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Jake de Villiers
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 5911
Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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 Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Colorado Yeti wrote: |
The only small complication was when one of the flex lines decided to explode while I was under the vehicle, spewing hot, molten brake fluid all over my face. Yeah.....that was a nice little treat.
Thanks everyone for the advice. Now I am going to go change my facial dressings.....and call my plastic surgeon to see if the skin graft is a match. |
Bummer. It will take a while for all that hair to grow back! 
_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com |
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woggs1
Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2007
Posts: 531
Location: South Pacifica California
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dhaavers
Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 7756
Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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| Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Colorado Yeti wrote: |
| I did finish the job yesterday and the rest of it went better than expected... |
Good on you. All that work done, a safer van to show for it, and it'll be easier next time...or for the next guy.
Heal well...
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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Gizmoman
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 1554
Location: Nevada
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 5:41 am Post subject: |
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| Colorado Yeti wrote: |
Well stated Gizmoman. I am used to working on old Jeeps which are ridiculously simple & easy to work on.
I did finish the job yesterday and the rest of it went better than expected.....mostly. I cut off all of the stupid little brackets with a dremel tool so I could get a really good bite on the flare nut with a good pair of vice grips. Then I heated the connection with MAPP gas and slowly worked them apart. The only small complication was when one of the flex lines decided to explode while I was under the vehicle, spewing hot, molten brake fluid all over my face. Yeah.....that was a nice little treat.
Thanks everyone for the advice. Now I am going to go change my facial dressings.....and call my plastic surgeon to see if the skin graft is a match. |
Very sorry to hear about the mishap. I should have said " Do not heat it too much, wear safety goggles, do not place head under hot brake fluid".
Also, was this one of the lines where you had cut the old hose? It shouldn't have "exploded" if it was cut.
Glad to hear you have it done though. (For future reference) one trick to keeping the fluid from pouring out too fast is to put some masking tape on the breather hole on the cap. Works like a thumb on a straw. Fluid will still come out, but very slowly.
_________________
82 Vanagon Westy - AAZ 1.9 TD, HE200 Holset, WAIC, 27.75 dia tires, Electric power steering, 5-speed AAP w/.078 5th
Oversize spare carrier - stock location (no longer for sale). |
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Colorado Yeti
Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2013
Posts: 356
Location: Ft. Collins, Colorado
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 10:25 am Post subject: |
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No, I did not cut the line 1st when I heated it. Looking back I should have done that 1st......after donning safety goggles. I'm sure what happened is I boiled the brake fluid and the pressure in the line was so much that it blew apart the connection between the metal and the rubber. Great idea on blocking the vent hole on the master cylinder cap. I tried to work fast so I didn't drain the master cylinder dry while changing the hoses.
My family is heading out for a 2-week roadtrip to the Oregon & Washington coast in late July. I am really glad that I addressed these safety issues before we head out. Thanks everyone again for the advice on this. |
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greenraVR6
Samba Member
Joined: January 19, 2011
Posts: 306
Location: Bellingham, WA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 11:22 am Post subject: |
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That's a pretty cool tool. I've done tons of brake line removal/replacement over the years and used to dread it every time I had to loosen the nut between the hard/flex hose. That is until I finally bought a good line wrench off the Mac Tool truck. It is far superior to any line wrench you can get from a FLAPS (they will flex and strip the nut 9 times out of 10 it seems like). The Mac wrench is beefy and there is no possibility of it flexing. Breaking these nuts loose has been a breeze for me with the Mac wrench  Everything else is done with Crapsman tools in my garage
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'88 vanagon*****'91 gti 1.8t*****'04 r32*****'11 suburban z71 |
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Jamo7
Samba Member
Joined: September 25, 2014
Posts: 124
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:34 pm Post subject: Thanks! |
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I finished my flex-line install a few days ago and success! Thanks to the wisdom of this and other posts, the pre-soaked, hard to flex-line attachments came apart pretty easily, and I changed my brake fluid too in my new van to me as of July.
Below is a photo of the driver's side front flex line at the caliper end.
This crack is what motivated me to step up and change the flex lines. The crack looks pretty scary to me, and makes me so glad I changed them before anything burst or lost fluid. Most of the time I am driving my family around, so I am very relieved.
The two following websites provided me with enough information to drain and bleed my brakes.
http://www.vanagontravels.com/2012/08/vanagon-repair-brake-master-cylinder.html
http://haysvwrepair.com/stupid-brake-problems/
I also gathered information elsewhere on TheSamba for adjusting the rear drums. The brakes still need some fine tuning, but I am educated and ready!
Most of the time I feel that everybody here has already done all these things and knows way more than me, but if there are any other lurkers out there like me, all this information may be enough to get you going. Good luck!
James[/img] |
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1vw4x4
Banned
Joined: June 22, 2005
Posts: 472
Location: Pgh. PA
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| Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2014 9:51 pm Post subject: Re: Thanks! |
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Good picture of what to look for when checking brake hoses.
I wonder what a braided stainless steel hose is going to do once the
rubber inside gets this way.
| Jamo7 wrote: |
I finished my flex-line install a few days ago and success! Thanks to the wisdom of this and other posts, the pre-soaked, hard to flex-line attachments came apart pretty easily, and I changed my brake fluid too in my new van to me as of July.
Below is a photo of the driver's side front flex line at the caliper end.
This crack is what motivated me to step up and change the flex lines. The crack looks pretty scary to me, and makes me so glad I changed them before anything burst or lost fluid. Most of the time I am driving my family around, so I am very relieved.
The two following websites provided me with enough information to drain and bleed my brakes.
http://www.vanagontravels.com/2012/08/vanagon-repair-brake-master-cylinder.html
http://haysvwrepair.com/stupid-brake-problems/
I also gathered information elsewhere on TheSamba for adjusting the rear drums. The brakes still need some fine tuning, but I am educated and ready!
Most of the time I feel that everybody here has already done all these things and knows way more than me, but if there are any other lurkers out there like me, all this information may be enough to get you going. Good luck!
James[/img] |
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Gizmoman
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2011
Posts: 1554
Location: Nevada
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| Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:48 am Post subject: Re: Thanks! |
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| 1vw4x4 wrote: |
Good picture of what to look for when checking brake hoses.
I wonder what a braided stainless steel hose is going to do once the
rubber inside gets this way. |
Just to be clear, even this hose has a braided steel core with rubber inside. I cut mine with dykes to make removal easier and sure enough, wire braid between the inner and outer rubber. The split simply shows it's age and while the hose could fail, it might not be at this location. The rubber cover has been exposed to the elements - the rubber core inside, not so much.
You are correct, the inside could be just as bad and the results typically would be a "wet" hose and a spongy pedal. Not saying it couldn't burst but it's unlikely. Also, bits of old rubber will cause issues with the tiny ports in the system.
Definitely time for a change.
I'm not advocating expensive SS braided lines as the stock ones lasted over 32 years & 200K. Just wanted to make sure folks don't think their brake hoses are just rubber hoses - they all have wire braid.
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82 Vanagon Westy - AAZ 1.9 TD, HE200 Holset, WAIC, 27.75 dia tires, Electric power steering, 5-speed AAP w/.078 5th
Oversize spare carrier - stock location (no longer for sale). |
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nemobuscaptain
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 3874
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| Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 10:43 pm Post subject: Re: Tips for installing new front flex brake lines |
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Just doing this job. My service manuals were useless. Thank you guys for the tips. I wanted to add a few things.
First is that that I have a midwest van and the hard brake line was already done so it may have been much easier for me, BUT the sizes were different. For some reason the hard brake line that had been replaced had 10mm nuts and the rear hoses had 15mm ends. Weird huh? Front is 11 and 14mm as is to be expected. So have the tools available. I have trouble finding the 14mm and 11mm brakeline wrenches (forget what they are really called.)
Second, cutting the hose worked like a charm. I looked very closely to ensure I had the right hoses before i did this. At some point it occurred to me that I should make sure I could break the top and bottom nuts AND the bleeder screw before proceeding with cutting the hose. After cutting the hose and breaking the nut, it was pretty easy just to twist the hoses off just holding the hose itself with my hand. (And easy to put one side of the new hose on using the same method, I chose the hardest part to get to, behind the disk on the front and the upper ones on the rear.)
Third, I almost stripped one of the small nuts on the hard line. I could feel it. I stopped. Relaxed. Took a deep breath. Cleaned my tool. Sprayed more PB blaster penetrating oil. Cleaned the nut. Relaxed. Tapped it with a downward motion 100 times as GM Bulley's grandfather told us all. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=573640&highlight=gm+bulley Tightened just a smidge, then turned. It broke. That one post on Gerry Server so many years ago has saved my azz repeatedly.
Third, my hoses looked old and corroded on the ends, but the rubber looked ok, no cracks or problems. I'm not sure if they were original or not (too dirty to read any markings) but I suspect the rears were not because of the odd 15mm ends on those hoses. Of note is despite the hoses looking pretty good on the outside, the inside diameters of all were markedly smaller with one almost swollen shut. (It depended on how you moved the hose.)
Fourth, my front hose was pretty corroded and was stuck to that lil bracket, despite the hardline screwing out easily. For some reason only the front flexible brake hoses were held captive. The ones in the back were not, I had to get a wrench (15mm instead of 14mm) on those.
Fifth, working on my bus makes me happy. And angry. And greasy. And happy.
Last edited by nemobuscaptain on Sat May 28, 2016 3:12 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Merian
Samba Member
Joined: January 04, 2014
Posts: 5212
Location: Orygun
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| Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 11:42 am Post subject: Re: Tips for installing new front flex brake lines |
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| nemobuscaptain wrote: |
... despite the hoses looking pretty good on the outside, the inside diameters of all were markedly smaller with one almost swollen shut. (It depended on how you moved the hose.)
... |
repeated for emphasis
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bfulton
Samba Member
Joined: November 30, 2012
Posts: 104
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 12:06 pm Post subject: Re: Tips for installing new front flex brake lines |
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Just had the pleasure of doing this on my westy. All connections broke free without any grief and after reading through all the brake line posts on here in advance, I assumed I did something wrong. Guess I'm lucky, the van has been neglected by humans more than climate.
7/16" and 14mm open end wrench on each corner. Also replace my brake fluid reservoir at the same time (it busted when I tried to open it). I'll fill it up tonight and have my wife help me bleed the lines. Looking forward to getting the van rolling AND stopping once again.
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1980 Vanagon Westfalia (As-You-Want Brown)
Rebuilt 2.0 AC Motor
SLOWLY rebuilding the rest of it |
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Dwighia
Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2010
Posts: 78
Location: Arlington, VA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2021 5:53 am Post subject: Re: Tips for installing new front flex brake lines |
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Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. It really helped me (eventually) remove my front brake hoses, one connection of which was hopelessly stuck. I bought the flare nut wrenches in the crows foot style and also used heat and freezing (inverted canned air spray) as thermal shocks.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002SRJF4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
Also wanted to emphasize (for future readers) the issue of brake hoses deteriorating from the inside more than the outside. Here's a pix of the restricted inside of one of my rear brake hoses. (They looked fine on the outside) Opening is less than the diameter of a paperclip. I am now a true believer!
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'71 Ghia Sedan
'68 Ghia Convertible
'84 Vanagon
If you dismantle a VW engine and reassemble it enough times, will you end up with enough extra parts for another engine? |
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