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MG TD TF 1500 - Brakeline Clips

What is the proper way to install brakeline and fuel line clips? I've broken the first two at approximately $4 a piece. Yikes....thanks,

Bill

Bill Reid

Where are they breaking ???
The two prongs go in the hole, and the line rests in the "cradle"
Steve Wincze

One of the prong breaks....The prongs go in, flexing inward until just before the notches. Pushed further in, one prong breaks.
Bill Reid

Has your frame been powdercoater? The coating may have closed the holes up too much for the clips to install properly. Just a thought

Bill Chasser
TD-4834
W. A. Chasser

Yep.....powdercoated. Could be the problem.
Bill Reid

You're lucky Bill. Over here they cost $10 each! I broke three of the bloody things before I realised what the problem was. The two prongs that enter the hole should be slightly offset so that they slide past each other. This vital step has been missed during manufacture. As you've discovered they go just so far & then the air turns blue! You could try & gently bend the spring steel so that they don't foul each other. Easier said than done though. Once the prongs can be compressed without fouling & are able to pass each other you will then have no problem. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Yes, I found exactly the same issue after breaking a couple myself. I think they are unnecessarily brittle from the hardening process.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Quote;
"Dave Hill, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Yes, I found exactly the same issue after breaking a couple myself. I think they are unnecessarily brittle from the hardening process.
Dave H "
End Quote

I agree with Dave.

I have broken several and I was being very careful after I broke the first one.

I would suggest you try the following.

1) Send your wife to the hair dresser.
2) Heat the oven to 400 ºF (205 ºC)
3) Cook the snaps for 1 Hour.
4) Slow cool.

This will still leave the snaps very hard. You will not be able to file or drill them but they will not be like glass.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

They do get hardened after a all of these years. I would recommend leaving them in place whenever you refinish the chassis if possible. Most will break either in removal or replacement.

Since you powder coated the frame the wholes probably got smaller being filled with paint too. You can try to compress them first with pliers but I have had limited success with that.
Christopher Couper

I still maintain that if the prongs were offset, as the originals were & could slide past each other, then there is no problem. After breaking three I modified the others by gently bending to create the necessary offset & had no further issues. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Yes, I found that too, but I still think the new ones are more brittle than they should be.
Dave H
Dave Hill

It might help to file two very shallow slots in the frame to open up the passage of the prongs, but still allow them to hold.
Steve
Steve Wincze

Just encountered this problem but came up with a very simple solution.

The clips I got from Moss appear to be just as brittle as I tried to bend slightly the first one before I installed it and it broke before imediately.

How I got the to work though was as I was installing them, with a flat head screwdriver I pushed down on one side of the prong going into the hole so it would cleat the other prong. All went in without breaking.

Mind you impossible to remove without breaking.
D Lamb

This thread was discussed between 10/11/2016 and 14/11/2016

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