Busted brake line
Mountain Pass
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 214
Likes: 0
I have also replaced plenty of brake lines on Ford and other cars too, and I think you can't go wrong on material. You can bend any of them if you're careful. I have used the coated lines and they work. They're all good. If you kink one you're out $10, big deal.
Biggest challenge to buying brake lines, in my opinion, is getting the ends you need at the sorts of auto parts stores you can find. The first step in that is knowing yourself which ends you need.
Biggest challenge to buying brake lines, in my opinion, is getting the ends you need at the sorts of auto parts stores you can find. The first step in that is knowing yourself which ends you need.
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 4,392
Likes: 22
From: very South Texas
when I start.. I cut the line at the fitting... and at all fitting... and take them with me to the auto parts store...
as you can have one line and have different fittings on each end.. and the front lines may not be the same as the rears...
and I have seen Flare and bubble on the same line..
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 97
Likes: 0
From: Iowa
The poly armor line is metal line, it just has a coating on it. This line may be a little more friendly to being bent by hand without kinking, but ANY brake line of this size can easily be bent by hand. Some tubings will kink a little easier when making tight bends.
I rarely ever use a bender, I carefully bend tighter bends around a socket or similar. You cannot get the crisp, tight bends like you can with a bender but I don't feel it matters. Factory tubing has many more bends because their goal is to route it neat and tight to the frame, after all they are trying to get 60K out of these new trucks so a high quality appearance is expected.
A bender is pretty inexpensive, but replicating all the intricate bends is extremely difficult and unnecessary. I can still do a neat job, get the tubing back into the original anchoring points, and make connections without all the intricate bends. When running line down the frame rail most people are not willing to drop the fuel tank or other components just to route the tubing exactly as it was anyway. Relatively neat and secure is good enough for me.
I rarely ever use a bender, I carefully bend tighter bends around a socket or similar. You cannot get the crisp, tight bends like you can with a bender but I don't feel it matters. Factory tubing has many more bends because their goal is to route it neat and tight to the frame, after all they are trying to get 60K out of these new trucks so a high quality appearance is expected.
A bender is pretty inexpensive, but replicating all the intricate bends is extremely difficult and unnecessary. I can still do a neat job, get the tubing back into the original anchoring points, and make connections without all the intricate bends. When running line down the frame rail most people are not willing to drop the fuel tank or other components just to route the tubing exactly as it was anyway. Relatively neat and secure is good enough for me.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,142
Likes: 25
The poly armor line works well, will probably outlast standard steel line many times over. I normally use the copper nickle alloy line, it just seems to work better for me and is supposedly stronger than the steel line, bends and flares well and is very resistant to corrosion. If you can work with it the stainless line is the best but can be tricky to flare if you don't have a good flare tool, and it will require a bender to get good tight bends.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Cheggie
1987 - 1996 F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
12
Feb 3, 2013 11:30 AM
pace car
1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks
12
Sep 30, 2012 04:11 PM
mysticalcowboynPA
Brakes, Steering, Suspension, Tires, & Wheels
3
Jul 9, 2007 09:07 AM
