Was visiting a friend over the weekend to help with some firewood. He lives on the side of a steep mountain, and we were going to some of his property higher up to load up some wood to bring back down. I had just started truck ('99 350, 48K) and was preparing to back out of his relatively level driveway and head up mountain (steep road too) when he had to run back inside to grab a pair of gloves. As I waited, just out of habit I went ahead and popped the emergency brake and put it in gear when all of sudden the brake pedal went to the floor! He came back and I told him we weren't going anywhere - quick inspection found a blown brakeline tucked in behind the gas tank. Opted not to do it ourselves since it had a full tank of gas and the tank had to be dropped to access the line. Haven't heard from mechanic yet (I had it towed off mountain), but I could clearly see rust on the lines running inside the frame railing beside gas tank.

Wondering if this might be a little design bug-a-boo as it is a tight space between frame/brake lines/gas tank that allows dirt and moisture to build up and rust through the lines. They (mechanics) were gonna just run new line without dropping tank (I didn't think of that...) but I asked them to drop tank to make sure other lines aren't rusted so I don't have a repeat in a less lucky place.

I've had a lot of trucks over the nearly 30 years I've driven and never had a catastrophic brake failure like this. Can you imagine the hole pinched in the driver's seat if we would have been heading back down the hill with a full load of wood, probably running in second gear (430 rear) when she busted? And did I mention my emergency brake just barely holds, and hardly at all when loaded, lol? Needless to say, the emergency brake is being adjusted while it's at the garage...

 

I would replace it all the way back! I had my 98 250 do the same thing in the same spot! After replacing that piece, I had a rust through every 2-3 months until I said to hell with this and did them all!

 

Are you replacing with stainless steel lines?

 

I did, if your asking me?

 

I'm not a big gear head, but am dumbfounded that brake lines are made from anything that rusts - just seems like a disaster waiting to happen, and based on svtman's response, it looks like my suspicion that this may be a more widespread problem based on the location of the lines should be something for everyone to keep in mind.

 

You have to be careful when hauling firewood, if it is fresh cut you would be surprised at how much it wieghs.

 

Stainless lines alot of times wont seal cause they are too hard to conform to the mating surface. The accepted repair is usually replace it fitting to fitting with lengths of brake tubing and form the bends by hand without kinks. Splices in line are usually not recommended.

 

Glad you are ok.

I just blew a brake line about 2 months ago in the same spot... right next to the fuel tank as i was pulling into a parking spot.

On the way to that parking spot i had to stop at a traffic light at a busy intersection on a 45mph road... it would have been really bad if it had let go 30 seconds sooner...

 

I had the same problem with that same line.

 

What I wanna know is how the heck you have a 99 with less than 50k miles....

 

Hahaha - been asked that a couple of times already! It was my farm truck when I bought it new, quit farming a couple of years later and now have a company car that I do the majority of my driving in ("reasonable" personal mileage allowed), so the ol' 350 only gets 4 or 5k on it a year.

 

Based on the number of "me too's" already in regards to the location of the brake line failure, I wonder if this is something Ford knows about, or should be made aware of, and how would one go about doing that? I mean brake failure is not exactly like having a recall because your coffee falls out of the cup holder...

 

do all of the "me too"s live in areas where the roads are salted?

 

Got the truck used in Boston, so yes. Plenty of other cancer up under there too...

 

I own/operate an auto and ag repair shop, and I can tell you that all of the big 3 (Ford, GM, Dodge) rust the lines out behind the fuel tank....get 'em in here all the time.
What scares me is the shadetree independent shops that use compression fittings to connect the lines...I get those in here all the time, too. I even had a neighbor that didn't know any better splice a rotted line with rubber fuel line and hose clamps
There's nothing wrong with splicing lines, as long as the ends are double flared at least and on newer ones, ISO flared(or bubble flare as some call it).
Lastly...yeah, the states that use salt on their roads are bad...Iowa uses 'salt brine' on their roads and I swear that it's worse than battery acid.

Travis