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Brake lines on 02 Silverado.


slowrideCX

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On my way to work yesterday I blew the steel brake line that feeds the rear brakes. Thank God I was at a stop when it went and not trying to stop.

Today I attempted to replace the entire line from the ABS booster to the rear. What a motherfucker to get to. Needless to say I patched the bad line with a flare union and new piece of line.

I am going to need to replace all the steel lines soon though because they are starting to look a bit sketchy.

Whatever happened to the simple plumbing for the brake system on vehicles?

The truck only has 4 fucking brakes but there are steel lines all over the place.

2 from the master cylinder, 5 at the ABS booster. This is gonna be a fucking project to do.

I know stop fucking whining and just do it.... :lol:

Just wanted to vent. :P

I am just happy my daughter wasn't driving at the time.

Ok I feel better now. :)

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Mine are sorry also, '02 GMC Sierra. These trucks have a known issue with rusting on the interior of the brake lines, once they start rusting it is all downhill. After flushing a couple times, new fluid was dark in 5 days.

I think there are kits out there to replace with SS lines - I recall they weren't horribly expensive, but bleeding the earlier ABS is rumored to be laborious. Not looking forward to it.

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I don't know if it would be worth the money for SS these lines lasted 209, 000 miles and 12 years so new lines should last longer than the rest of the truck.

I can tell you the back brakes were not hard at all to bleed.not sure what the rest of the system will be like though.

Trying to get a prebent line into place will be hell on this thing. I am just going to buy a roll of steel tubing and some flare nuts and go to town. I have the bender and flare tool just gotta muster up the motivation to do it.

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This is funny, but not funny. I literally just loaded an 03 model on my trailer to head to the crusher Saturday. Still had the brake lines on it.

Why GM did that I have no clue, as it is the first time I had seen an ABS pump mounted underneath the vehicle. Most cars have the abs pump next to the master cylinder, or on the other side of the engine compartment from the master cylinder. And holy crap that thing holds a ton of fluid. I think I drained half a gallon of brake fluid between the master cylinder and rear lines.

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Up here the road salt gets them. I wasn't aware of a problem with the rusting from the inside. Mine looked great last inspection but now ya got me all spooked. Thanks a lot..LOL.

Mine cracked/rotted right at the hard bend before it hooks to the rubber line for the rear axle.

Take a good look at them just to be safe.

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Very common in the north east for rear truck brake line to rust and pop. You still should have some brakes though.

Nothing. :o

The pdal went right to the floor. I had to use the E-brake to stop.

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The pdal went right to the floor. I had to use the E-brake to stop.

Well, that isn't right. The peddle should have went real low but still had some brakes. I blew a rear wheel cylinder on my Ranger and drove it all the way home from work. When they changed to a split master in the later 60's, this is why.

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Very common in the north east for rear truck brake line to rust and pop. You still should have some brakes though.

Nothing. :o

The pdal went right to the floor. I had to use the E-brake to stop.

The system is separated front/rear so you should have had 100% of front brakes, but the pedal would be much lower. Usually what happens is that the pedal drops and the person assumes the brakes are fully gone and panic, seen it more than once. If you're sure you went to the floor and didn't have brakes you have a problem that needs to be addressed.

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One trick to help with post brake line replacement bleeding is to lock the brake pedal partially depressed, I usually use a bar or stick between the pedal and the seat; this will keep the master cylinder and any lines not removed full of fluid. I do this when I replace calipers and wheel cylinders too. After repairs you can usually just release the pedal and it'll gravity bleed. Depending on the vehicle and which parts are replaced it can be slow. I do the same on bikes with a wire tie around the grip for front and usually a wire tie can be used for the rear as well. Whether car or bike, if you're disconnecting the line from the master only depress the master a little bit so that when you're done you have a bit of stroke left to pump some fluid into the line with the first pump to assure it doesn't suck air into the master on the first release. If you're replacing the lines to the ABS module start with the incoming lines, bleed them before installing them to the module, then do the master cylinder trick, then the lines leaving the module. This should keep the module from getting air. For some vehicles the ABS has to be manually cycled (possibly with some special tool) to get a complete bleed. As for line rotting from the inside; that would mean you have a high amount of water in the fluid and it should have been flushed. Brake tubing commonly fails at sharp bends or at the flare because it gets weakened by the bending process. Almost all brake tubes are welded seam type and fail at the seam. When making custom lines I try to keep the seam on the inside of tight bends so it's not stretching the seam (no idea if it really matters) and all flares need to be of the same type and angle as the component, generally a standard double flare at 45 degrees.

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There are options to stainless steel. Cupro-nickel line is now a common material and is very bendable .

PM me and I might be able to help you out.

Thanks I will do that.

I thought that the front and back were seperate and should still give me front brakes. Maybe they were still grabbing a little but no where near 100% rather then pump the reservoir empty and get air into the system I just used the E-brake and down shifted.

The brakes feel fine now. I won't do anything with them till after the holidays unless I need to. The nickle lines sound like what a friend of mine was telling me to use he said they get it by the roll and it bends real easy.

As for changing the lines I am going to have to take them all off the ABS pump so I can get to the inner lines because there is no way to get a wrench in there and have room to turn it. It hits either the other lines, frame , or the cab floor. Unless someone has a trick they can share. It would be really appreciated.

I am gonna have to bend them in place to get them in and around all the shit that is there. They don't think about replacing these things when they design them.

I was thinking I will tag each line and take a pic of where they go before taking them off.

When I put new brakes on it after the holidays I will fluch the lines regardless and do a closer inspection of the lines. Changing them will be a PITA but a piece of mind for safety sake. :)

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There are options to stainless steel. Cupro-nickel line is now a common material and is very bendable .

PM me and I might be able to help you out.

As for changing the lines I am going to have to take them all off the ABS pump so I can get to the inner lines because there is no way to get a wrench in there and have room to turn it. It hits either the other lines, frame , or the cab floor. Unless someone has a trick they can share. It would be really appreciated.

You may be able to get in there with a crow's foot line wrench and an extension and/or swivel.

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There are options to stainless steel. Cupro-nickel line is now a common material and is very bendable .

PM me and I might be able to help you out.

As for changing the lines I am going to have to take them all off the ABS pump so I can get to the inner lines because there is no way to get a wrench in there and have room to turn it. It hits either the other lines, frame , or the cab floor. Unless someone has a trick they can share. It would be really appreciated.

You may be able to get in there with a crow's foot line wrench and an extension and/or swivel.
I tried a regular crows foot but couldn't turn it. Do they make crows foot flarenut wrenches?

Hummm going tool shopping... :)

Merry Christmas to me... :D

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There are options to stainless steel. Cupro-nickel line is now a common material and is very bendable .

PM me and I might be able to help you out.

As for changing the lines I am going to have to take them all off the ABS pump so I can get to the inner lines because there is no way to get a wrench in there and have room to turn it. It hits either the other lines, frame , or the cab floor. Unless someone has a trick they can share. It would be really appreciated.

You may be able to get in there with a crow's foot line wrench and an extension and/or swivel.
I tried a regular crows foot but couldn't turn it. Do they make crows foot flarenut wrenches?

Hummm going tool shopping... :)

Merry Christmas to me... :D

Yup, I have a snap-on set, but they make them in non-unobtanium brands as well. I think even harbor freight has them. My set is missing some, but if I have the sizes you need I could send them to you to borrow, I don't need them often. In the mean time squirt all the fittings with penetrating oil to maybe help some.

There are options to stainless steel. Cupro-nickel line is now a common material and is very bendable .

PM me and I might be able to help you out.

As for changing the lines I am going to have to take them all off the ABS pump so I can get to the inner lines because there is no way to get a wrench in there and have room to turn it. It hits either the other lines, frame , or the cab floor. Unless someone has a trick they can share. It would be really appreciated.

You may be able to get in there with a crow's foot line wrench and an extension and/or swivel.
I tried a regular crows foot but couldn't turn it. Do they make crows foot flarenut wrenches?

Hummm going tool shopping... :)

Merry Christmas to me... :D

Yup, I have a snap-on set, but they make them in non-unobtanium brands as well. I think even harbor freight has them. My set is missing some, but if I have the sizes you need I could send them to you to borrow, I don't need them often. In the mean time squirt all the fittings with penetrating oil to maybe help some.

Now that I think of it, since you're removing to toss you could just cut them off and use a socket or box wrench!

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