster? I usually try to let the penetrating oil soak in over night or longer when possible, just to make sure that the male fitting is as free to turn as possible.
Tighten first, gently after soaking just enough to crack it free.
A little heat never hurt either.
Tighten first, then loosen an 1/8 turn then tighten. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Penetrating oil. Very small tip on your torch, heat the nut, not the line. Be ready for the hose to blow off.
Or,if you can cut the hose off, remove the clip and spin the hose off the line nut, then you can heat the nut and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.
If you pay attention, you can tell whether you are twisting the line or not.
One of those little butane micro torches works a treat on this.
If you have clearance, put a hammer against one side of the flare nut, then smack the other side with another hammer. That can help break the rust bond.
Mark a straight line on the tube with a paint pen before starting in with the wrench.
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