Chasing old brake lines is like plumbing!

Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Messages
17,180
Location
Central NY
On a trail ride a few weeks ago, was creeping through a field in 4LO. I've got some real low gears, so it'll creep. I knew there was a giant drainage ditch coming up and was trying to avoid it. I failed. Dropped in it HARD.

Didn't even hit the brakes but the light turned on. I thought a stick or log managed to rip one of the soft lines off. It was the end of the day on the last trail so no biggie. All it had to do was make it back to the trailer.

Turns out the hard line to the rear blew out. Not surprised. I've been watching that one deteriorate for a fe years now. I had someone do it back in 2011 according to my records. I had a roll of nickel copper (non ferrous) on the trailer along with tube nuts and a flare kit but no reason to change it there.

Get the new rear hardline strung with ni-cop. Flared. Did a half---- bleed on it and surprisingly got a pedal right away. Figured I'd give it a nice press to make sure I had the flares good and the pedal goes right to the floor. Blew the right front hard line. That one apparently was an original.

At that point it just made sense to do both fronts. So I did both fronts. Got them flared, connected and filled up the MC ... leaked out of the 3 fittings. From there I tightened them a bit more and all but one were good. I drove that one on home before realizing it was crossthreaded. Great. Started seeing if I could buy one and all I was finding was a $350 dealer part with no aftermarket avilable. The tube nut assortment I had included a slightly bigger metric fitting for the 3/16 line ... it's now Metric!

Fill it back up again. Somehow got a pedal without having to bleed anything. I start up the jeep, give it a good push on the brake pedal and it holds for about 10 seconds ... then right to the floor.

Right front rubber line blows out. It's not even that old - only 8 years according to my records. Ordered a set of obnoxiously long braided ones. Got those in, had to fight with the bleeders on the calipers but did get a pedal and I stood on the brake pedal quite a while with it running and didn't blow a line. Finally.

So now, with the exception of the braided line that goes from the "frame" to the rear axle, all brake lines / hoses have been replaced within the last 3 years. Enough with the blown brake lines!
 
I enjoy plumbing and brake lines are fun too. I've done exactly what you describe a few times on daily drvrs and then I started just replacing everything. On the '94 Ranger, I re-used the same hose going over the pumpkin.
 
I enjoy plumbing and brake lines are fun too. I've done exactly what you describe a few times on daily drvrs and then I started just replacing everything. On the '94 Ranger, I re-used the same hose going over the pumpkin.
The plumbing is one thing I actually felt accomplished with on my old house. Started tearing into it and just ended up doing it all.

With the Cherokee I had actually planned on changing all of the hard lines this winter anyway.
 
Been there, done that. The cheapie line nut kits add frustration. I reuse my old ones more often than not-- just wirebrush the threads and have at it. Even if an old piece of line snaps off inside I can punch or drill it out.

Just be sure not to get any 3/8-24 nuts into m10x1.0 fittings, they'll thread in but blow out under pressure.
 
Been there, done that. The cheapie line nut kits add frustration. I reuse my old ones more often than not-- just wirebrush the threads and have at it. Even if an old piece of line snaps off inside I can punch or drill it out.

Just be sure not to get any 3/8-24 nuts into m10x1.0 fittings, they'll thread in but blow out under pressure.
What about the other way around? 😁
There's now an M10 in what was a 3/8
 
If one hose blew, why not replace all the rubber lines right then? They’re all the same age.

If a hard line blows, I would check every inch.

It’s not like plumbing - it’s visible. Accessible. Take advantage of that.
 
If one hose blew, why not replace all the rubber lines right then? They’re all the same age.

If a hard line blows, I would check every inch.

It’s not like plumbing - it’s visible. Accessible. Take advantage of that.
My plan was over the winter to do all of them anwyay.
I work a lot and have too much going on to really do more than the bare minimum at the moment.
 
Back
Top Bottom