I replaced all the brake hoses on my 90 a week ago, and now the rear one has got a load of lumps in it, even whilst not under pressure.
It came out of a box covered in Land Rover logos, but I didn't actually get the box. That went back on the shelf. This leads me to suspect that its not actually a gen. spare. It came from a certain Land Rover place in Bradford...
Has anyone else experienced this with a brand new hose?? Could it be something I did to it during installation? I would guess they are very robust, considering the job they do and where they do it!
Take them back, get a refund and order a set of stainless steel braided ones from me for £38 including delivery.
That way i get a nice sale and you get a set of hoses that you can rely on ( each hose I make is individually pressure tested ) and that work better than standard rubber ones to boot....
I replaced all of Percys hoses during his rebuild with genuine parts. The front near side hose split in a couple of places and was discovered on the MOT... I'd done no heavy off roading and a total of 900 miles in that 12 months. I was less than impressed to say the least. And slightly worrying that this could have been fitted to a new landie and not checked for 3 years (MOT).
It also got me thinking about the braided ones but I got all concerned that if a braided one split then I wouldn't even be able to see the split below the braid. I replaced with another genuine one but I'm not certainly on my guard.
I think the ones with the plastic spring on them are better. It stops potential chafing whilst you can still see the hose.
I haven't forgotten the cloth covered fuel hoses that used to be used in the late 80's/early 90's. They used to perish, and make the cloth damp without dripping obviously. A flaming fire hazard.
The actual strength of the stainless hoses lies in the braid - the actual ptfe hose through the middle would not cope with the pressure at all if there was no braid to stop it from swelling. The inner hose is very durable and to be fair will not split ( even in fairly silly use ) without there being evidence of damage to the braid. The fear of hidden splits is therefore not too important - the chance of a split is unlikely and if it does happen the fluid will pee out through the braid making the damage very obvious! I can even go one further to comfort your fears by supplying the hoses with a wipe clean pvc coating - simply run a damp rag along the hose and then inspect the soft pvc for damage - if there is no damage to the pvc then look no further....
The hoses I sell are fully certified for international motorsport use ( and German TUV ) - somewhere down the line if there was a suspicion of there suitability for the job I reckon it would have been sorted by now.....
Interesting. At one point stainless steel braided hoses were not approved for road use in the UK due to the stainless 'work hardening' with each wheel movement. A strand would then break and puncture the rubber/ptfe hose. Motorsport users were allowed cos they were thought able to cope if the brakes went AWOL (which they often do), and they're barking anyway.
So I wonder how they got round the problems... Beth
Perhaps your own words of 'at one point' suggests this information is now out of date. Stainless braid hoses are passing MOT and the more strict SVA test on a daily basis. Many competition cars that are road legal ( from hillrallies to World Rally cras ) are used on the public highway in Britain and all over the world and use stainless steel hoses to do it. I am not aware of any formal non-approval for stainless braid hoses though would be interested to see it if it exists and as to whether it is still current. Would the product liability blokes not have picked this up?? Perhaps the 'non-approval' is anecdotal rather than written law? Damage to the braid would not need to 'punture' the ptfe hose to cause a failure - as stated in a previous post the strength of these hoses lies in the braid. Without the braid to hold the pressure the ptfe hose would burst anyway - perhaps puncture is the wrong theory of what happened to damaged hoses.
I am not sure so I will ask the manufacturer of the hose material - have they changed the grade of the stainless to address any problems?? What I tend to fit as a matter of course to the hoses I make are 'whip guards' - these are semi hard plastic sleeves that shroud the swaged join between the hose and the union. This has the effect of widening the workload over a longer piece of the hose.
Any proper brake hose installation - as on production LRs has the two unions mounted perpendicular to each other. This has the effect of negating any unscrewing effect of suspension travel and also to make the whole hose take up the movement be it verticla travel or steering rotation meaning that no one point of the hose takes the entire load.
I have personally been selling such hoses for 12 years and using them myself for longer than that and I have had no failures that could possible be put to work hardening of the stainless. Several hoses I sold 12 years ago are still on the original fitment!!
I suggest that a stainless hose used in the correct way - ie. a properly engineered braking system rather than tie-wrapped to the sticky out bit of a bolt will not fail in the manner discussed and that perhaps such anecdotal tales of failuer are distoted by ignorance or made of a spec of hose that is no longer used.
Possibly, thats why I was asking.... I only know because of an interest in motorsport, and used to see warnings (and was told) not to use motorsport stainless braided brake hose on the road. Ordinary steel braid was apparently okay.
I asked the question of the motorsport manager at the hose suppliers who over the past 30 years has supplied or still sipplies the likes of Ferrari F1, Benetton F1. MG Rover. Mercedes, Porsche, Ford Motorsport and various other bizarre projects including Richard Bransons aiir balloons.....
He has never heard of the problem - he also figures it is very unlikely ( speaking of their own hoses ) as the make up / lay of the braid is done in such a way as to be flexible and therefore not work harden. Over the years he has seen many hoses fail but in virtuallu every case it has been through incorrect installation making the hoses work out of there intended range - this is often down to the customers cost cutting and not using the suggested hose material / unions etc. In a proper installation the chances of a hose failing are virtually zero - it would have to be a genuinly faulty hose (- which is why I pressure test every brake hose I make individually. -David ).
The 'not recommended for highway use' that can be seen is often based on the manufacturer opting out of a big product liability policy rather than a reflection of the quality or suitability of the product.
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