Flexi Brake Hose replacement

[syncrosimon]

I had the Syncro MOT'd on Friday, and she failed!!! On the front and rear flexi hoses. I thought the tester was joking, but alas no. The helper was standing on the brakes as hard as he could, and the hoses were sweating oil droplets. I have been present on all of her MOT's and I have never seen one done so thoroughly, took an hour, and never seen the brakes applied so hard. The tester said that I had probably never braked that hard as there was definitely no leaks from that area before he started. So I ordered the parts from Baxter on Friday and took today to get into removing the little blighters.

I was a bit scared really and have heard nightmare stories about doing this job, so did not want to have to remove and replace the hoses in a day, so decided this afternoon to make a start. I have never had to work on the hoses before so did not know what I was getting into.

I thought I would take some photos to document the work.

Before.



The inner nut on the metal hose is an 11mm and I did not have the correct brake spanner, only a normal King Dick 11mm. The hose one is a 14mm.

This is the spanner I should have had. It slips over the metal pipe, and grips the captive nut on 4 1/2 sides as opposed to the two sides that a normal open ended spanner grips on.



I was very surprised that the nuts came undone very easily, and I was able to do this just on ramps without taking the rear wheel off.

Here is the chassis end off.



And the two hoses off. Took 30 mins of on your back working!


The hoses were made in May 1991.

Insides nice and clean, pays to change the fluid once in a while.

Just waiting for the post tomorrow and a bit more scrabbling around on my back in the dark tomorrow night (if I am lucky) to get the rears done.

Hoping that the fronts are as easy.

[syncrosimon]

Oh, I thought of a neat little trick to stop the fluid pouring out of the metal hose. I pulled off the original brake bleed nipple rubber cap, and popped it on the end of the metal hose.

[lloydy]

Mine swapped out pretty easy, its getting the bleed nipples undone that's the problem. I fitted new nipples on the calipers and had to replace the solid pipe that runs above the front diff as it was mullered from a previous owner. For the rears I fitted new brake cylinders and new solid pipe for the trailing arms. Still only a couple hours work.

[syncropaddy]

I swapped all mine for the stainless braided ones from Baxter's last year. Is that what you used/will use?

I change brake fluid every 3 years

[Aidan]

I change brake fluid every 3 years

but not gear oil

[KarlT]

"He would not let it lie!"

[syncropaddy]

I change brake fluid every 3 years

but not gear oil

.... well when the manufacturer recommends something I do it .... but when they dont, then I dont .......

[syncrosimon]

Got the new hoses on Monday from Baxter. They are a slight improvement on the old ones!

Just need to find the time to fit.





Simon.

[Mickyfin]

Your last photos are not showing for me mate for some reason?

Ignore me, they are now, odd.


Im sure I will be back to your thread as I wish to renew mine also

[syncrosimon]

Got some work done on her last night and this morning including getting the fronts done and a full bleed.

Baxters hoses are real slinky and remind me of the expensive motorbike hoses.

Got the back hoses done, and bled without removing the wheels. The bleed nipple needs a 7mm spanner, but on the rear brakes the nipple is recessed which makes it difficult to undo with a long spanner. I found that an Olde English 3BA spanner fits perfect and the off set makes undoing much easier. I bled the brakes once all four hoses had been done. Haynes states that you should do rear right, rear left, front right, front left. I dont know if that is different for a LHD, but it has worked for me.
I use a 5 foot length of tube, and bled it by myself using a jam jar and about 1.5 litres of brake fluid.


Bleeding the front can also be done on the ground with the wheels on, just turn the wheel to make clearance better.


On the front I clamped the old flexy hose and again using a 14mm and an 11mm spanner got the bottom loosened off. Wheel has gotta come off for this.



The front hose is clamped behind the upright.


The clamp is a simple folded steel P clip with a 10mm bolt. I cut the rubber sleeve that the P clamp grips as I did not have any new P clips to hand.

This then slid over the new hose which is much smaller in diameter.


When the calliper hose end is undone this is what it looks like. The spring clip holds the hose against the bracket without it being rigidly mounted.



I got new hose spring clips from Baxter, but didnt really need them.

This is the new hose and clip.


The chassis end of the flexy is a bit of a pain to get to, it is right up against the 19mm nut for the upper wishbone eccentric bolt. You can only turn the 11mm nut about an 1/6 of a turn, and it takes a few minutes. This is whilst brake fluid is pouring out. Soak it up in an old towel. There is a bracket with a 10mm self tapping screw which holds the hose to the chassis.



The bracket was in good order, being under waxoyl type stuff for years. This bracket has a hex in it which grips the 14mm nut leaving both hands for the 11mm. Only the final tightening requires the 14mm to brace the 11mm.



Once on the hose looks like this.



Then bleed as described above.

Pedal now feels very firm.

[jes*b]

Simon , nice work, really helpful thread and great pics. Cheers Jes

[Simon Baxter]

Brake fluid change is every 2 years, not 3.
Dot 4.
The amount of vans we see with black sludge in the reservoir is unreal.
We use some long nose pliers and pull the strainer out of the res, then use a large syringe to empty the res, then top it up with fresh fluid before we start on the system, that way when you come to bleed the brakes you have a head start getting fresh fluid through the system rather than pulling the old stuff through before the new stuff comes through.
Also, another tip...
If you are changing the brake hoses, then it is desirable not to have the open ends leaking all over the floor.
we have a special brake pedal depresser, although you can use a piece of wood...
..but, if you press the pedal down, the release pressure in the system, then lock the pedal down to the bottom then due to the design of the master cylinder no fluid will pass from the res to the master cylinder.
You do have to be careful though, especially when bleeding brakes on older vans as the inside of the master cylinder can corrode, once the system is open you can press the pedal (and therefore the master cylinder) further than it is used to and you run the risk of damaging the master cylinder seals as they run past the rough bit of cylinder..

[Mickyfin]

Once again, great work Si, photos will certainly help for reference. Thanks Mr Baxter for those tips, I have an old Turkey juice type syringe that the wife no longer used, would this be up to the job of extracting old fluid, or would the rubber melt? If no good, will have to find an appropriate syringe then.

[Simon Baxter]

That would be fine.
Brakefluid can be rinsed with water so just wash it out when you've done.

[lloydy]

I fitted the same hoses, I didn't even pump the pedal to bleed through the new fluid. Gravity did it fine, I made a point not to use the brake pedal due to the above master cylinder fault. I'm pretty heavy handed, so would have shagged the master cylinder without a doubt.