im replacing a brake line help! please

[e200e]

So a couple days ago my driver rear brake line broke and now my brakes aren't operating so im going to replace it. I probably shouldn't be doing this but im willing to spend countless hours on this and money on the equipment\tools I need. Im a general service tech so I know some things about cars. But I want to know what's tools I need like flaring kit , the brakeline material, fittings...? I mostly wanna know what I need because that's my main frustration is I can't for the live of me find a List of things I need nobody has a straight answer . I just want to know what I need not specific parts though just like to do brakes

Flaring kit
Brake lines but what else???

 

[koda2000]

auto parts stores sell brake line in different lengths with the fittings attached. thery're quite inexpensive. find out what size and approx length lines you need and buy some lines that are as close as possible to what you need. if you do that, the only tools you'll need is a line wrench to swap out the lines. if the new lines are slightly too long that's okay as you can always make a bend to take up the slack.

 

[DoraThe_Explorer]

If you are going to be replacing a section of brake line then here is a good walk through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdb3Oy8bxO0

Good luck!

 

[e200e]

Thank you!

 

[jprentice94]

Something to cut the line cleanly real pita. Flare kit a vice is nice to have but not truly needed. Line and CORRECT. Fittings when i replaced myvrear brakeline i lost about 45 mins trying to figure out why the same size male fitting wouldnt fit. Then found out threads were different and also

 

[RomeovilleIL]

Which brake line: the main from the front of the truck back to the flexible line, or the steel line that runs across the rear axle from left to right? More often than not the main line rusts out right next to the connection on the flexible line on the driver's side. You'll find the rest of the line is crap too since the coiled covering tends to rust up tight. The factory was well aware of this issue -- there are open extra line holding tabs along the rail just for the replacement. No need to take the old one off the truck. Just run a new one from front to rear.

Whichever line it is, highly recommend you do not splice into old lines. The complete line should be replaced.

The steel line is 3/16. You can pick up the green coated flexible steel line in 25 ft coil for around $20 at autozone and other parts stores. It can be bent by hand.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...rake-line/_/N-2687?itemIdentifier=602041_0_0_

The fittings are usually made of brass which does not rust. More often than not the fittings can be reused once you tap the old rusted line out and clean them up.

The flare tool is a rental. The deposit was about $35.

Just take your time and bend the lines to follow the same contours are the originals. Once you get it together you will need to bleed the lines to get all the air out of the lines. There are lots of tools available. The simple one-man is inexpensive and works ok.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...leeder-kit/_/N-26qw?itemIdentifier=46839_0_0_

The line cutter is $8. Get the compact one. The larger one is faster but hard to move around under the car where the lines run.

 

[e200e]

Update

Hey guys I just wanted to let everyone know it was a great success. I want to thank each and every one you for all the helpful posts. I was working on it from 930am and finally finished at 600pm it was tough but I got a couple people to help me. And Romeo it was the line connected to the Abs that ran from the drivers side down the drivers side frame into the driver rear wheel. Its funny you said the line would be crap because I found that out the hard way because I just cut the line about a foot and a half at first from the fitting since it basically broke from the fitting and line looked pretty good under that coil at that part so I put a fitting on flared it and flared a new line the foot and half with fittings and connected the old line and new one with a union and put it back up and it looked great. Went to bleed the system and it just broke right at the union. I ended up doing the whole line and it actually turned out really well and ran it through the frame like the old one. The only thing that kinda sucks is the old line is still in there because of some tough clips that I gave up so I didn't accidently break another line in the process.

 

[DoraThe_Explorer]

Good stuff! Glad to hear you can safely stop now