I blew a brake line.

[egreene9012]

2008 4.0 4wd. Couple weeks ago I had to slam on the brakes for a deer, thankfully I didn't hit it but I did blow my front right brake line coming from the ABS module. I have looked online and found nothing that looks like the line I have taken out and my local junkyard was no help either. At this point unless one of you can direct me to the specific brake line I need to buy (I don't think anyone sells it, I've checked with a ford dealership and even they cant get it.) then I will need to make my own brake line to replace it. How hard is this? I've never made a brake line and it seems somewhat straightforward but the consequences to being wrong are pretty steep. If I do make my own line there's no way I'm getting all of those bends in it to route it through every clip I had to take it out of. Has anyone replaced this line specifically and where/how did you route it differently?

 

[franklin2]

I just had a rear brake line blow on a van that I have. It seems all the OEM's go crazy with all those bends, I have always found it unnecessary to copy all that.

First off, find out what size the line is and what type of ends are on it. The particular van I have had bubble flares with metric ends. But the line was still 3/16, go figure. Most older cars and trucks have the inverted flare ends(look like a speaker cone).

What I did was eyeball where the line was going, and roughly measured with the measuring tape the length I needed. I figured 5ft would make it, and it did. It just so happens they sell a universal piece of Ni-copp brake line at the parts stores, with the bubble flare and proper metric nut already on it. They also sell universal lines with the inverted flare. The 5ft line worked perfectly, missing all those crazy bends, but still was able to use most of the mounting clips.

If you want to flare the ends yourself, you will need the flaring tool and you can get a roll of Ni-copp off Amazon. The reason I keep recommending the Ni-copp (nickel copper alloy) is it doesn't rust, and it is so easy to bend by hand. You can fish it through the truck, bending it as you go, it routes and bends like stiff wire. And another plus, it does not rust.