...1st brake line ever

a month or so back my wife was driving at like 1am... brakes go byebye... she blew a red light (thankfuly no one on the road) manages to stop the van and get it home with the E brake (one of those stupid pedal type)... good thing it was her driving, I can't even get to the freaking thing without opening the door (long legs)...

anyway... she got it home, I took a peek and see dripping fluid from the passenger front brake line... not a big deal, i'll fix it when I have a chance... get a chance to pull the line out... not fun but not super bad but it is a AWD van, the ABS module sits under the driver, the line runs to the front of the engine bay cross member then over and back to the caliper... almost 9 feet of freaking hose...

today... over a month later I get a chance to get working on it... went down and picked up a 50" and 30" line, 2 inline joints and 1 upsize joint (fitting on the abs module uses the larger fittin) figured the best way I could do this would be to use 3 lines... do the 2 from either end and use a 3rd to meet in the middle... it was a pita getting the bends just right but in the end it worked out perfectly... bleed the brakes was a sitch between new vac bleeder and my 1 man bleeder bottle (used the vac bleeder as one for a bit also)... locked all the bleed screws down and pumped the brakes up to look for any leaks in my new line... got the flash light out even... all looked good... untill I was crawling out from under the van and notice a new puddle... about 2/3 of the way back on the van (under the gas tank)... yup... it was brake fluid... look up under (above)... so looks like i'll be replacing that line now... looks like I get to drop the tank to do it rollseyes grr and I thought I was all done... sure would be easier if I didn't have such a hecktik schedule these days.

guess i'll get everything back to gether up front, pull the van out and back her into the car port (dang short carport can't fit the entire thing on there doh lol)

should be fun... or something like that.

I'll be going through a similar job soon. One of my NYG Neons had a right rear hard line rust through, and the left rear is in similar rusty condition, so I figure to go ahead and replace both of them while I'm under there. The right one is pretty straightforward, but the left one requires dropping the gas tank. What a bitch!

I went through this a week ago, one led to two, led to three......etc... in the end I did all four out of necessity.

NB it is a 72 Ranchero

I am going to be doing all the lines in my BMW soon. 135,000 miles.. I consider it preventive maintance

You must be on the west coast Mad Machine. What is everyone doing up this late. I thought I was the only one supposed to be up and working at this time!

Yeah, punctuation ain't the best at 4:26 a.m.

similar situation many yrs ago w/ a mid 60's VW ... after replacing 2 of the hard lines we thought we had it bled correctly... and it worked fine for 2 - 3 days then the pedal went to the floor and eventually no amt of pumping would get any response .... figured one of the banjo fittings might have been leaking, did a visual didn't see anything, said to hell with it and went out and bought my first ever new car, 76 Civic, the best move I've ever made I've had 7 Honda's since then

Your better off just to cut your losses now and buy a double flare tool, 50ft of line, and a box of fittings. Do every hard line at once. Those large fittings on small lines can be reused if you don't berkeley them up taking'em out. just cut the line close to the fitting and push out the line. Slip fitting ove new line and flare. As for the leaky one over the tank if you can see both ends. Dont drop the tank just leave the old line there and feed in a new line (Put rubber vacuum cap over the line end and PUSH...

haha wayne... I used to be up to that time all the time... but with a "normal" job thats changed :( lol

Just a few months ago i replaced all the steel lines from the proportioning valve to the rear drums in my truck. One of the lines blew pulling into the dorms, and they all looked like junk (thankyou NH winters...) Never done one before, bought all the tools (cutter, flare tool, bender) and alot of line (figured id need some extra when i jacked something up). Spent the good part of a day out in the parking lot, under the hot florida sun. I was hot, dehydrated, burned, and miserable by the end of it, but pretty pleased with myself also. The next day i did axle seals (they were leaking and contaminated the rear shoes), bearings, and rear brakes/wheel cylinders (they were leaking a bit). All in the dorm parking lot. Dorm managment would have thrown a fit if they caught me out there!

Now the pinion shaft is leaking...but that'll wait till after deployment, and i might outsource that. Special tools?

spdracer315 wrote: Now the pinion shaft is leaking...but that'll wait till after deployment, and i might outsource that. Special tools?

Well yes and no..... The problem most don't think of about replacing pinion seals is bearing preload. Behind the yoke is a tappered bearing then a crush sleave then another bearing. If you remove the yoke you've lost the preload. Some people just run the old nut back on the same amount of turns but you can't be sure you've got the right preload. Some manuals cal for wrapping string around the yoke and pulling with a fish scale before you remove the yoke and afterward you tighten the nut untill you get 1 additional pound or the factory spec. Talk with a driveline shop near you before you do it. Oh you'll need some sealer for the yoke splines too.

i was told once that you could run the nut back down till it stops, and then tighten it another 1/4 turn or so and it'd be fine.

I just did the front lines in the wife's 94 mustang this afternoon. Years back I purchased the double flair tool and the line cutter. I always keep some steel line on hand. About an hour later and a couple glasses of Ice tea and all was fixed.

I did the rears about a year back.

Don't remove the tank for a brake line. Just relocate it up next to the body frame/uni-body stiffeners or sub-frame legs. Cut pieces of vacuum about an inch long and then slit them length wise and put them around the line at strategic locations where it rubs hits the frame to protect it.

Of all the fluids in a car I think I hate getting brake fluid on me the most.

I have never had a hard line fail. I have had some that would not reseal at fitting after Gunther over torqued them when he last reinstalled them. I have had flex lines crap out, usualy where the rubber goes into the fitting.

I am embarassed to say I still have the factory rubber flex lines on a daily driven 96 Ranger. 195,000 miles and 13 years is long enough. I change the fluid about every year, maybe that has somthing to do with it. I am replacing them with steel braided lines when I hit 200 k and do the first clutch it has ever had, as well as the first shocks. I have replaced all the belts and hoses (except brake) 3 times now.

midknight wrote: You must be on the west coast Mad Machine. What is everyone doing up this late. I thought I was the only one supposed to be up and working at this time!

nope.. I work till 4:30 am three nights a week. The Joys of being a video tech at a club

...so for creative routing... could I get away with zip ties to support the line?

just thinking...