In case anyone wants more info on the Brake line replacement kit here is what comes in the Kit. The front to rear one is going to be a whole lot of fun as I am not sure if I have access to it without having to remove things, and as old and rusted as my chicagoland 98 is, if I have to take remove something the rust would most likely prevent me from putting it back in. I've done the left front, and the right front doesn't look bad.
The rears would be easy except, that I'm not sure if I can break loose the fitting on the driver side rear hose without damaging the fitting on the front to rear brake line.
I don't understand what you are stating. If you are replacing the front to rear hard line, and replacing that *double* hose part it connects to, then what fitting are you trying to avoid damaging? Do replace that left rear hose where the hard line connects, it's not an expensive part and is now 25 y/o.
What I questioned previously was whether there were two pieces going front to rear for the hard line, and based on your picture it appears that this is true. Since I did not have to deal with that kit where it is two pieces and instead just ran a single piece all the way from the ABS module to the rear coupling, I can't predict the difficulty getting wrenches on the coupling between the two pieces in the brake line kit to join the two, but without needing to do that while stringing bulk line, the front to rear wasn't all that bad except needing to be on my back wiggling around to do it, and wearing safety glasses because with significant rust, you get fall-down rust when you touch anything.
My '98 is also pretty rusted, enough that it will be retired and/or sold due to rust before any other problems (knock on wood...) but I had no problem taking off the cross-brace underneath and the tank brush guard to do the front to rear hard line brake run, neither were rusted badly and I was able to reuse the bolts as well... don't think I even put any penetrant on them before removal, just blasted them out with an impact wrench. However, technically you don't even need the tank brush guard if you're not taking it off-road. Do RWD Explorers even have one? I can't predict whether that tank guard blocks a significant amount of winter road salt and helps keep the tank from rusting out a little, but most passenger vehicles don't have one... so with the guard off, I'd look at the tank and the condition of the guard place and then decide if you need it or are just hauling around an extra ( 20lbs?) for no reason.
I'll offer a dissenting opinion on removing the old brake lines. I only removed mine, on the sections where I needed (really only wanted, it wouldn't have been hard to drill a hole and add a new push-pin style plastic brake line clamp) the position in the mounting bracket where the old line was, to mount the new line. It does not really cause a problem to have an old rusty brake line, isolated by a plastic clamp from your frame. If water gets up in there on the old rusty line, it was getting to the frame anyway and there is no galvanic or other contact corrosion when isolated by the plastic. Opinions may vary but I just don't see this as relevant in the shorter term you anticipate continuing to use the vehicle. Besides that, it's not like rust is going to spread to the new brake line, even if you nylon wire-tied it to the old one to secure it, because it's stainless.
I feel like there's a few different psychological angles that are making this repair seem harder than it is. If you aren't fit to get under the vehicle and wiggle around, there's that, and I completely understand that because I blew my back out and that makes undercarriage work harder and makes me contemplate getting rid of my '98, but all the rest was not that hard. Easier than I expected. It was a load off my mind when I broke down (I am cheap, lol) and bought a flaring tool and practiced with it and knew I could consistently make flares with the bulk copper nickel line. At the same time, I always left a couple extra inches of hard line in case I messed one up, but I never did so I just had to bend the line a little to get rid of the 2" slack.
