Had a fun drive into work this evening.  I have about an hour commute and was almost at work and my pedal went squishy.  I pulled over and found that my front drivers side soft brake line had worn through and burst.  It looks like it is rubbing on the tire when at full lock turn.  I have 3rd gen rims and 265/70/r17 wheels on (and tame tires too, not large knobbies).  Does anyone know why this would have been happening?  It looks like its happening on the passenger side too, but not as bad.  I'm not looking forward to trying to fix this, but I'm also concerned that this would have happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

 

Being new years eve, it was tough but my wife just barely made it into the auto parts store before they closed and she is driving me down the parts and some tools and I will try to get it done tomorrow morning after work.  I got my truck towed here to work so hopefully it doesn't rain!  Does anyone have any advice on changing out the soft line?  Everything looks pretty rusty unfortunately, and I'm concerned about things not going my way!  I just read a post where Michael mentioned 'rust treatment'.  Asking about rust prevention was on my list of to-do's so next time I get a chance I'll give it a good spray down with fluidfilm or something of the like.

 

As always, many thanks for any input!  Happy New Year (hopefully yours starts out better than mine)!

Spray the fittings with PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench or some other quality rust penetrant;  WD-40 is no better than using diesel fuel and it may work but takes longer.  

Be sure to use tight fitting flare wrenches on the brake line fittings.  The hard line fittings like to round off so take your time. 

After the hose is replaced you may only have to bleed that caliper.  If the peddle is still soft then bleed the whole system starting at the right rear brake.  

 

Good luck and Happy New Year 

Someone may have flipped/rotated calipers and lines got kinked wrong way causing them to rub on tire. 

Thanks for the replies! I got lucky and was able to get them off without damaging the hard lines. Lots of penetrating oil. My cheapo flare nut wrench wasnt up to the task so I had to go back and get my middle of the line set. I think  young to invest in a good set of snapon/proto/gray etc. Using cheap line wrenches is a fools errand. 

 

I took a good look and I think maybe the soft lines were just super old and got soft so they weren't springy enough to keep clear of they tires during a full lock turn. The new ones are much stiffer. 

 

I know the 3rd Gen rims have a different offset which puts the slightly tighter to the centreline of the truck but I checked on my stock rims/tires which I just took off for the winter recently and they showed rubbing too so I don't think that's the problem. Tires on now are 265/70r17 and other tires are 255/85/r16 if I recall. 

 

Something I will keep a closer eye on from now on that's for certain. 

On 1/2/2019 at 3:47 PM, Timburrr said:

Thanks for the replies! I got lucky and was able to get them off without damaging the hard lines. Lots of penetrating oil. My cheapo flare nut wrench wasnt up to the task so I had to go back and get my middle of the line set. I think  young to invest in a good set of snapon/proto/gray etc. Using cheap line wrenches is a fools errand. 

 

I took a good look and I think maybe the soft lines were just super old and got soft so they weren't springy enough to keep clear of they tires during a full lock turn. The new ones are much stiffer. 

 

I know the 3rd Gen rims have a different offset which puts the slightly tighter to the centreline of the truck but I checked on my stock rims/tires which I just took off for the winter recently and they showed rubbing too so I don't think that's the problem. Tires on now are 265/70r17 and other tires are 255/85/r16 if I recall. 

 

Something I will keep a closer eye on from now on that's for certain. 

 

If they are old its better to start replacing all of them. before you have a future issue. Also Should mention that you can also adjust the amount of hose that is out there by prying back the metal bracket. Butt just enough to not allow it to contact. Make sure you sttill have full range of motion after this.

Passenger side line on this 98 and the last 98 both had a wear mark from the tire. I just replaced both driver and passenger soft lines today.

I guess I better go check mine.  I put the 3rd gen rims with 265/70/17 on about 4 or 5 months ago and never thought to check for clearance issues.  So many people put them on I just assumed there wouldn't be issues.

I had wear on my ABS wires ironically, and had to adjust them, and then also the brake lines.

Just checked mine and no rubbing.

Just put my snow tires on today and the lines don't show any signs of rubbing.  The old lines felt very soft and flimsy so I'm guessing due to age they got soft and weren't stiff enough to stay away from the tire during a full lock turn.  Also who knows, maybe people in the past let the calipers dangle off them or something.  Something to be aware of I suppose though.  Thanks again for all the help.