Truck Needs New Brake Lines

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
Just talked to Winegardner.....$1200-$1800.....just for labor! :jet:

"Well.....when brake lines are replaced, we replace both of them." I get it. Just because one brake line is bad; doesn't mean the other one's not gonna go south after the currently broken one's replaced. I understand the reasoning; but.....the labor costs alone are UN-FRIGGIN-REAL! OFW I guess.....

Me: "The truck needs to be towed to your shop; can't drive it." So that's more $$ just to get it towed to L'town. I'm guessing a total bill for this will be $3000+ by the time everything's done. Sound about right gearheads?
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Just talked to Winegardner.....$1200-$1800.....just for labor! :jet:

"Well.....when brake lines are replaced, we replace both of them." I get it. Just because one brake line is bad; doesn't mean the other one's not gonna go south after the currently broken one's replaced. I understand the reasoning; but.....the labor costs alone are UN-FRIGGIN-REAL! OFW I guess.....

Me: "The truck needs to be towed to your shop; can't drive it." So that's more $$ just to get it towed to L'town. I'm guessing a total bill for this will be $3000+ by the time everything's done. Sound about right gearheads?

Not sure what year/make your truck is but b-in-law had his brake lines rot out on his truck(2009) and found that it was a known problem and recall that paid for the majority of the work to get him back on the road. Might be worth looking into via the web.
 

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you should have taken some automotive classes.
Why? I possess the knowledge; I lack the tools. Possessing the knowledge without the tools required for such an undertaking does me no good. It's not so much that I couldn't do it myself; it's the fact that I don't have the tools to manufacture the required finished system.....tubing benders/mandrels etc.. If I had those things, no one here would be reading this.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Just talked to Winegardner.....$1200-$1800.....just for labor! :jet:

"Well.....when brake lines are replaced, we replace both of them." I get it. Just because one brake line is bad; doesn't mean the other one's not gonna go south after the currently broken one's replaced. I understand the reasoning; but.....the labor costs alone are UN-FRIGGIN-REAL! OFW I guess.....

Me: "The truck needs to be towed to your shop; can't drive it." So that's more $$ just to get it towed to L'town. I'm guessing a total bill for this will be $3000+ by the time everything's done. Sound about right gearheads?

Get new brakes..

Go to AutoZone and ask for the new wireless brakes.. no more lines!!
 

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
Not sure what year/make your truck is but b-in-law had his brake lines rot out on his truck(2009) and found that it was a known problem and recall that paid for the majority of the work to get him back on the road. Might be worth looking into via the web.
It's a '99 K1500. The lady on the phone said Chevy makes complete systems; but wasn't sure if they still made them for that model year. So, my luck being what it is, it's probably gonna be a handmade system. Since it's probably gonna be a handmade system, I'd like to get steel brake lines, but that would just add BIG $$$ to the repair.
 
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DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
Could be actually.. Would be really easy to build.

Computers on cars today would be easy peasy..
You seem to be talking about electronically controlled brakes; that's ABS, which still requires hydraulic lines to the brake calipers at the wheels. Sounds good in theory; but, like I said, mechanically the brakes require hydraulic pressure to operate. That cannot be replaced by electronics. Now, I know there are electronic parking brakes; as my '16 Mazda has, wherein there's an electric motor that engages; I believe it's one rear brake caliper; but I know not of electronic power brakes.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
So, I'm here to tell you that the tools required are less than $100 total, for nice ones. I paid under $50 for okay ones. A tubing bender (these are tiny lines) and a flaring tool. That's it. Went throught this with the wifes 99 Blazer. Long line front to rear rotted out, and yes, it's endemic to these vehicles, but the class action and recall efforts failed. The labor that's killing you isn't the fabrication. Although that's a part of it. They buy raw line and do what in the Navy we call "Manufacture as per sample", meaning Jim-Bob takes your old line and copies it in new tubing, bend for bend. A couple three hours, tops.

What's killing you is the associated labor. Those brake lines are inside the frame rail almost the full length of the truck, and everything in the way needs to come out. Trans (maybe) and fuel tank. Did they mention that the fuel lines are made of the same stuff? And that you stand a better than even chance of destroying those trying to remove the fuel tank? And that there's a good chance that the integrated fuel pump/level sensor might bite it during the disconnection process? For another $600 for that part and more labor? That's what they told me.

So what I did was buy I think 20 feet of line, and the tools, and made a new line. Followed a different routing, but it was safe and worked fine for another three years til the trans failed. On second thought, cut your losses and drop a match in the fuel tank now.
 

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
So, I'm here to tell you that the tools required are less than $100 total, for nice ones. I paid under $50 for okay ones. A tubing bender (these are tiny lines) and a flaring tool. That's it. Went throught this with the wifes 99 Blazer. Long line front to rear rotted out, and yes, it's endemic to these vehicles, but the class action and recall efforts failed. The labor that's killing you isn't the fabrication. Although that's a part of it. They buy raw line and do what in the Navy we call "Manufacture as per sample", meaning Jim-Bob takes your old line and copies it in new tubing, bend for bend. A couple three hours, tops.

What's killing you is the associated labor. Those brake lines are inside the frame rail almost the full length of the truck, and everything in the way needs to come out. Trans (maybe) and fuel tank. Did they mention that the fuel lines are made of the same stuff? And that you stand a better than even chance of destroying those trying to remove the fuel tank? And that there's a good chance that the integrated fuel pump/level sensor might bite it during the disconnection process? For another $600 for that part and more labor? That's what they told me.

So what I did was buy I think 20 feet of line, and the tools, and made a new line. Followed a different routing, but it was safe and worked fine for another three years til the trans failed. On second thought, cut your losses and drop a match in the fuel tank now.
ha ha.....
Come to think of it g, I have a tubing bender and a flaring tool; unless my Brother took them to TN. I could just get a couple feet of line, the couplings and splice in a repair. The failure appears to be behind the firewall; under the cab.....so, maybe just a tad less than a couple feet of line.
 
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glhs837

Power with Control
ha ha.....
Come to think of it g, I have a tubing bender and a flaring tool; unless my Brother took them to TN. I could just get a couple feet of line, the couplings and splice in a repair. The failure appears to be behind the firewall; under the cab.....so, maybe just a tad less than a couple feet of line.


Hmm, that might very well be the six foot line that goes bake to the proportioning valve by the rear axle. I didn't splice, just did the whole thing.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
You seem to be talking about electronically controlled brakes; that's ABS, which still requires hydraulic lines to the brake calipers at the wheels. Sounds good in theory; but, like I said, mechanically the brakes require hydraulic pressure to operate. That cannot be replaced by electronics. Now, I know there are electronic parking brakes; as my '16 Mazda has, wherein there's an electric motor that engages; I believe it's one rear brake caliper; but I know not of electronic power brakes.

This is 2017.. Hydraulics don't always mean lines.. and reservoirs..

MOST planes are built this way now.. NO central hydraulic system, no central hydraulic reservoir.. Each actuator or control has it's own VERY small hydraulic reservoir and a small motor.. no more central reservoir, and no more single point of failure. I think would be easy to implement in a car's braking system, and would make things like brake assisted turning or skid control much easier to implement.
 

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
Hmm, that might very well be the six foot line that goes bake to the proportioning valve by the rear axle. I didn't splice, just did the whole thing.
I know I said 'under the cab.' I haven't thoroughly looked to find exactly where the line failed. Brake fluid sprayed and then proceeded to drip from underneath the whole driver's side; don't know if it was from front to back, or what; so it could be a proportioning valve failure.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand

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DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member
This is 2017.. Hydraulics don't always mean lines.. and reservoirs..

MOST planes are built this way now.. NO central hydraulic system, no central hydraulic reservoir.. Each actuator or control has it's own VERY small hydraulic reservoir and a small motor.. no more central reservoir, and no more single point of failure. I think would be easy to implement in a car's braking system, and would make things like brake assisted turning or skid control much easier to implement.
So instead there could be multiple points-of-failure to try to find? No thanks.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
So instead there could be multiple points-of-failure to try to find? No thanks.

when you have a failure it's better to have 3 brakes than none.

Same if its a plane. It's best to have one actuator or control surface not work than all of them
 
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