[Foy]

Signature truck suffered her first on the road breakdown last weekend when a hard line ruptured just in front of the fuel tank. It was in about the easiest location of all to splice in a replacement section, but the remainder of those lines look just as bad. I figure on having every inch of the OEM steel lines replaced in due course.

While the OEM steel lines lasted 14 years and 258,000 miles, I will first consider Ni-Copp or PVF non-corrosive lines as the replacement material. I believe Classic Tube offers pre-formed stainless steel lines for my truck, but at first glance it appears nickel-copper alloy (branded as Ni-Copp) or the PVF (plastic?) may be cheaper. Of the two, I like the idea of Ni-Copp simply to have metal lines instead of plastic, where over time I wonder about brittleness occurring.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Foy

 

[BS Hauler]

My 02 the brake line behind the fuel tank is getting bad also. It is wet with fluid but it has not leaked enough yet to lose fluid. I will also replace mine this winter. And mine only has 130,000 miles on mine.

 

[Steve83]

I wouldn't risk an unknown replacement part. Common galvanized steel tubing is affordable & reliable - you just need to do a little preventative maintenance for whatever reason. Not every '02 & older vehicle in NC is having brake line ruptures, so there's something peculiar about your truck. Figure out what it is, fix it, and spend that money somewhere else.

Maybe you need to rinse the salt out of the chassis every year. Maybe undercoat these new lines before they go in. If you do ANYTHING to help them, now that you know there's a problem, the replacements (even if they're identical to the originals) will probably outlast the truck.

 

[FMTRVT]

Oh, the brake line having its protective covering worn away at the mounting clips and rusting away has a high occurance. No matter how you wash that area it is a closed in area that keeps everything behind the tank wet for a long time.

The PVF coated lines are still a steel line and the coating can be worn away. The common aftermarket coated lines are not to the standard of the OE Bundy tubing so your not going to have as long a life.

The Ni-Copper seem to be a better product while stainless is my favorite.

 

[Foy]

Oh, the brake line having its protective covering worn away at the mounting clips and rusting away has a high occurance. No matter how you wash that area it is a closed in area that keeps everything behind the tank wet for a long time.

The PVF coated lines are still a steel line and the coating can be worn away. The common aftermarket coated lines are not to the standard of the OE Bundy tubing so your not going to have as long a life.

The Ni-Copper seem to be a better product while stainless is my favorite.

Oh, OK, I didn't realize the PVF was a coating. Thanks for the correction.

This truck has spent some time in the mountains, on heavily salted roads, pretty much every winter since I bought it used in 2004. I also drove it to Park City, UT and it was covered in salt for a 2 week period, where I hit weather on the way out, while there, and all the way back.

That said, I wash the underside religiously, using car-wash style pressure hoses and soap, and the last two years using marine-style "Salt Away" pre-soaking from a pump sprayer. I get covered up in the stuff while on a creeper on the driveway spraying it on, but the underside looks pretty good, all things considered. I have a suspicion that a rock nicked that line and that promoted increased corrosion at that spot. I've got thousands of gravel road miles on the truck, and with aggressive treat tires, she picks up and throws rocks like crazy.

I can probably talk my brakes guy into spraying a coat of Rust-Oleum on new galvanized lines as they go on if I can't find or decide not to pay for stainless. The coated lines don't interest me due to chipping by rocks and mounting hardware.

Thanks!

Foy