Brake Line Leak

[mgmgmg]

Winter beater sprong a leak above rear driver-side axle. Thinking of doing compressing fitting fix? Any idea?

Thank

 

[Mbrooks420]

Is it in the line that crosses over to the passenger side, or is it before that connection? If so just replace that line entirely. Most don’t like the idea of compression fittings on brake lines.

 

[Kesp4.0]

I believe there are prebent lines that you can purchase specifically for that section. The cheapest way would be to buy some PVF poly brake line (maybe a 32-36" length) and a tubing bender and do it yourself. They come with flared ends and nuts and are ready to install . Considering the underside of your truck looks like the bow of the Titanic you will probably end up replacing other sections in the future

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yeah, I had that once. I had to replace the left rear brake drum cylinder and my line was like that. I'm in Bemidji MN... typical road salt damage.

You can't do a compression fitting on line with that corrosion. It will never seal and you will crush the corroded line in the process... corroded brake line is very brittle. Compression fittings are bad practice on brake lines anyway.

So, you have to replace the entire line, which is actually an easy job once you figure out how to bend and flare brake line. Tools to cut and bend are cheap, you should be able to get a free rental of the flare kit from the parts store. They should be able to show you how to use the kit. You don't really have to make that tight S-turn, it just has to get from the wheel cylinder to the Tee on the differential in some reasonably neat way.

Odds and ends... you may find the fitting to the wheel cylinder is corroded so badly it just snaps off or crushes. If so, you will have to replace the wheel cylinder.

As you disconnect things, brake fluid will leak out. You have to stay on top of this. If the brake system drains completely, you will have to bleed the ABS unit, which is... you don't want to do that. So be prepared to make some make-shift plugs, and have lots of extra brake fluid on hand.

Now, the fittings on the wheel cylinder and the differential Tee are different. The way I approached this was to buy a long pre-made line which had the same fittings on both ends. So, I could use one end the way I bought it. I cut other fitting off and bought a fitting of the right size, cut the line to size, put the fitting on, bent it up, cut to size, flare the one end and installed it. Do not forget to put the fitting on before flaring it. This is obvious, yet I managed to forget it once. I don't know the fitting sizes, I went to O'Reilly's and they set me up.

Brake lines are not difficult or expensive. Buy some extra line and practice cuts, bends, and flares. When you get the hang of it, it's easy. That's a good thing because you probably have some sketchy brake lines in other locations. The line from the ABS unit to the rear runs inside the left frame rail, it tends to pick up snow and salt off the road, so it corrodes too. I ended replacing all the lines except the front right. But again, once you get the skills down, it's an easy job.

 

[mgmgmg]

Thanks for all the great info, Your right roadrunner on wheel cylinder. Ive had her since day 1. Its time to say good bye Any idea what she would sell for?

 

[Roadrunner777]

All those pictures could have come from my Explorer. I would look hard at my rear spring shackles, they may be ready to go. Looking at the Tee, you may well crack the right line trying to get the left line off, so if you were to do this, you would end up doing both sides.

Scrap yard value up here would be around $300. Assuming you have the normal fender/rocker panel rust, and fix the brake fluid leak... $500-700. Best guess, I don't know the Twin Cities car market very well.

Yeah... I know. I have been told rust free 1st gens are running $500 in the southwest. I wish I could go down there and buy about 10 of them. I would be happy driving these trucks for the rest of my life.

 

[mgmgmg]

She's Up for sale


1994 Ford Explorer Limited 4x4

 

[massacre]

My first and third 1st gen were like that
I used the copper nickel stuff, so easy to bend. And cheap to buy rolls of it.
I do have a hydraulic flaring tool though which makes the job a lot easier.

Just IMHO I would fix that brake line before selling but that’s just me

But if you need new cylinders I could see not wanting to do all that.

GLWS

 

[Roadrunner777]

If I had the room, I'd run down there and buy it from you. Good Luck!

 

[mgmgmg]

Had a thought? Pinch the line off? 90% of braking is in the front... Ahhh to dangerous!!

 

[Mbrooks420]

Fixing that line really isn’t that big of a deal.

 

[shran]

You could... I would if I needed to drive across town, once, but that's an emergency situation. Just replace the line and be done with it. As mentioned above it looks like both will need it. It's pretty easy... I'd really think about replacing the wheel cylinders while you're in there though... the bleeders are probably rusted solid.

 

[Kesp4.0]

That job would be a total of tightening and loosening like five line fittings and four wheel cylinder bolts. Maybe one more for the bolt holding the flexible brake line junction on top of the diff. Unless cracking the drums on a vehicle up north is frowned upon, it'd be an easy and thorough fix to replace the cylinders both sides. Get a cheap tubing bender, then purchase two of the preflared lines that come with the nuts and everything, they're maybe 8 bucks a piece, ~32" per side ( drivers side is longer than passenger so measure them). Two new wheel cylinders and the junction on top of the diff would cost less than $40 total.
Spend a few minutes bending those lines to as close to the ones on your car as possible, tighten them to the new t junction then just toss the whole assembly on there at once. I've done this job in its entirety and while it might appear daunting it's quite easy. You'll probably spend more time waiting for the kroil or PB blaster to soak in than you will actually replacing everything.
It's still a nice looking truck that appears to have been cared for pretty well. It'd be a shame to have to part with it because of that rear line.

 

[mgmgmg]

She's Gone!
I donated for tax deduction. Good god lame people on Craigslist pretending to buy? I don't have the time to waste for $500.
I owned her for 26 years. 1 owner 195,000 miles. I have some stats to share....
Never replaced:
Radiator
Waterpump
Transmission
PS
ETC....
Never bought tires for her beacuase firestone recall. Those michelin ATX were the best tires ever!!!!
Here in Minnesota 5 yrs ago they started to put that liquid brine with beet juice down like in the east coast. Made this underside rust super fast!! Like a German U-Boat on the bottom of the Atlantic
I plan to buy a another winter beater. 2nd Gen V8 2001 from the south.

So I'm saying good bye to the 1st gen section. Thanks for all the help

 

[Mbrooks420]

Sounds like she didn’t owe you anything.

You’ll love that V8 in the winter.

 

[J5hort]

Gotta expect this type of rust on a 25+ year old truck. My 1995 lines rusted and leaked. I somply replaced with a length of brake line. parts store will lend you a flare tool and brake line and fittings are inexpensive. Hardest part is getting off the old fittings. Some use brake lin wrench, but I found easiest way was to snip line at fitting and use a socket to back out fitting from block or connector. The threads are usually preserved. There are much worse things that would render a truck useless.