really confused with brake lines

[gman]

Ok here it goes
i have a 93 ford ranger 4x4. i recently lost my brakes and am now replacing the broken line and a few other old lines in the front of my truck.

The first line i have questons about is the one that runs from the master clyinder to the drivers side brake hose. i went to napa and brought my old line and it matched up with a 3/16 line with a metric tread and bubble flare. it theads in to the master clyinder fine but when it wont tread into the drives side brake hose.

The next thing is the other line. it runs from the secound fiting on the top of the brake hose and heads off to the other side of he car(passanger side) and then therads into another brake line. when i matched this one up it was also 3/16 line but had standard theads and a double flare.

i think all i have to do is buy another 3/16 brake line with a standard thead and put the fitting on the end of the line that threads into the divers side brake hose. Will the flaring matter?

Do these truck usually have bolth metric and standard fittings (and different flarings) or has my truck been messed with?

Any help would be great.
Thanks
gerard

 

[kcm1582]

It's not at all uncommon to have both types of flares used on a vehicle.

 

[sloth69mustang]

i actually replaced my brake line that goes from driver side to passenger side today as well. but there is a place here in columbus that if i bring them the original line they will match it exactly with a new line bends and fittings. they also do stainless steel 45 dollar line but i will never need to buy that again.

the lines on that line should be the same on each end so no problem there and i thought it was just a single flair. but mine is a 97. they could have changed it. so for the other lines you talked about.....

i never go to napa anymore for brake lines bc if you have 2 dif types of fittings on one line the have to get 2 dif lines and patch them together with a union of some sort and then your lengths are all weird.

it is common in ford to mix metric and standard everythinggggggg on rangers. bolts are both metric and standard through the whole truck

 

[gman]

thanks so much. i was just kinda concered bc its brakes after all

 

[sloth69mustang]

you got a manual just down shift lol. i delivered pizzas for 2 weeks with now brakes on OSU campus by just down shifting and using the e brake lol

 

[TRH]

I'll try to address these in a proper way.

i never go to napa anymore for brake lines bc if you have 2 dif types of fittings on one line the have to get 2 dif lines and patch them together with a union of some sort and then your lengths are all weird.

Why? Just flare your own and problem solved. Couplers are always bad.

The first line i have questons about is the one that runs from the master clyinder to the drivers side brake hose. i went to napa and brought my old line and it matched up with a 3/16 line with a metric tread and bubble flare. it theads in to the master clyinder fine but when it wont tread into the drives side brake hose.

That's because the master cylinder is metric, whilst the driver's side brake hose is (off the top of my head) 3/8", otherwise 7/16". You need to mismatch the flares, and the best way to do it is flare your own line instead of coupling different lengths. Sorry, it sucks, I know.
The fitting on the MC may also be a bubble flare, not a double flare, make sure to check. Sometimes you can force one to seat on the other, but it's not a proper seal and is pretty doubtful. Brakes after all, better safe than sorry.

The next thing is the other line. it runs from the secound fiting on the top of the brake hose and heads off to the other side of he car(passanger side) and then therads into another brake line. when i matched this one up it was also 3/16 line but had standard theads and a double flare.

Sounds right. Typically it's just your master cylinder and the fancy ABS stuff that will have metric bubble flares, unless it's an import. On a Ranger, the MC and the ABS hardware MAY be metric, typically only the MC.

i think all i have to do is buy another 3/16 brake line with a standard thead and put the fitting on the end of the line that threads into the divers side brake hose. Will the flaring matter?

In short, yes. A flaring tool costs you about $25, or you can rent one. It's really not that hard to do and a little practice will give you a skill that lasts a lifetime, and ALWAYS comes in handy.
Impress your friends with hand-made transmission and fuel lines, too.

Do these truck usually have bolth metric and standard fittings (and different flarings) or has my truck been messed with?

It's normal, fret not.

 

[rkneeshaw]

I just replaced the MC-to-drivers-front hard line today, here is what I have on my 1994 4x4:

The Master Cylinder has a 3/16 standard thread for the line to the front brakes and takes a bubble flare
And this I haven't confirmed, but the master cylinder appears to use a 1/4" standard thread for the rear brakes
The drivers side T junction takes 3/16" double flare
Passenger side hardline-to-brake-hose connection is 3/16" double flare

So my MC-to-drivers-front hard line is a 3/16" bubble flare to 3/16" double flare. I ended up buying a premade 30" long 3/16" hard line that had double flare on each end and used a double-flare-to-bubble-flare adapter to thread into the master cylinder.

 

[Earl43P]

Huh. Never heard of a bubble flare (off to google that).

I re-lined my 83 4wd years ago. Replaced every line, double flared every fitting. Still have the tools. Worth buying them and bulk line is cheaper. I remember having mixed metric/standard fittings too. Buy a mini-tubing cutter (plumbing dept).
Hand bender is better than that coil spring junk bender too.

I only flared one line with without a fitting - the first one!