Brake lines on lifted Brumby's

pedroj · Post by **pedroj** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:03 am

Hi,
I have recently been patching a hole in the tray of my Brumby, so crawled under it a few times recently. On Sunday while wiping grit out of my eye, I noticed that the rear flexible brake lines on my Brumby are stretched taut and have deep cracks in the outer surface.

This is a direct result of the lift kit being installed in the car. To say I was appalled at this being left like this comes no where close to the words that came out of my mouth. I have started a search for longer flexible lines as I do not want to stress the metal lines by releasing them from the brackets.

The simple act of jacking up the Brumby to change a flat tire could further stretch and fracture one of these hoses so the car is off the road until I work out an answer.

Have others fitted longer hoses and which ones did you use? I did notice that the front end brake lines had been left out of the mounting clips on the new front struts so that is probably another job even though it appears to be a common answer for people installing lift kits.

Any suggested longer hoses for the rear?

Regards,
Peter

Proton mouse · Post by **Proton mouse** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:22 am

I had new longer ones custom made up by a brake place here in Brisbane. I just took in the old ones and they made them up straight away. I cant remember the exact price, but they weren't cheap, but at the end of the day what price do you put on your own safety!!

A good idea while your system is open, is to blow the metal lines out with compressed air, from where they start at the splitter block (under the M/Cyl)
I have found on 2 occasions (Brumby and my old MY wagon) that there was a blockage in one of the lines that I had no idea was there. One was so blocked that I had to replace it !!
Good luck with it.
John

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:56 pm

A good excuse to get braided brake lines

If it is not too far for you, I got some made up at power brakes at holden hill. They are very knowledgeable and great to deal with. Take your old ones as samples and ask them to add 50mm. They can also make regular rubber hoses if you dont want to splash so much cash.

They can also do mail orders if you dont want to travel, then post your old ones as samples. Or they might even still have my specs on record if you ask.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:22 pm

Yes that's not good that whoever installed the lift kit didn't notice that. Certainly would have caused cracks to come on prematurely...although bear in mind the hoses would probably be very old already anyway - you should be able to move them around and stretch them without them cracking, but of course they certainly shouldn't be stretched at all times.

Just take them into any brake place at all. They should be able to make you new lines on the spot to whatever length is required. You could get braided lines for extra cost, it can help the pedal to feel more solid but normally only really an advantage in high performance applications.

JP147 · Post by **JP147** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:15 pm

You shouldn't need to use longer ones. I just removed them from the mounts on the trailing arms and hammered the mounts down. They are loose enough to allow full travel without getting pulled but not so loose they rub on anything.

When using standard front lines, be careful they are not rubbing on anything. I put a larger hose around mine to protect it and cable tied it to the mount on the strut so it can't rub.

pedroj · Post by **pedroj** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:37 pm

Thanks, I had a look tonight and the front brake lines appear to be in two sections, the upper most looks to be very similar to the rear line but a good 75mm longer so it might be possible to by new stock front lines and use them on the rear, might have to do a run to Subaru wrecker to get some old ones to compare threads.
Does any one have any on hand from spare parts that could lay them out side by side?

Peter

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:14 pm

The front brake line middle part is where the spring clip usually goes to clamp it to the strut. The brake line is still one piece and you can't separate it. With a banjo fitting at the caliper end it wouldn't work on the rear (rear line has a female threaded fitting at both ends)

And good luck finding new stock lines off the shelf

pedroj · Post by **pedroj** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:47 pm

Thanks Silverbullet,

Silverbullet wrote:The front brake line middle part is where the spring clip usually goes to clamp it to the strut. The brake line is still one piece and you can't separate it. With a banjo fitting at the caliper end it wouldn't work on the rear (rear line has a female threaded fitting at both ends)
And good luck finding new stock lines off the shelf

I was not sure if that was a join or not, so that clears that up for me, back to plan A new flexible hoses for the rear.

Peter.