Brake Tube Replacement when, if ever? (1 Viewer)

[N8VRepublic]

I recently bought a 1995 80 base model with 313k miles on it. We took a drive up a mountain trail this weekend and on the way back down the brakes were cooking! I was testing the brakes at the crest of each grade and then it happened. As we could see down the next hill the pedal just dumped to the floor and I thought I was in a bad dream. Looking straight down the hill I imagined us just careening out of control and launching off the bend. Fortunately we were going slow enough that I could stop the truck. We backed up to level ground and let the brakes cool off. I have flushed the fluid and things are working good now but I have a lot of upgrades on the way to replace the tired old system. See below for pic of old fluid.

Brake tubes are among the things my Jeep driving cohorts are recommending I replace but do I need to? It seems a bit excessive and a HUGE PIA. Every instance of brake tube replacement that I could find was related to damage from rocks etc... or corrosion.

 

[Tedward]

Getting that garbage out... priceless!

Soft brake lines/hoses are a good thing to replace if you don't know it has been done in 20+ years.
Your brake fade was, at least in part, due to that watery mix of broke down slushy junk.

 

[Rifleman]

I've had so many customers who never wanted to spend money on flushing their brake system. What i would explain to them, their brake fluid should NOT be the color of maple syrup, it should be clear. I'd tell them that the reason why their fluid is the color of maple syrup, is because brake fluid picks up moisture from the air, and that moisture is rusting their brake system from the inside out. Hence the need to flush their brake system EVER 2 YEARS! Oh well, pay me a little now, or a whole LOT MORE later on, the choice is yours.

 

[N8VRepublic]

Getting that garbage out... priceless!

Soft brake lines/hoses are a good thing to replace if you don't know it has been done in 20+ years.
Your brake fade was, at least in part, due to that watery mix of broke down slushy junk.

Agreed. I have a set of new brake lines coming from Crown Performance: Stainless Steel Brake Lines - Braided Hoses for Cars, Trucks & SUV.

 

[greentruck]

The front soft lines to the calipers are relatively exposed. I replaced mine a couple pf years back. The rear hoses are fairly well tucked away sitting on top of the rear brake location. Got the hoses, but then put off replacing because they looked good still. YMMV

 

[Heckraiser]

The hard lines should be fine unless your truck is really rusty. The soft lines may need replacement. Mine are showing some hairline cracks in the rubber at 25 years and 335k miles. It's on the to-do list. But a close visual inspection will tell you what you need to know. These old trucks sometimes get a stuck or dragging caliper too. The truck's driving behavior should tell you if that's your problem. Even if you only have one dragging caliper, best to replace in pairs.

Flushing the crap fluid out and putting in new pads and rotors and *thoroughly* bleeding should bring you right back to where you aught to be. These trucks are hard to bleed, so pack your patience. I use a vaccuum bleeder.

 

[ZackR]

Replace the old brake lines. I had one leak and luckily saw the puddle before leaving on a trip.

With fluid that gross you should expect to do another flush in the near future (when replacing the lines) to get all of the gunk out.

 

[bicycleagent003]

IHMO, whether you should replace the soft brake lines depends on your plans for the truck. Right now it's 25 years old. If it were me, and I planned to keep the truck more than a couple more years, I would replace all the soft lines.
Recently, I replaced all my soft brake lines with extended Toyota lines, and bled the system. It did make a difference, I got a bit firmer pedal, but not as much as I had hoped. Then I replaced all the calipers with new OEM, Centric premium rotors and Power Stop Z36 pads, and bled the brakes two more times. Now my brakes are what I would call confidence inspiring. The total cost was about $1200, and I sourced everything as inexpensively as I could. I'm cheap like that.
I realize money can be tight, but brakes are really important. Also know that shifting into Low on long descents can really help avoid brake fade.
Good luck, let us know what you do and how it works out.

 

[greentruck]

IHMO, whether you should replace the soft brake lines depends on your plans for the truck. Right now it's 25 years old. If it were me, and I planned to keep the truck more than a couple more years, I would replace all the soft lines.
SNIP

Yeah, that was exactly my goal. I was prepared to do this both times I worked on my brakes recently. Didn't do the rears as they were in such good shape, but the parts are on hand.

 

[jonheld]

Some things to consider.
You're driving a 6000 pound bulldozer. It is WAY more important to stop than it is to go.
Since the fluid in the brake system was crap for so long, the insides of the calipers are now nice and crusty from all the water, and the pistons are most likely corroded, so your brake performance is now reduced. You should inspect/rebuild/replace the calipers depending on condition. Use Toyota parts. Stay away from NAPA.
Soft brake lines can "look good" from the outside and be crap on the inside. Replace them with OEM. Braided metal lines are a marketing ploy.
Your rotors are likely past due for replacement. Do not cut them, replace them. Again, use OEM parts.
Be sure to inspect/replace the main vacuum line for the booster along with the valve and grommet.
Look for signs of brake fluid leakage between the master cylinder and booster interface. Brake fluid will dissolve paint, so if there is missing paint below the gasket, then the master is/was leaking. Again. stay OEM.

Vehicle brakes are a system, not just a bunch of parts thrown together. Brake performance degrades slowly over time so the system needs to be maintained regularly.

 

[Orange Hat]

My 1997 has 244k on the clock and due to some rust on the rear axle, I pulled it out for a rebuild (new control arm bushings, bearings, clean/paint, etc). The hard lines weren't in bad shape but since I was that far into the project, I went ahead and built my own lines with CuNi and utilized new hardware...I plan to replace all my hard lines with the CuNi as it was so easy to work with.

I also installed a Wit's End parking brake kit (as my old set was shot and needed to be cut off with a torch), EBC rotors/pads, Slee SS lines and...the part I'm worried about now per @jonheld, NAPA calipers. I haven't put the axle back under the truck yet but now I'm thinking I need to just rebuild my old calipers with a kit from Wit's End.

 

[jonheld]

the part I'm worried about now per @jonheld, NAPA calipers. I haven't put the axle back under the truck yet but now I'm thinking I need to just rebuild my old calipers with a kit from Wit's End.

Like anything else, it depends on condition. The caliper itself is simply a pressure vessel so the outside condition is cosmetic. What matters is the condition of the cylinder walls and the pistons and any other moving parts. I rebuild calipers using OEM parts, however I have needed to replace a few pistons over the years.

There is an entire thread dedicated to NAPA eclipse calipers that I started some time ago.

NAPA Eclipse Calipers

With all the recent brake talk, I thought it would be a good idea to order a set of replacement calipers. The NAPA Eclipse seemed to be the caliper of choice around here and they were significantly less expensive than OEM. Turns out, it's pretty obvious why. One of the pistons looks like Chinese...

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