Broken brake line

[jgranthevagrant]

Truck is a 1990 Extracab with the 22re. A brake line broke or wore through yesterday about 200ks from home. Limped home in 4wd. Line is spraying brake fluid on the passenger side frame rail, right where it makes a little s bend to go past the torsion bar attachment housing. I can't find a diagram in the FSM for the lines running rearward. It looks like the whole line needs replacing from the engine bay to the rear cylinder? Do I have to custom build it myself or buy it from Toyota? Lines look nice and clean and not rusty or damaged, apart from the leak. I notice a lot of gravel and dirt trapped behind and under the lines as well. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[gnob]

Depending on which line, one of those gets deleted if you remove the LSPV. One of those lines goes to the valve and the other back

 

[KLF]

I have bought pre-bent lines from Toyota, they are worth it but they are really long for that application, very complicated run. They are installed without the cab or bed on the frame yet. You could just get a bubble-flare tool (borrow from AutoZone) and a section of line and some metric fittings, splice it in.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Yes i was trying to trace it back to positively identify exactly which line is leaking. they twist down off the frame rail and then turn up and over the frame rail again near the gas tank. Then I lose track of which is which after the gas tank. Looks like a fairly tricky splice because the break is right at one of the bends near the frame rail. Does splicing affect the brake performance? It is only for the rear brakes so not quite as crucial. Looks like removing the flare ends will be a headache as well. 28 years of corrosion.

 

[KLF]

If it's done well, it won't effect performance at all. The hardest part will be flaring the old line under the truck. Resist the urge to use a plumbing tubing cutter, it hardens the line at the cut and makes it almost impossible to flare correctly. What I do is cut the line a tiny bit long with a cutoff wheel in a Dremel tool. Then clamp the flaring jig on the line, file the end very flat and square. Deburr inside and out then crimp the flare. Don't forget to slide the line nut on before flaring!

Make sure you use a 10mm flare wrench on those rusty fittings, with plenty of Kroil.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Thanks KLF. I was at the dealer today. they still have the hard lines for about $60 each. I might try to replace the whole line, depending on a few factors, like finding the flaring tool and jigs at a reasonable cost. No auto zone here North of the border. Since the break is at one of the s bends, does it make sense to splice in a piece of flexible brake line?