1978 f-150 4wd

I replaced my power brake booster and master cylinder today, but the fitting on the front metal brake tube was seized up and ended up breaking the metal tube it connects to.

What are my options for fixing this? Ive measured the truck currently having a 4.5" suspension and 4" body lift.

Tried going to the junkyard, but of the 3 73-79s two were 2wd and 1 had the lines clipped already.

 

Go to the auto parts store and get a length of straight brake line and bend a new one. Brake line tubing is annealed and very easy to bend by hand.
If the line has one of Ford's odd ends on it you can get an adapter fitting.

 

2x.. bend up new lines.

It isn't rocket surgery. ..So easy that a Neanderthal could do it.

 

Well that's a relief, thanks!

 

Brake lines needs to be double flared, a tool to do this is fairly cheap

 

Do my brake lines need to have the fancy curves like the stock ones?

 

The lines do not need the fancy bends but you definitely do not want a kink. Go buy a basic tube bender and flair tool so you can do the job right. May cost you about $30. Total. Far cheaper than what brake failure will cost you and someone else. Those tools will sit in your toolbox 99.9% of the time, but well worth it the .1 percent you need them.

 

Also, you can buy a pre-flared line that is a little too long and just put a coil in it to get the right length.

The bending tool is handy, but you can also bend by hand if you are careful.

 

Like Steven@nd just said on pre-flared lines with the proper fittings already attached from a parts store. But, if you need say a 12" line and all they have is a 2 foot line what do you do with that extra. Wrapping the line around a round object like a pipe,soup can,bigger juice can, or even the big end of a baseball bat will take up about 6" per loop.Easy to do,no kinks if you are remotely careful and will bring the line to the correct length.gary

 

What I have done as well. My hand bends would not win in a beauty show but are neat, safe and functional. Any older vehicle is vulnerable especially at the wheel ends. Pre-flared works well. Or teach yourself to do the flares. I use the "better" flare kit from AZ and bought a 20' coil of mild steel brake line for these repairs. You can find step by step on line and practice on some test pieces first.

 

The standard fitting size for 3/16" brake tubing is 3/8"-24. Unfortunately, parts stores straight tubing lengths aren't going to come with the specialty sized fittings --7/16"-24, 1/2"-20 or 9/16"-18 for example and, most parts stores don't carry these specialty sized fittings.

Left to right, 9/16"-18 inverted flare fitting, 1/2"-20 and 7/16"-24.



Without the correct fittings, this means using adapters. Aside from adapters not giving a professional look, as opposed to direct-connection line fittings, they add another connection point to the brake system for potential leaks to occur.

You can get various sizes of direct-connection line fittings from Classic Tube in both SAE inverted flare fittings as well as ISO metric bubble flare fittings.

I typically buy 60" straight lengths of 3/16" brake tubing, bend it, cut it to length , put the fitting on and double flare or bubble flare the ends.

These are the lines I made for the installation in my truck --ISO metric bubble flare/fittings at the MC and SAE inverted double flare/fittings at the brake valve.




I started with a 60" stick of 3/16" tubing to make these two lines. I had about 8" of tubing left from the 60" stick after making these two lines.

 

Well done ultraranger. Very professional workmanship .

 

Thanks, Mike. A lot of people have this fear at the thought of fabricating brake lines. It's really not that difficult to do. A quality set of benders and flaring tools also makes the process even easier to accomplish. I've never had any formal instruction on how to bend or flare brake lines. You (anyone) can figure it out too.

 

Most parts stores will rent you the flare kit, save probably $20 on that. Tons of youtube videos will show you how to bend or flare. I've also seen a trick with an upside down 1" deep well socket placed in a vice to bend the lines instead of buying the bending tool. I bought the bend tool but it wasn't a great one and I ended up using the socket trick more.

 

Wanted to thank everyone for their help, managed to successfully bend and attach my new brake line! Couldn't have done it without y'all! Raining now, gonna bleed the brakes tomorrow and see where I stand.