MINI XJ

I bought some new extended brake lines for the XJ last week and went to put them on this weekend but the lines and the connections are rusted to shiznizzle. I'm afraid to put any real torque on them cause they are gonna break.

My question is....Is there place to buy a replacement for the hard brake lines or is it better to cut out what is bad/rusted and run new lines? And what is the procedure for that??

Thanks in advance!

2trackin

I replaced my rear line all the way from the master cylinder. A lot of fun that was. Had to get the tool to flair the ends for the fittings and bend them.
Fronts would be easier. But is rather just find premade replacments if they make em.

SairsyFairy

We broke ever brake line on our XJ this past week while installing our new lift. They were so badly rusted it wasn't funny. We bought a reel of brake line from the parts store and re ran all the lines from the master cylinder. Make sure you get a good flaring tool otherwise you will sit there for hours trying to get your lines to stop leaking at the flares.

As for the rusted lines and fittings, I would just try and get them to come loose, use PB blaster, line wrenches and go to town. If they are rusted you may as well just replace them all and be done with it.

MINI XJ

<---will this work for brake line flaring?? or is there a better product??

Also, do you need a bender? or is the coiled brake line pretty easy to bend without crimping??

Sorry for sounding like a noob....just never had to mess with actual hard lines before!

deucestudios

It's real easy to bend without crimping.
You can get a flare tool and spool of line, or you can get straight lines that come flared with ends already on them. It takes about 8' to go from the master cylinder to the rear soft line connection.
I would recommend taking the old line out, and bending your new one to match that, that way it's almost the right shape before you put it in.

EastBeast

I live in Maine and swear by the copper-nickel brake line. It doesn't rust and is sooooo easy to work with. More expensive yes but worth it imo. It will bend in by hand and look good no problem. I use it on all my vehicles.

leecarr

I live in Mass. and where can you get that stuff. I just had to replace every hard line on my 99. I would replace one then when bleeding the next one would go and so on. I have been looking into a setup to make my own flexible lines but cost is crazy because you have to by a DOT approved line tester.

EastBeast

http://www.fedhillusa.com/ is where I get it but I have seen similar products at decent auto parts stores.

spdyracer

i'll throw in my 2 cents since i had to do this when i did my lift. after reconnecting the main brake line to the dist. block on top of the rear axle it wouldn't stop leaking. i thought about getting the tools and line and make my own but after talking to the dealer i picked up a new on for something like $30. this was the main line from the master cylinder to the rear. my old one was also pretty rusted so it was probably a good thing to replace anyway. it took me about 15 minutes to pull the old one out and put the new one in. the time i saved buy getting one from the dealer pre bent more than made up for the money i would have saved by making my own. how much is your time worth is what you probably need to ask yourself.

SairsyFairy

If you are redoing all the brakes don't buy pre-flared lines, you'll spend a fortune. Buy a spool and the tool and then you'll have the tool for future needs.

We just hand bent the line to the shape we needed then bought the flaring tool and the connectors.

The one you linked would work yes, just make sure when tightening the clamps to really tighten them good.

SairsyFairy

This is good advice. If you don't want to waste time messing with leaky lines and crappy flares you could get the pre bent one from the dealership for your jeep. Probably worth the extra money.

4x4swamper

I had to replace the one from the main cylinder to the rear and it was a pain. Bending is not to hard but fitting it in is. I had to also combine 2 of them together to get the correct length. i believe a 72" and a 18"or a 24" cant remember. But its not to bad.

leecarr

The right side front is the hardest, it goes along the firewall and behind all kinds of junk. I'm sure if you want to spend the money you can buy prebent stainless lines, did it on a suburban I had.

FleXJ01

This just happened to me last night. I was not expecting it. :-( Broke rear hard line on axle end and Uni end...

Thunder & Lightning

Did same thing about a month ago. Just bought tubing & fitting & replaced the whole line. Pretty easy as I had use of a lift & now peace of mind they will be ok for years to come.