I'm crusin around one day, came to a stop and my brakes were horrible and the pedel went all the way down to the floor, so I get out and look for leaks, and the rear was leaking.
I get it home, inspect underneeth and its the steel line that goes from the MC to the rear drivers side brake hose to goes right to the drum. its pretty rusted, leaking right above the flare nut. I don't want to run new break lines right now since im going to be cleaning the whole underbody up and replumbing everything in the near future.
Is there a quick fix for something like this???
__________________ Michael
1982 Ford Mustang GT 5.0
1998 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0 AWD
2002 Mercury Mountaineer 4.6 AWD
Well, you'd have to find a solid piece of steel line, cut, re-flare it, and install a coupler to bring two pieces of tubing together, then run the line to that fitting's location (new fitting).
The difficulty is finding a spot to cut/re-flare (it's tight and hard to get the tools in there).
__________________ Justin-FTE Moderator
95' F-150 XLT 4x4, 393ci stroker, 5 spd, 6" lift/35s
04' Explorer Limited 4.6L
94' Cobra - 1 of 123 made, only 30k miles
If the steel lines are rusted to the point of leaking, it's not going to occur in just that one spot in the line. You are flirting with disaster if you don't park it till you can replace the lines, flush or replace the master cylinder and do the same with the calipers and wheel cylinders. Flushing the brake system every couple of years will prevent condensation from forming and causing this deterriation.
Aaahhhh.... I get it. Splice in a length of rubber brake line with multiple clamps, drive it like grandma would, keep your distance, anticipate stops and use the transmission to aid in braking by downshifting. Good luck!
I have some extra power stearing return line, would that work instead??? Its a lil bigger...
Well acctually I can't really cut beacuse the leak is right at the flare. I don't know if teflon tape will work beacuse it could be leaking ABOVE the flare instead of the conection itself...
__________________ Michael
1982 Ford Mustang GT 5.0
1998 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0 AWD
2002 Mercury Mountaineer 4.6 AWD
You can't be seriously considering using a Mickey Mouse repair job on the brake lines! Teflon tape will not help as it is used on tapered pipe threads, not flare fittings. Replace the leaking line at your buddy's place if you are able. At the very least, you could disconnect the rear line at the master cylinder and plug the outlet and drive home with only the front brakes working. ...Terry
__________________
It is a simple task to make things complex,
but a complex task to make them simple.
I think you're crazy. Fix the brakes the right way the first time. Brakes aren't something to screw around with, skimp on, or otherwise do a half-assed job.
I think were going to plug the rear breaks for the ride home, and I'll install new ones once its here. This way its not leaking and pressure can still be fed.
__________________ Michael
1982 Ford Mustang GT 5.0
1998 Mercury Mountaineer 5.0 AWD
2002 Mercury Mountaineer 4.6 AWD
What's the point in mickey mousing the rear brakes? Just drive without them until you can fix it. The back brakes don't do anything much on a pickup truck anyway, unless you've got a full load. (I'm assuming you have a dual chamber master cylinder)(if it's a single chamber master cylinder... well, pinch off the tubing with Vise Grips?)
I've had lines burst a couple of times, and all the evidence suggested that they rusted from the outside in, maybe due to a combination of corrosive exhaust fumes, and lack of oil and grease to protect the lines. The lines also seem to break at bends, so maybe the bending weakened the metal, or damaged any protective coating on the brake line.
The fix I did on my Econoline was what MustangGT221 described, only I saved myself the work of making two of the flares by buying a chunk of line with the flares already done. Then just make a good double flare on the cut end of the original brake line while lying on my back in a parking lot using a borrowed Ridgid 345 flare tool (because the Lisle flaring tool I bought was feces), tighten it all up, and bleed it. This didn't cost much (a few bucks for the brake line and a coupler).
Better than vice grips, what I have done is take a very short section of line, flare it and put a flare nut on it, and touch the other end with the MIG welder. Then you just unscrew the long line from the ABS valve and put this in in its place. Then you have a positive seal and you can bleed it out and have good front brakes. This is as far as I would go mickey mousing it just for one trip home, then fix it right. This takes the entire rear brake circuit out of the picture except the line from the MC to the ABS valve. The advantage of doing it at the ABS valve is that you can use a standard flare nut instead of that larger one that goes into the MC.
I'm still looking for a good flaring tool, I got a KD (Napa) one and now an Old Forge one. They both make crooked flares most of the time, total crap. I'm going to try Ridgid next.
For the long line from the ABS valve to the rear axle hose, I buy the 25' roll of 3/16 steel line from Napa, it's long enough to run the entire length without a coupling.
I hope you guys are double flareing that steel line. Bundy tubing makes various lenghts
of steel line flared fittings on both ends sure NAPA has it or Auto Zone you can get a
lenght a bit longer than you need and loose the extra in larger radius bends, until you have the time to fit it exactly. I agree Mickey Mousing brakes anywhere is a fast way to
disaster.
That's nice if you have the money, those look like nice products, but if you make lines yourself the cost is next to nothing for materials, just a bunch of labor. Once you buy the cutting and flaring tools you have them forever. So the cost may be about the same as buying premade lines the first time you do it because you have to buy tools, but the next time will cost next to nothing.
The other thing to be aware of if you're ordering premade lines is that one of the lines changes length depending on your cab and box lengths, not an issue if you make them.
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