From cb4n+@andrew.cmu.edu Tue Jun 04 12:56:25 1996 Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 10:16:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Colin John Brodsky To: stoneji@scan.si.edu Subject: Replacing brake hoses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a summary of front brake hose replacement on my 1973 Ambassador (360 V8 Brougham sedan - front disc brakes) which will hopefully help convince others that it's pretty darn easy. In fact, I did it on the side of the street where I park! It saved me $100 in installation costs. I have NO experience prior to this with the exception of changing tires, a speedometer cable, and a starter solenoid. The brake hose on my car was a little over a foot or so. A few inches of the length, about 1/4 of it, was a metal pipe with a female fitting. The rest was rubber with a male fitting at the other end. (and these are supposed to be steel lined inside as well) I ordered them from American Parts Depot (see the vendor list) and they were $20 each. Local stores didn't have them - only Western Auto could order them and the cost was $56. You'll want to take the wheel off unless you're really sick. Once the wheel is off, the job is half done. Locate the bracket around the fitting between the rubber end of the brake hose and the metal brake line running back into the car. This is in the upper back section of the wheel well. It is actually a square sticking out with a circular hole through which the brake hose fitting can pass. To get this out, you'll have to free a piece of metal that is jammed in to hold the fitting securely and prevent it from falling through the hole. Although hard to explain, it's quite obvious when you see it. Chip away at the crude until it comes off. There are three nuts you must loosen before removing the hose. I suggest loosening them first because mine were very crusted with road gunk and if you completely open one, you'll lose a lot of brake fluid while trying to get at the other bolts. The first is located where the rubber hose connects into the metal brake line that runs back into the car. You'll need to loosen the fitting that bolts the metal brake line into the rubber hose fitting. Be careful - it'll strip easily. Then, you'll want to loosen the fitting at the end of the metal pipe section of the brake hose that fits into the caliper unit. This is on the inside of the wheel. Do not take it off yet. Finally, on the caliper unit facing upward towards the headlight, there should be a bolt with nothing attached. This is where you'll bleed the brake fluid out. Loosen this as well, but don't remove yet. With those three connections loosened, first disconnect the metal brake line that runs back into the engine section. At this point, the fluid will start draining. The fitting on the rubber section of the brake hose can be pulled out of the bracket hole (assuming you removed the part mentioned above), and then when this is free, you can turn the metal section of the brake hose that is attached to the caliper and free this as well. Finally, take off the bleeding screw on the front of the caliper. Ideally, someone should keep an eye on the fluid level in your reservoir as this will be falling slowly. Keep this level fairly full, because you don't want to let any air in at the top end. What makes the job simple is the fact that you only have to get air out at the very end of the overall system - just the little piece of hose you have and the caliper. Attach your new hose FIRST at the caliper (or you won't be able to turn it in). Then, pass the rubber end of the hose up through the bracket in the wheel well and connect it to the metal brake line. Tighten these securely. If you haven't, check your brake reservoir fluid level now. Fill it up if necessary. You're at the final and easiest step - bleeding the brakes. You may notice that when you connect the rubber section of the brake hose, you'll see bubbles coming out of the caliper. This is good - you want the pressure of the brake fluid coming down from the brake system to force the air out of the bleed hole you opened in the caliper. To help this along, pump the brake pedal a few times and if someone else does this for you, you'll see the fluid bulging forward when the pump it. Do this for a while if you want to work some fresh brake fluid down through the system. When you're convinced that no more air bubbles are coming (this only took me a few minutes), just bolt back in the bleed screw and you're done! Just put the clamp back in to lock the rubber fitting to the bracket in the wheel well and put your wheel back on. Thanks to ACAPACAJOE@aol.com for his help before I attempted this! ____________________________________________________________________________ Colin J. Brodsky "I always wanted to be a drum machine." Chemical Engineering -Stephen Morris Carnegie Mellon University (of Neworder and The Other Two) http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/usr/cb4n/homepage.html