[Johnny Penn]

I've had an on and off slow leak in a brake line (or a brake pipe rather) on the driver's side about a foot or two rear of the front axle. Well because I ignored it and never got around to dealing with it, it finally blew out and dumped all my brake fluid and now no brakes. Lucky for me I was close to home. I have a 1995 RRC LWB suffering from several rusting issues. I'm hoping to get another winter out of her because I think the salt will win out soon, so i don't want to put a lot of money into her. I'm in Rochester, NY

I tried doing some research on here about what the fix should be and what I have learned is that I should use 3/16" of 4.75 mm Cunifer cooper/nickel piping or similar. I may be able to reuse the fittings but I'm unsure what kind of flare or bubble flare or double flare should be used on the raw piping that I fit. Has anybody had any experience in replacing the brake lines that run to the rear? Should I bite the bullet on this one and find/pay for a stock replacement brake line? Who has a good price? Thanks in advance!

John

 

[rtkraken]

Just replaced this line on my 92 SWB. Not sure if your buggy's the same fittings but here's what I had to invent.

The trouble with the main front to rear brake line is that it had two different fittings on each end, one a male threaded bubble and the other a female threaded flare. I first removed the old brake line and borrowed a friends car and headed off to Autozone with the end fittings for reference. I ended up buying two different sections of 3/16 brake pipe. One with the flare ends and one with the bubble ends. I reused the female flare nut over the flare end and used the male fitting that came with the pipe on the bubble end. I also purchased a 3/16 tubing coupler fitting. I went back to the vehicle, cut one of the ends off each new pipe (small tubing cutter is handy tool here), swapped the remaining fitting out on the flare tubing with my reused female flare, fit both pipe ends loosely, bent and ran the pipes by hand to a spot mid-frame then cut and coupled them together, then snugged everything up and bled the system. Total cost of parts less than $20.

The tip here is to use a 3/16 tubing coupler fitting, then you can mix end types at will. :thumb:

 

[Danny]

The absolute easiest way is to buy a pipe flaring kit. I bought one a few years ago for very little money. Means you can make your own brake pipes as and when you want, with whatever type of flare you need - just duplicate however the original was made. Avoids all the hassle of taking off the old pipe, measuring it, finding somewhere to make the pipe up and so on.