Where to buy front brake lines?

[emmahumpfritter]

As I'm digging into the front end I remembered Splatter pointing out how nasty my front brake lines are (the rubber segment above a foot long) I was 6 beers in and pushing midnight, but also remember him saying they aren't all that expensive or hard to find. Is it as simple as heading over to advanced, or is this a rock auto job (or worse, Toyota!)

Thanks guys,
Brenton

[takza]

I think they are pretty easy to find...but who knows....been a while.

[emmahumpfritter]

thanks T...I ordered some from Advanced, be here Tuesday. I should have planned ahead.

[dlb]

i've never had to replace the rubber brake line hoses, only the metal ones when they rust out from not changing brake fluid enough. i've done so many of those now that it's ridiculous. were your hoses cracked?

[splatterdog]

i've never had to replace the rubber brake line hoses, only the metal ones when they rust out from not changing brake fluid enough. i've done so many of those now that it's ridiculous. were your hoses cracked?

Not rusted lines on a T4 now? My parts car was laid to rest due to severe rust. I saved my whole fuel and brake line assembly from it because they were still solid. Line nuts even spun by finger after cracking them loose. I've had three year old mopars that wouldn't come loose without a torch. I know the smell of smoking brake fluid all too well...

As far as cracked hoses, I've seen them on all 4 of mine and emmahumpfritter's car. None fully failed. They go slow as far as cracked jackets go. Better or more fibers in the mesh zone? I don't know. But as a rule of thumb, I would say most T4's are about due, especially if they are still OE. Not bad considering many of the big three's FWD offerings from the same era needed them at least every five years. Sometimes all the way around.

Remember fritter, tighten the caliper side first. Not too much torque either. It looked like you might go a little heavy when tightening things. Use about the same or a little more force as needed to take it apart. To minimize spillage I will clamp off the hose, I have nice pinch offs, but a vise grip will do as you don't care about damage. Snip it off at the caliper side and take care of business. Then when you deal with the flare nut end the new hose is all ready to go. I doubt your rust free jewel will be a problem but always make sure the steel line doesn't twist with the nut.

Oh and, don't forget to make sure the bleeder screws open first. And check for leaks after applying decent brake pedal pressure.

[emmahumpfritter]

Yes! Thank you splatter. Napa has the hoses coming in the morning amazingly enough (9 bucks a piece) The old ones came off very easy, I'm replacing the pass side caliper, it has a fairly decent leak from the piston, I hope to rebuild it since it's a stock Toyota caliper (says right on the top) but for times sake (gotta hit the road soon) I'm putting a reman on...I have no idea yet what brand (my guess Asian)

(sorry for the huge pics to follow. I'm still figuring out the whole posting pics in posts thing...)

Here's a cool fix I did thanks to an idea via splatter:



one of the body bolts stripped out, so I cut the smallest access whole I could with a drill and then put a new bolt and nut on...good as new I think.



woohoo! New: rotors, pads, axles and sway bushings.



...and a little barley soda as reward...

[ARCHINSTL]

Buy some flare wrenches when you are at Advance - they are not expensive.
"Hey - you gonna drink all that? Don't forget - MO is an "M" state as well as MN"
Tom M.

[splatterdog]

Ahhh Beer.

I would put a rubber body plug in the access hole to keep crap out. Couldn't hurt to spray a little paint first.

Have a great trip!

[ARCHINSTL]

Adding to splatterdog's advice - a number of the OE body plugs were missing when I got Goldie. I used rubber plugs of various sizes and a few crutch tips to plug 'em, all from Home Depot.
Where the oblong subframe/Xmember was open at the far back under the hatch and behind the tank, I cleaned it well, sprayed RustOleum Rust Reformer inside, covered the big oblong holes with duct tape and then sprayed them. Still holding after almost 5 years.
Tom M.

[emmahumpfritter]

excellent! You go all out on the rust prevention. I'm doing the same. Today I was out painting my Toyota van like a ship! Taking paint on this long trip, just find a nice sunny spot and work on it Thanks eh!

[emmahumpfritter]

i've never had to replace the rubber brake line hoses, only the metal ones when they rust out from not changing brake fluid enough. i've done so many of those now that it's ridiculous. were your hoses cracked?

Not rusted lines on a T4 now? My parts car was laid to rest due to severe rust. I saved my whole fuel and brake line assembly from it because they were still solid. Line nuts even spun by finger after cracking them loose. I've had three year old mopars that wouldn't come loose without a torch. I know the smell of smoking brake fluid all too well...

As far as cracked hoses, I've seen them on all 4 of mine and emmahumpfritter's car. None fully failed. They go slow as far as cracked jackets go. Better or more fibers in the mesh zone? I don't know. But as a rule of thumb, I would say most T4's are about due, especially if they are still OE. Not bad considering many of the big three's FWD offerings from the same era needed them at least every five years. Sometimes all the way around.

Remember fritter, tighten the caliper side first. Not too much torque either. It looked like you might go a little heavy when tightening things. Use about the same or a little more force as needed to take it apart. To minimize spillage I will clamp off the hose, I have nice pinch offs, but a vise grip will do as you don't care about damage. Snip it off at the caliper side and take care of business. Then when you deal with the flare nut end the new hose is all ready to go. I doubt your rust free jewel will be a problem but always make sure the steel line doesn't twist with the nut.

quickly, I got it all done. Followed your advice to a T...thanks again Splat! I tightened nice an easy too

Oh and, don't forget to make sure the bleeder screws open first. And check for leaks after applying decent brake pedal pressure.

[takza]

excellent! You go all out on the rust prevention. I'm doing the same. Today I was out painting my Toyota van like a ship! Taking paint on this long trip, just find a nice sunny spot and work on it Thanks eh!

If you find the right split-end brush and the right paint you can do a paint job that almost looks sprayed. I'm now into using foam rollers...you get a texture...but it's much faster and not a lot of runs. And for a vehicle that's going to get scraped by brush...makes more sense than a spray job?