Steel Brake lines: Daisy-chained from Drivers to Pass?

[Tony H]

I got my replacement front Brake Hoses. I was surprised to see two steel hoses going into the Drivers side . Is Ford taking 1 steel line from the Proportioning vale and running it to the Drivers side Hose THEN out of that to the passenger side Hose?
That's three steel hose fittings I have to hope come off the hose. and worse, try to thread on the new hoses after they are hard fastened to the mounting brackets.

 

[Maniak]

I believe you are correct (its been a long time since i had to mess with a brake line up front).. There is a single line that goes to the drivers side.. From there it splits.. one to the drivers wheel, the other goes across to the passenger wheel.

~Mark

 

[DeRocha]

That is correct.
Prior to 4WABS the master cylinder had a single hard line run to the driver's side coil bucket. It treaded into a round distribution port on the driver side brake hose which sent another hard line to the front passenger side brake hose.

With 4WABS the front passenger & driver's side brake hoses had their own hard lines coming from the HCU (hydraulic control unit)

 

[Tony H]

Thanks. Never saw that before. MOst cars... separate steel lines from the Proportioning valve.

I've been spraying Kroil on the threads of the Steel lines and Bleeder valves. I hope it goes smooth.

 

[DeRocha]

When replacing my front brake hoses I had to remove the hardlines and ended up breaking them in the process. The lines were rused within the fitting which caused the line to turn with the fitting.. I sprayed lots of PB Blaster and tried working the fitting back and forth, but it would have taken way too long for me to work the fitting so it wouldn't turn the line.. The line didn't look too healthy anyway so I ended up just getting some std 3/16" line from the autoparts store and bent up some new line... piece of cake using your hands or a tube bender... Just pick up several different lengths (they'er inexpensive) and go town.. whatever you don't use you can return to the store...

 

[Tony H]

All went fine. The Lines loosened up easy enough. They looked very healthy. Two things I didn't like, One was trying to threat the brake lines Blind on the passenger side. A little more room so you can see what you are doing ( especially with something that is so easy to cross thread) would have been nice.
The other was The Brake Hose retainer. I never saw one that locks in over the steel hose before. The regular 'C' shaped clip that I am used to makes it easier to get the steel lines threading started. Put the hose through the chassis bracket, spin the entire hose, when it gets started, then press the 'C' clip down to hold the hose to the bracket. That would have been really nice in this case since the passenger side was tucked up against the Inner Fender well. Anyway, it's done. Boy were the old ones due to be replaced.

 

[DeRocha]

Glad to hear everything worked out ok... working on older brake lines is always a crap shoot as you can never be certain what may or may not need to be replaced until you've started the job...

 

[jjpuhalla]

Strange little clip

I am trying to replace the brake hose on the passenger side and I cannot disconnect the hose from the flexible brake line. There is a little screwy clip on the back side of the bracket and I cannot figure it out. Is there some type of trick to it or do I need a special tool?

 

[DeRocha]

I am trying to replace the brake hose on the passenger side and I cannot disconnect the hose from the flexible brake line. There is a little screwy clip on the back side of the bracket and I cannot figure it out. Is there some type of trick to it or do I need a special tool?

The clip can only be removed AFTER you have removed the hardline. The clip fits over a hole in the coil bucket and then the hose fitting passes through it and then the hardline is threaded in from the backside.. So in order to remove the clip you will need to 1st remove the hardline.

 

[zwoobah]

My experience was the same as DeRocha's - both of my front hard lines snapped off at the fitting. Both snapped at the junction that faces directly toward the engine. I guess that area must collect water/road crud over the years. The fitting on the top of the driver's side came out like it was new, and it was the original 16y/o line.
For the archives, you need a 30" double-flared 3/16" hard line to go from the master to the driver's side, and a 60" double-flared 3/16" to go from driver's side to passenger side.
If you replaced the front rubber lines, it's probably time to replace the rear rubber line as well. Also inspect your rear hardlines on the axle, one of mine snapped in half the second I touched it with a wrench, so I replaced both.
Total cost for replacing nearly every line on the truck was around $50, which is really cheap insurance. The long front-rear line on my truck had already been replaced.

 

[jjpuhalla]

Brake line broke off at the fitting as expected. It does not seem to be a big deal to fix that. Thanks for the help.

 

[DeRocha]

Brake line broke off at the fitting as expected. It does not seem to be a big deal to fix that. Thanks for the help.

Make sure you've maxed out your brake fluid reservoir, Go above max as it won't hurt as you will need to bleed the line later. If the MC runs dry it will be a huge pita to get the air out..

Note:
Do you have 4 wheel ABS?
On my '93 the driver's side hard line connected to the ABS hydraulic unit. The brake hose line fitting was std 3/16" while the connection at the hydraulic unit was metric. If this is the case DO NOT throw away the metric fitting.. You will need it when making a replacement line.