ZombieResponseJeep

I've been searching all day and haven't seen much useful to my situation.

I just picked this ZJ up for $600. It barely had brakes to drive it home. Fronts were metal on metal and rears seemed to hardly work, if at all.

I replaced the front rotors, calipers, and pads to see what I had going on.

I had no brake fluid pressure to the rear bleeders.

I had no brake fluid pressure going into the rear calipers.

I had no brake fluid pressure coming out of the distribution fitting/valve (not sure the name of the part), that sits on top of the rear axle.

I followed the hardline/rubber line combo forward and unhooked the long hardline that runs front-to-back and had good pressure off the end of it.

The fitting/valve on the axle looks hard as hell to take off. Do these go bad? What are they called? It appears to have a built in hardline that comes out of it and connects to a rubberish hose with a fuel line style pressure fitting. Do these lines go bad?

I hate to take it all off and find out its the front proportioning valve or Master Cylinder or something else that is bad.

Has anyone had this problem?

dave1123

All that "thing" on the rear axle is is a pipe "T" fitting. It's quite possible the hose is collapsed inside. There is a shuttle valve near the master cylinder that shuts off the rear brakes if a line ruptures, but if you have good pressure in the hard pipe, it's probably the hose.

ZombieResponseJeep

So can I bypass the hard/soft line combo and run my own line back to the T fitting or even use a new T fitting if I had to?

dave1123

No, Man! You have to have the hose because the rear axle moves up and down! From the sound of this, you might want to take it to someone who knows what they're doing.

ZombieResponseJeep

Wow that's kinda unnecessary. I guess forums aren't for learning and asking questions. I didn't say run a hard line all the way back.

The rubber line is like 10" long and it's mounted to the sub-frame. It's 2 feet forward of the axle.

ZJMAX

I would start by replacing the flex line with the "T". I don't think Dave meant it in a bad way just none of us would want someone to die if the brakes fail off of misunderstood advice one of us gave. From your post I could see how it could be taken as a hard line all the way back. Just because you know what you meant does not mean we do. I/ We have no idea how skilled you are as a mechanic based off of this one post so please do not be offended. I have seen many collapsed rubber hoses so I would start there if you have pressure in front of the rubber line.

Max

dave1123

Well, it sounded like you wanted to do away with the hose. I'm well aware of your setup because it was the same on my 97 ZJ and my 00 WJ. I recently replaced my hard line to the rear axle because it popped when backing down a hill. I used copper-nickle tubing because it doesn't rust and replaced my hose because it didn't look very good.

Sorry I over-reacted. Sometimes it's hard to tell if the poster is intelligent or not just because of the way things are worded. Also, I was very tired at the time. You are right, it was unnecessary and I hope I didn't put you off.

Actually, with a 96, it would be a good idea to replace all three brake hoses just because of age. Brakes are THE MOST important system on a vehicle. It may not go fast, but it's GOT to be able to STOP!

ZombieResponseJeep

Thanks Dave

ZombieResponseJeep

Just an update for anyone who searches this in the future.

The part in question is commonly called, Rear Brake Hose. I grabbed one at O'Riley's. It has the thick rubber line at one end and the mystery box at the other. The box is just a T-fitting. It looks over sized because it is dual-purpose as the rear differential vent. There is a nut on the topside to remove it from the axle.