shop-talk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Shop-talk] Ford Explorer Brake Line Repair

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Ford Explorer Brake Line Repair
From: John Miller <jem@milleredp.com>
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2012 07:58:23 -0700
Delivered-to: shop-talk-archive@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: shop-talk@autox.team.net
References: <COL115-W47EA814EC4C74C50B0C14ACCC80@phx.gbl>, <E35395FD-D10A-4A5F-BFC9-8D6A5F40BF8C@groupwbench.org> <SNT127-W35AFD8F3083974EDA1EAAE9ACF0@phx.gbl>
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:14.0) Gecko/20120713 Thunderbird/14.0
>> If everything goes right it's very simple. But typically the nuts will be
>> stuck in place enough that a normal open end will just round off the nut.
> You
>> need a flare nut wrench which wraps around the nut touching all six sides.
>> Sometimes this doesn't work either, if they're really stuck.

Soak them in PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, or equivalent an hour or two 
before you try wrenching on them.

You can try an open-end wrench, but watch the nut carefully for:

a) Signs of rounding off (stop BEFORE you cause real damage to the nut)
b) Signs that the tube is corroded in the nut and is twisting with it

If a good tube-nut wrench is unobtanium where you're at...I won't 
recommend this for everyone, but I've had very good luck with vise-grips 
(preferably the kind with concave jaws) on tube nuts.

You will probably mangle the hex on the nut a bit this way, but it's 
important NOT to squeeze them down on the nut so tightly that it crushes 
the nut on the tube or deforms the nut where it seats on the tube.

If the tube is rusted inside the tube nut and the nut will not turn on 
the tube, and you can't get it to loosen with a little gentle 
backing-and-forthing, you're probably screwed - at best you'll have to 
cut the end off the tube and re-flare it with a new tube nut, at worst 
you'll have to replace the line.   Even if it does come off, check the 
condition of everything carefully once it's loose.

> Coworker has a Ford pickup, I think an F150 that he uses only for towing a
> landscaping trailer.  Told me had some *hard* brake lines go on him at the
> front recently due to rust.  Might've been an '04 or somewhere around there,
> certainly not decades old or anything.  Spent way too much money having a shop
> fix it after being told "it's a known issue".

Oh yeah, brake hard-lines rust.  It used to be as normal as the rest of 
the car rusting away, but then cars don't rust as fast as they used to 
so...

John.
_______________________________________________

Shop-talk@autox.team.net
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>