Brakes: Hard line vs. Soft line

[juswin]

Well, I busted a hard brake line this morning (rear right, top side) and it got me looking at what I had going on down there. Turns out the whole rig has hard brake lines front and back.... So, I was wondering what everyone thought would be best since I think I might redo all the lines. Where should the hard lines and soft lines go? Can it be all soft? I'm not sure what the pros and cons are for each... I will upload pics soon so you see what I'm working with....

 

[1978FJ4O]

Your brake lines are under high amounts of pressure and should only be hard lines.There is only one portion of soft line that goes from the frame to the front two calipers. Everything else is hard lines and should be kept that way.

 

[Poser]

Your brake lines are under high amounts of pressure and should only be hard lines.There is only one portion of soft line that goes from the frame to the front two calipers. Everything else is hard lines and should be kept that way.

PSST!

(Look at the knuckles on your 1978) (it is the same for the drum brake axles as well)

 

[Poser]

Where should the hard lines and soft lines go?

Where the factory installed them.

Where should the hard lines and soft lines go? Can it be all soft?

Absolutely not.

 

[juswin]

Where the factory installed them.

How do I find that out? I'm working with a heavily modified BJ40 here.... previous owner was a mechanic and instead of fixing it using stock parts, he just kept making homemade remedies for everything. I don't see anywhere on the chassis where the lines should be attached... Ideas?

 

[numby]

Generally speaking there are hard lines from the master cylinder to the frame and then along the frame to connection points near each axle. You should have a soft line from there to each axle to allow for axle movement. The rear axle will have hard lines all the way across from brake backing plate to backing plate. The front axle will also have a hard line all the way across but it will end in two soft lines to the backing plates which allow the knuckles to steer. Try looking at some of the pictures on the Spectre web site. There are a lot of similarities between between models.

Specter Off-Road Land Cruiser Parts - Page 086 Land Cruiser Brake Lines & Hoses

 

[cjgoode]

The rear should have 1 soft line going to the rear axle and connects to the hard line that goes from plate to plate as mentioned above. Just want to make sure you did not think there was no soft line in the rear. The soft lines should be as short as possible but still allow the axles to fully drop down without any possibility of stretching them. At full drop possible of the axles there should still be a little slack on them. You do not want stock size if you vehicle has much of a lift.

 

[juswin]

Thanks for the help guys. Got a better idea on how they work after this fix up.