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Brake Lines

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Trevor Triumph

Jedi Knight
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My wife was driving back form the dump the other day and noticed the brake pedal was going almost to the floor-no brake fluid! Today I went to look things over, bleed the brakes and move the truck so I can the Spitfires out of the garage. When I asked her to push the brake pedal I noticed a stream of fluid running to the ground. There was a hole rusted through the line. While trying to undo the union, I broke the other part of the line at a union. I have a bending tool, a borrowed flaring tool- I'll just get some line at the NAPA store. That was at lunch time. After supper and the truck is still on stands and I can't get at the other end of the rest of the brake line. It sits on top of frame crossmember. If I could get the box of the the frame or remove the gas tanks it might be easier to get the brake lines. There is winding on the brake line, I imagine to protect the line. What that winding has done is provided a place for mud and crud to make a home. I put Kroil on the nuts and bolts and unions, maybe tomorrow I can get the thinks off. Then I'll try to re-route the brake lines
 
How absolutely frustrating! Those "springy" things are naught BUT a way to prematurely corrode lines, IMO.

Good luck, Trev. It sounds like a thankless job. Bend up the new lines to travel where they're serviceable. The originals were likely mounted on the chassis before the rest of the thing was assembled. Glad it wasn't a catastrophic problem!
 
I haven't had any problems with rusted brake lines since I moved to Europe and changed ALL my brake lines to COPPER!
And don't even try to give me all that stuff about copper isn't good enough. I'm a mechanical engineer with good knowledge of material strengths - and rust properties. The underside of a car is not the place for high pressure, safety related parts made of steel. Unless you live in Florida.
 
The brake lines that are sold in the UK (the home of rusty brake lines) as copper lines aren't pure copper. I.e. aren't the same as the copper refrigeration/plumbing tubing of the same diameter. I can't recall the exact alloy, but they are an alloy with considerably higher mechanical strength than copper tubing.
 
Hello Eric,

this is a topic that keeps re-occurring.
Yes pure (99.99%) copper brake lines are available in the U.K. and I do use them. There are also cupro nickel lines as well but since I have had no problems whatsoever with copper, I'll stay with it.

Alec
 
My opinion, Stainless Steel! Hard to bend yes, hard to flare yes, BUT once you are done, it`s there for a lifetime or more.
 
racingenglishcars said:
Cessna uses aluminium!
Works just fine.
Click to expand...

Waitin' fer Kerry to say it first... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
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