Rusty brake lines

[Qweaver]

Came out of the parts store, put my foot on the brake pedal and it went right to the floor.  Both the left and right brake lines were rusted enough to burst.  I replaced every line all the way to the caliper.  Not an easy job... I hate to work on brakes.  The line going to the rear looked OK.  I've never had this happen before. 
I guess it may be time to think about running a new one under her.  She is 14 years old.  I really like this Jeep.

[OneWithWood]

Be thankful you don't have a line going up over the gas tank.  Or, if you do, my condolences.

[bill m]

I just had the same thing happen to me about 4 weeks ago with my single axle log truck while coming down the mountain with a full load of log length firewood. Just as I started to drop over the last and steepest pitch in the road I down shifted a gear and stepped on the brakes. The pedal went to the floor. I kept the pedal to the floor, grabbed the emergency brake and managed to make it the last 1/2 mile to flat ground.

[SPIKER]

Yep the calcium and salt mixtures are eating brake lines up in about 5 years or less in Ohio it seems.    I'm on my 3rd set of brake lines on my truck in 12 years and heck I rarely drive it in snow lol...   On side note I made up my mind that all brake lines will need to be stainless steel from now on on all my cars when one starts leaking.


Mark

[Qweaver]

Yep the calcium and salt mixtures are eating brake lines up in about 5 years or less in Ohio it seems.    I'm on my 3rd set of brake lines on my truck in 12 years and heck I rarely drive it in snow lol...   On side note I made up my mind that all brake lines will need to be stainless steel from now on on all my cars when one starts leaking.


Mark

I did now even consider SS.  A really good idea.  But where would you buy it?

[SPIKER]

Qwever: the local auto parts has it in rolls, 25 feet or 50 feet at a time.   they also have the coated stuff that is supposed to not rust (which was what I used the last time.)

Mark

[Cornishman]

Qwever: the local auto parts has it in rolls, 25 feet or 50 feet at a time.   they also have the coated stuff that is supposed to not rust (which was what I used the last time.)

Mark

Do they do kunifer which looks like a light  copper colour, presumably a copper alloy of some kind. That is what I used to use, fairly good for bends and does not corrode. Tried pure copper at one stage and the flare fractured.

[chevytaHOE5674]

If you go with SS brake lines make sure you have a good bender and a good flaring tool. The average cheap flaring tool usually won't work on SS line.

[DR Buck]

Remember, brake lines are not regular flares.   You will need a double flaring tool.   Most autoparts stores cary them as well, but if you are going to use SS lines you might look for a higher quality tool kit.

[Don_Papenburg]

InlineTube.com  ,   586 532 1338      or  Classic Tube  ,  www.classictube.com,  800 882 3711       
both have SS and oem type tube

[SPIKER]

Ones I hate are the bubble flares, just about impossible to get right the first time lol...   ]

I have not heard of the copper alloy stuff, will have to look into it ;)  just yesterday picked up a 84,000 mile escort auto for the other half to drive.   It looks pretty good underneath for an Ohio car so suspect it sat most winters & it is a 98 so had to have done a LOT of setting.   Guy I got it from seemed pretty straight up, has had it two years & said he got it off his aunt who was a snow birder.   He had it for last 3 years & only put 20K on it so he also is not a big driver...


Mark

[Cornishman]

Kunifer is copper nickel alloy if that helps. Used in the UK for almost all replacement brake pipes. Better corrrosion resistance and fatigue strength than copper. Sounds like  UK use kunifer and USA use srainless. I have never used stainless for brake pipes but I would have thought that  kunifer is easier to flare and bend if you could get it.

[StimW]

Back in the mid 60's I was taking my 56 Chevy through the inspection station in Cincinnati. The inspector drove the cars through the lane.
I heard a weird noise (car being put into park while rolling). The inspector got out and said the car has NO BRAKES! There was a puddle of brake fluid on the ground from the line on the rear axle. He must have really stomped on the peddle.
They pushed the car outside to a parking area and put a LARGE "UN-ROADWORTHY" sticker on the windshield.
I had to come back with a Tow Bar to get it.
About 30 years ago I replaced the rear brake shoes and wheel cylinders on a 1961 Chevy 1 ton Scissor-Lift  truck for a guy that only wanted the bare minimum repaired. Brakes worked great!
A few days later I stopped by and the whole front end of the truck was torn up!! A worker driving it tried to stop for a traffic light and the peddle went to the floor!  He swerved into a used car lot and did about $30,000. damage!!
The owner said "what did you forget to do?" I raised the bed up and found someone at some time had put a union with ferrels in the rear line just behind the cab some time in the distant past. The pressure from the new parts caused it to pop apart.
I pointed out that he did tell me "Just put the shoes on, everything else is just fine".

[timberlinetree]

I think I've hit pro status with changing brake lines. I've changed so many. What's really fun is that their is so many different ones in the auto parts store. Marcia came to save us one day. We gave her the old line and sent her to the auto parts store. Yup she came back with the wrong one? (Counter guys falt) You got to love it!

[bartman]

A good flaring tool is important.  I got mine from matco.keep in mind they do sell adapters for the double and metric version. A 3/16 line will thread into the adapter and make life easy.

[Windy_Acres]

My first truck that was larger than a pickup, was 6500 series GMC, it had vacuum/hydraulic brakes (double diaphragm). I lost a brake line, coming into an intersection (red light for me, luckily I was the first vehicle to the intersection), I think I had about 14k on the back, I veered around a Cadillac passing through and started down shifting, applied the parking brake, and about 200' later, I had it at the curb. Full adrenaline rush, it was not a good experience, and could have been much much worse.

The next truck I bought had full air brakes, even though it was only a 32k GVW truck. Never bought another "straight truck" chassis without full air brakes, for the reason of hydraulic brake lines failing.

That said, and being a resident of the rust belt, I dont know in my lifetime how many brake line failures Ive experienced. My 2003 F150, which is my daily beater/car, has all new brake lines, that Im already expecting to fail.

The wifes 2008 Toyota has coated brake lines, I checked before the car was purchased, for I sold her 2005 Lesabre when the first brake line blew.

Im way beyond tired of failing brake lines.

From a liability standpoint, it blows my mind the OEs dont install either a coated brake line or SS or something other than bare steel for brake lines. Whats hysterical, Ive seen later model stuff with non-corrosive fuel lines, but to hell with the brakes. So they ensure you can go, but might not have any "whoa". Morons.

When I perform my own LOFs, I look over my brake lines to see if they are about to fail somewhere. On that note, I only have one vehicle, that I drive in the winter. Same goes for the trailers, everything is parked till spring and only after several significant rainfalls.

[sandhills]

I agree completely on the air brakes, but they fail too sometimes, you should have been riding with me yesterday, thank God no one was behind me, fun ride back down the hill with 934 bu of corn pulling me  :