[jaybee]

Yesterday I was driving the truck and the brake warning light came on. This surprised me, because I had just done front pads about 2 weeks ago, and actually overflowed the reservoir when pushing the pistons back in. Not very long after the light came on my pedal started going almost to the floor before firming up - confirming that the fluid level was very low! I pulled over and topped off the reservoir and continued to my destination about 5 miles away being very carefull not to get close to the back of anyone.

Once I go there I immediately looked at the front brake hoses figuring I must have inadvertently stretched one or something when I did the pads and it had now failed. All was dry up front. But, there was brake fluid covering most of the fuel tank, inside of the the left rear inner wheel, and the left side of the axle. The fuel tank is in the way of being able to see where it failed, but it must have simply burst the hard line going to the rear over the fuel tank. The leak is pretty big - left a large puddle in a hurry.

Now for the best part - I had just filled the tank! Doh! Now I gotta pump out almost 40 gallons of fuel so I can fix a brake line... Fun!

So, are there any unions or other connections in the rear brake line up above (actually I guess it's beside) the fuel tank? Anyone else have a failure here?

Jason

 

[RenoF250]

I think there may be a union up there, can't remeber for sure.

To get to the line you could also remove the bed. That is how I did my in-tank mod. Really kind of a pain though so probably not worth it.

 

[NCHornet]

That is a strage problem. When you pushed the pistons back into the caliper was the lid open on the resivour? If the lid wasn't off I could see you building enough pressure to blow a fitting, but if the lid was off it should have just came out the top. Very strange. Let us know what you find out.

 

[JimTJr]

YOu MAY be able to pull the bed easily. Many on here swear that pulling the bed is easier than dropping the tank when doing the tank mods...I dont know about that. We did Daves (4Cstr)s tank for a SLAPS mod day,,,and it was the longest darn 15min mod I ever saw,, about 4+ hrs I think!
If you have some cans I would siphon and drop it. Take about half out,, use a floor jack WITH A 2x10 laying on it,, I would take one about 3-4' long. Maybe secure it to the jack cradle somehow? Have help holding it balanced while takeing it down, You would not need to totaly remove it from under the truck,,just drop it a foot or so. Then set each end on milk crates with the jack still under it maybe?
That way you could get by with only siphoning half the tank maybe?
Just another thought!!!!

 

[FMTRVT]

Not that odd of a brake failure for your truck's age. The lines often rust up in that area. Has nothing to do with the brake job.

 

[jaybee]

Yep, I know it had nothing to do with the pad change - but before looking under the truck the front brake hoses were the first thought. I do find it a bit odd that the brake line failed since this has always been a southern truck and never saw salt. The rest of the brake line that is exposed is not the least bit rusty. I suppose it could have gotten rusty inside a clamp, but I'll have to wait till I get the tank down to see...

Before I take it apart - does anyonehappen to know whether these are standard SAE inverted flare or if they are metric DIN bubble flare? I can see they are 1/4", and the nuts look like SAE inverted flare - but can't tell till I take it apart.

 

[RenoF250]

[ QUOTE ]
YOu MAY be able to pull the bed easily. Many on here swear that pulling the bed is easier than dropping the tank when doing the tank mods...I dont know about that. We did Daves (4Cstr)s tank for a SLAPS mod day,,,and it was the longest darn 15min mod I ever saw,, about 4+ hrs I think!


[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, I had heard it was easier but I must have done something wrong. Also you need at least two people for the bed. Dropping the tank is not that bad anyway.

 

[gym]

Jaybee, What size did you end up getting? My truck just ruptured the hard line going to the rear end. I could really benefit from your experience.

I realize this is an 8 year old thread, but maybe you remember...

 

[ReefBlue]

I had the same failure about a month or more ago.

1/4" brake line, you just buy a roll of it at napa, along with two 1/4" fittings, then the tubing cutter and flaring kit.

Just disconect both ends, the hard part is unfishing it out, though you could abandon it in place and just run a new line.

Then, sleeve the brake line with vacuum line where it will come into contact with other things so it won't rub through, then zip tie in place. If you want to be real high speed about it, you could buy those metal zip ties.

 

[outlawdiesel]

I just fixed this exact same scenario on a Chevy 1500 4 days ago. A buddy called me up and said he was stuck on the side of the road. I went out with a few tools. The hard line had rubbed the frame enough to show the smallest pin head hole in it.

Anyway, no one had a full hard line in stock and the dealerships had just closed to we got a 2 foot section from Advance with connectors and a flare tool. We cut the bad section out and bent then installed the new section with the fittings to get him home.

He will get the entire line replaced to be safe.

Now I know it's a completely different truck, but on that particular truck we could have fed the entire length of line through if we had it.

I also just realized how old this thread was, LoL