bypassing rear brakes

yeah, they'll be real screwed up after you slide into the first unexpected heavy, immobile, inelastic object.

Matthew

It won't cause any problem that getting twenty years in jail and dying there won't cure.

Don't forget to get the big sign saying 'FUCK YOU! NO BRAKES AND I DON'T CARE!" Maybe you'll make it a few extra months before you get somebody killed.

I think the general consensus is, it's extremely unsafe and unadvisable. If the lines are in that bad of shape, the systems literally falling apart. Any professional (mechanic, cop, etc.) wouldn't allow you to drive the vehicle with brakes being tampered/disabled and if someone else had a wreck with the car, you'd at least have a major lawsuit if not criminal charges. I really appreciate your desire just to "get by for a while". Believe me, I've had my share of gasoline fires involving propane torches or Styrofoam of some sort:) But you won't care if it goes if it stop.

Jim

"Big T" wrote in news:1161033347.307771.242120 @i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Nobody's said it up to now, but there is NO NEED to replace the entire line!

Patch-fixes are usual and commonplace for this sort of problem. You cut out the rusted patch with a pipe cutter, make new flares and splice in a new section of generic line, which may be easily bent up by hand to near the original contours.

Bulk brake line is dirt cheap, so are flare nuts. A garage will probably charge you an hour's labor to replace the rusted patch. Even though you can rent flare tools, I'd advise not doing it yourself if you've never done it before.

DO NOT disable the rear brakes.

Can this not be a troll?

Except that it's _cheaper_ to do it by replacement.

Brake pipe is cheap, labour is expensive. Replace the pipe and it's one pipe, splice it and it's one new pipe and a couple of in-situ flares to do too. If it's rusted out then it'll be steel pipe too, not a copper alloy, so it's a harder flare to do by hand, especially without even a vice to hold it in. Now personally I have better things to do than to lie on my back, trying to screw down a couple of new nipples onto some old junkyard dog of a beaten up Corolla. I don't mind making up flares, but I can do them a lot faster and better on the bench in a vice.

I'd suggest that the OP just goes out and gets his damn fool self killed and do us all a favour, except that he's likely to hurt bystanders 8-(

There really ARE people that stupid and irresponsible out there. After all, 2-wheel brakes met all current standards in the year 1920!

Don

expense? new lines are cheap at your FLAPS. just remove the old one, take it in for a pattern, and they will give you one for a couple bucks that's within a few inches in length. Or if it's a hose that blew... well those are cheap too. Basically even if you pay someone to do this repair unless there's other issues, it should still be under $100. Crimping a blown line is a "get you home" fix, not a "drive for a year" fix.

nate

:eek: Disable rear brakes for a year?????????:banghead: :nono: :uhoh:

Like Nate and Tegger state, it's not too hard to replace a line or pay someone to do it. Even if you just "patch" the bad area, better to have rear brakes than to just say no big deal if they don't work.

In any case, if you decide to really disable the rear brakes, please stay away from driving around my area.:shakehead

Yes, and Ford used a driveshaft brake but cars were much slower. If the rear brake lines burst because they were corroded, the fix isn't to crimp off the rear lines and hope they don't leak. The fix is to replace all lines because the fronts are probably in bad shape too. That's a guy who doesn't give a darn about his safety, other passehers and family and other drivers.

I don't care if you're keeping the car for 1 hour or 10 more years... for the sake of the rest of us on the road, FIX the brakes or get it the piece of junk the hell off our roads.

I see you're posting from the YooKay so I understand where you're coming from, but there *are* no "copper alloy" brake lines in the YooEss. I have seen them advertised in various UK Volkswagen enthusiast rags but they are not approved for use over here. You can only use steel or stainless steel, and the latter is a cast-iron bitch to cut, bend and flare properly. So much so that I actually paid the premium to have some pre-bent lines sent to me when I swapped rear axles in my '55 Stude (but those stainless brake lines look sooo sexy under there.)

nate

(been there, flared that)

"John S." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The Toyota brake lines I've seen are covered in black rubber sheathing. The sheathing is interrupted where the mount brackets are, and that's where they rust.

They're available in the US, although they're not common. It's a 10% nickel bronze, not pure copper. The US problem is with the commonly available pure copper aircon pipe getting using as brake pipe, then having fatigue problems owing to vibration. Here in the UK it's easy to get the brakepipe alloy, hard to find anything for aircon.

Another UK patent "alloy" for brake pipes is KuNiFer. This is a concentric laminate though, not an alloy.

The catch in the US is that many types of lines are not DOT legal for brake use. Copper is one of them. Same thing with compression fittings on brake lines. Don't see US DOT approval on the web site either. That makes them a lot like many aftermarket parts, designated OFF ROAD only parts. Many braided lines fall in that area as well. Even though they provide superior braking.

I thought that one of the FMVSS' specified material for brake lines - I would assume 105, but I no longer have access to the full text of the FMVSSs and can't seem to find it on the web. IF my memory is correct, I wouldn't want to take on the liability of installing a different, albeit equal or superior, product on a road going vehicle - it would be just chumming for lawyers.

nate

What part of "alloy" are you having the problem in understanding?

What do you think we use? Just because it's an axial compression fitting with an integral flare rather than the radial wedge-ring type we use on water plumbing doesn't mean that it isn't a metal-to-metal compression fitting.

Besides which, the SAE design of flare is crap and barely tolerated in Europe. DIN flares are much better, especially if there's any end tension on the pipe.