Bendix 4 piston caliper brake line issue

Has anyone come across this before?:

I went to change a leaking caliper (driver side) with another caliper (I have 2 spares) - and everything worked out great until I attempted to thread the steel brake line into the replacement caliper. It threaded in with no problem, but what happened is the threaded ferrule on the brake line stopped short when the hex part of it (where you put the flare nut wrench to tighten it) bottomed out on the caliper prior to the threaded part pushing against the bubble flare thus not allowing the bubble flare to seat against the conical seat (and thus leak). I estimate I need another .060" long threaded section (or would need to remove material from the lower part of the hex by making the OD less than that of the threaded hole - which I really do not want to do).

I measured the depth of the brake line receiving threaded holes all three of my calipers and all are slightly different +/- .060 more or less difference between them.

I need to find a manufacture of the (stainless) brake lines that uses a longer threaded ferrule. I need the threads to be about .650 overall in length. Mine are about .550.

I suppose I can find a longer ferrule somewhere and cut the flared end and put a new bubble flare on after slipping the new ferrule on first of course. Not sure how to do a bubble flare. I have always done double flares on all my other cars. Perhaps someone can shed light on the bubble flare.

Has anyone else run into this? Thanks in advance.

Edited by ScrambledEgg - Nov/18/2015 at 8:37pm

You can try the local auto parts stores see if they might have it. On my bendix setup on my 68 javelin which I had to replace my calipers with new ones because the stock ones were shot I remember the ferrul didn't go in as much as in the new calipers but it did tighten up. Ferrul was seated deeper. I ended up replacing the line later on since the line was pretty old and the hex part on the ferrul was jast about stripped, didn't wanna risk another leak so got a new line with the new ferruls, from autozone, one side had the longer ferrul, Had to shorten it and just double flared the cut end with the long ferrul which had a good amount of threads and it seated alittle higher. As far as bubble flaring idk how to do that.

I did buy my SS lines from one of the major sellers out there (cant remember which one because that was about 7 years ago). This line (the one that connects the hose to the caliper) worked fine with the one caliper, but the ferule is too short by about .060" for this particular caliper. After tightening it down (and it bottoming out on the caliper to its hex shape at the top of the threads) the line is not seated against the cone at the bottom of the threaded hole). I can move the line with my hand at this point and it moves maybe .060" - not seated for sure causing it to leak. I do appreciate AMXFSTBK390 measuring the threads on his set (.520"). I may be able to get away with about .630" (mine are about .550"), but would like to get a ferule whose threads are around .650 for extra insurance.

These lines are unique/special because the end is not double flared like any other 'traditional' brake line of modern design. The cone in the caliper is acutally shaped like a funnel (like an ice crème cone with no ice crème in it). It needs to have the bubble flare or they will not work. You cannot put a double flare on these line as that is the opposite shape of what is needed in the bottom of the caliper hole.

If anyone else has a set (or one) of these caliper brake lines off their car, I would appreciate some feedback on the overall length of the threaded part of the ferrule

thanks

 I checked my OE Bendix 4 piston calipers and the threaded inlets average .560" deep to the start of the bubble flare seat. I just bought a pair of 3/16" stainless bubble flare brake line tube nuts from Inline Tube #STN23 and they are threaded .53". I have a 20' length of 3/16" stainless steel tubing for making my front to rear line and had it bubble flared on both ends so I can make the 2 short 90* front caliper brake lines, the bubble flares measue about .090". A .53" long bushing thread with a .090" bubble flare (.53 + .09 = .62") should work just fine in a .56 deep threaded caliper inlet. .65" seems a bit deep, if you only need a couple of more turns maybe you could counter bore the threaded holes a little, or this type of fittings could be turned and threaded more. 

Edited by fasttony - Dec/05/2015 at 5:53pm