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Driver Front Bake Line - remove rack?

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Atrus

Atrus

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I need to replace the hard brake line from the union on the passenger fender to the caliper on the driver front of the car.

I see that it goes between the frame and steering rack. Are there any clamps or anything in there securing it? Can I remove the line without removing the rack?

If I need to remove the rack, how hard is that? I have to change my tie rod ends out anyway, so if it has to be removed it would at least make that process a little easier. Currently the entire front suspension is off the car, so no need to worry about getting the tie rod ends loose as they already are.
 
No need to remove rack, radiator yep, much easier.
 
I replaced the line on my 62 Sprite and did not remove the steering rack. I did, however, have the entire front end of the car removed as I am doing a total restoration of the car. At first I tried using brake line from a local auto parts place. It was far too stiff to be able to work with particularly for that front line. I found that the copper-nickel line as sold by Moss was a joy to work with as it is very easy to form. On my Mk 2 there are a couple of clips below the steering rack and the brake line just pushes down into them.

Good luck,
 
I unbolted the rack and rack brackets from the car, but didn't remove the rack from the steering column. This gave me a bit of extra wiggle room which was handy to have.
 
Good to know, thanks guys. I am still kicking myself for breaking it - when I tried ot remove the driver flex hose, it seemed like it was loosening OK. I was looking for binding.

Obviously I wasn't looking close enough because I snapped the end of the brake line off.
 
I removed the rack (twice) to install the brake line. It's a good opportunity to do a bit of refreshing.
 
Is there anything special to note when removing the rack, or is it straightforward?
 
When you remove the bolts to the rack look for spacers. They will be on one side only. Remember which side they were on. They slightly give the rack a tilt so that the steering shaft will line up with the rack boss.
 
Passanger side.
 
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