time to change brake hoses

[William G.]

This next week I will be attempting to replace the 55 year old brake hoses on my car. New hoses arrived this past week! Would appreciate any tis other owners have in doing this restoration. I am hoping to not have to drain the whole system, as I am using silicone fluid.

Thanks for the help,

Bill

[Mark E.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

I assume the system already has DOT 5? If not, to keep things simple I recommend staying with DOT 3/4. Lots of threads on the pros/cons about this, but converting to DOT 5 involves flushing the entire system and ideally replacing all seals in the calipers and MS.

In any case, it's a good practice to replace all fluid when bleeding. To do this, remove and replace the fluid in the MS reservoir prior to bleeding. Then bleed until clean fluid streams out of each caliper.

[Owen L.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

1. Make sure your wrenches fit the hard-line fittings; best is to use a flare nut/line wrench that wraps a bit around the nut as it has better purchase on the nut's flats than a standard open or crescent wrench.
2. If the connections are stuck, consider cutting off the rubber hose as close to the crimp fitting as possible. This will allow use of a socket wrench for increased leverage.
3. At the front calipers, attach the caliper end first so the hose doesn't twist as advised below (use a copper washer to aid sealing the connection). Rear calipers have a short steel line directly attached to the caliper, so it doesn't matter if you attach to the frame bracket or to the trailing arm bracket first.
4. Make sure that the new hoses don't twist. There should be a stripe or ribs running the length of the hoses serving as indicators of twist. After installation, the stripes or ribs should not rotate around the hoses more than 1/8 to 1/4 twist - no twist is best.
5. Have pet pee pads or some other absorbent material at hand - you will have fluid dripping out as you swap hoses.
6. Get a couple cans of spray brake cleaner to tidy up when finished.

That's about all I can think of. It's a pretty simple and straight forward job.

[William G.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

Thanks for the tips. I have the brake line wrenches. Part of my reason for asking fore help is that it has been years since I last worked on the calipers. When I bought the car, in 1975, they were leaking badly. I rebuilt them a couple of times and they would start leaking again. I finally had the calipers sleeved and put in new pistons, as well as switching to the silicone fluid. The calipers have not leaked since the early 1980's! I won't go back to using DOT 3, as it absorbs water. Right off the top of my head, I don't remember what the DOT number is on the fluid I am using. I only have a small amount of it left and have had no success finding the same brand to buy more.

[Owen L.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

If it's purple in color, it's DOT 5; the only silicone fluid available is DOT 5.

My '67 has had DOT 5 since the '80s with zero problems. When rebuilding the brakes in my '72 a couple summers ago, I converted it to DOT 5. I believe I bought it through Summit Racing but don't remember exactly. I can look at the label if you wish.

[William G.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

Yes, I would appreciate it. Being Purple in color, it is probably "Royal Purple." When I switched over to Silicone, I bought the fluid from what was Eckler Corvette. It is DOT 5. The company name/ manufacturer was Yankee Silicones Incorporated Their office is/ was located in Schenectady, New York. I tried once to find out if they were still making the fluid, but could not find anything online. Their product is a clear liquid!

[Owen L.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

I thought all DOT 5 was regulated to be purple in color to distinguish it from 3 and 4 to keep folks from mixing the two chemistries.
Hummph - thought it had a name on it... Unfortunately my DOT 5 is just a generic, rebottled, non-identified container:
IMG_0602.jpg
I believe the container I had before this one was from Inline Tube but I could be wrong on that detail. I'd have no qualms about buying the fluid from O'Reilly's or similar:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/motor-medic/motor-medic-1-quart-dot-5-brake-fluid/mmd0/m4032

[Joe L.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

I thought all DOT 5 was regulated to be purple in color to distinguish it from 3 and 4 to keep folks from mixing the two chemistries.
Hummph - thought it had a name on it... Unfortunately my DOT 5 is just a generic, rebottled, non-identified container:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]114711[/ATTACH]
I believe the container I had before this one was from Inline Tube but I could be wrong on that detail. I'd have no qualms about buying the fluid from O'Reilly's or similar:
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...uid/mmd0/m4032

Owen------

As far as I know, all DOT 5 silicone fluid is dyed purple. However, it does not remain purple over time. DOT 5 fluid in the brake system will soon change color to a fairly dark yellow. The same thing may occur in an opened bottle over time.

[William G.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

I bought the DOT 5 I have had in my system probably around 1980. I do not remember it having any color, other than clear when I first used it. Could be that once it became popular to use, regulations were added to give it a color so it would not be mixed with DOT 3 or 4. My guess would be that many people do not know the difference in brake fluid types and would just grab a bottle off the shelf. I am one who does not like to mix things, even brand to brand. If I can't find what I am presently using, I will likely flush the system and replace all of the fluid. In doing so, I really wish I had a pressure bleeder! All I have, other than someone sitting in the car and pumping the brakes, is a Harbor Freight hand held vacuum bleeder.l

[Leif A.]

Re: time to change brake hoses

I bought the DOT 5 I have had in my system probably around 1980. I do not remember it having any color, other than clear when I first used it. Could be that once it became popular to use, regulations were added to give it a color so it would not be mixed with DOT 3 or 4. My guess would be that many people do not know the difference in brake fluid types and would just grab a bottle off the shelf. I am one who does not like to mix things, even brand to brand. If I can't find what I am presently using, I will likely flush the system and replace all of the fluid. In doing so, I really wish I had a pressure bleeder! All I have, other than someone sitting in the car and pumping the brakes, is a Harbor Freight hand held vacuum bleeder.l

George,
I have bled my brakes on my own several times over the years with no need for a pressure bleeder...although, they seem to be all the rage today. I use a very simple setup. It's a $20 plastic bottle with a one-way valve built into the lid. You simply open a bleeder, attached the hose, get in the car and slowly pump the brake pedal 10-12 times and that line is now flushed. Refill the master cylinder and move on to the next bleeder and do the same thing until all six bleeders have been flushed. Takes all of about 30 minutes from start to finish. One thing to remember, when pushing the brake pedal...don't push it all the way to the floor as you could push the rod to far into the master cylinder, possibly damaging the seals. Pictured below is the simple bottle that I use. It even has a magnet attached to the back of the bottle to afix the bottle to the rotor.