FJ40 Spilled Her Guts (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 3, 2014
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Location
New Mexico
Driving down the road today and I had to hit the brakes hard due to an unexpected traffic jam. About a mile down the road the brake pedal went soft and I eventually lost all the brakes. Made it to a parking lot and my girl gave me a ride home. Fluid was pouring out from the left front brake area.

Separately, axle fluid has been leaking out of my front left birfield.

So now I have a big mess of brake fluid and axle fluid leaking out of the front left brake and birfield.

How would you guys deal with this?

Rebuild everything from the inner axle seal out? The brake discs and pads were nearly new, but the previous owner let the truck sit for a few years.

Any advice? Thanks!

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That Birf looks very similar to mine-I have the rebuild kit ready-just need the time.
As for the brakes-it looks to be an external leak - not a blown inner caliper cylinder(based on the wetting on the outside)-although, that fluid seems to go everywhere when it lets go--maybe a loose or broken brake line/connector?
 
Yep! looks like you need to find where the brakeline pop'd & you should probably rebuild the knuckles sometime in the future.
 
the caliper bolt is loose so maybey the brake line is not tight i would check the whole truck now .have someone push on the pedal while you watch then you will know where the problem is
 
First try to get the brake fluid off anything important or it will destroy it. Marlin and Georg have great upgrades for those front lines, if in fact they are OEM.
 
Good catch on the bolt and lock washer. I missed it.most likely the hard line and not the soft lines I was speaking about above.
 
Update:

Was away on a business trip last week and finally got time to inspect my brakes today....

Unbelievably, one brake caliper bolt was completely missing and the other one had backed out on its own . When I had to brake hard, the caliper must have moved and broke the hard brake line connection, resulting in brake fluid gushing out.

Moral of the story....after you buy a 34 year old truck, inspect EVERYTHING...

Received a new hard brake line in the mail from SOR for $15 and Ace Hardware hooked me up with a caliper bolt that will work in the meantime.

I'm going to take a few days off soon to rebuild all the brakes and axles using OEM or better parts...

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Seeing this almost makes me grateful for our country's compulsory 6-monthly safety inspections... :D
 

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