Steel Brake Line Repair - Rubber hose?
 

Have a break in the brake line that runs from the front to rear drivers side on a 80 - can the rusty section be replaced with a piece of rubber hose without issue?

No, you need to either replace the whole line or splice in a piece of brake line to replace the bad part.

This is a trick question, Right??

only if you want to turn 5 or 6 big pieces of fiberglass into a 1000 little ones

Front line runs to left and right front, rear line runs to left and right rear...

In a matter of days the brake fluid will swell the rubber and your repair will fail. Replace the damaged section with new lines or a compression fitting. Despite common belief, compression fittings work fine on brake lines.

Scott, are you serious?? A brake line is a hydraulic line. Never mind the swelling from the brake fluid, one slight application of the brake pedal will blow off a "rubber hose patch"...



BTW, were you able to get the body centered on your chassis?

In-Line Tube sell replacement steel brake lines for ur car.
Bought one for my 70 drivers side front to back.
Wrks fine.

NO.
A rubber hose has not the slightest chance of working. A hard stop requires something like 2000 to 2500 psi of hydraulic pressure. The hose is probably safe for maybe 1% of that.

:iagree: NEVER use rubber line for brakes

maybe with alot duck tape wrapped around it .seriously NO !

In Mass. compression fittings on a brake line are not legal and rubber lines are certainly not legal. New lines or flared couplings are the only options here.

:cheers:

Rick B.

All you guys know that each of the brake calipers has a rubber line connecting it to the steel line....right? Now, I'm not recommending that this be done for the problem you have, but there are rubber lines that are made to handle high-pressure fluids. As long as you use the correct type of flex line, it would be OK.

But, you would be much better off with repairing a section of steel line with some good-quality compression fittings [if legal] and a new piece of steel tubing. Or, you could go with flared ends on the tubing and AN type [union] fittings.

Just replace the line with a correct steel replacement. I mean your talking about stopping the car which is its biggest priority don't ya think...

the flex lines are hydraulic hoses with crimped hydraulic fittings,there is no way any amount of hose clamps will even come close to holding.as far as i know an average stop generates about 2000-2500 psi, a panic stop goes to 4500 psi +.

and to add to that to use a rubber "brake" hose you have to put a proper flare and splice coupling so just use the steel line.
as said above if you were to check you'll probably find that it's not legal in more states/provinces than just Mass

if you like I can show you a pic of my avatar Z28 after the brakes failed and the PO rear ended a dump truck, not worth it

For less than $10 you can buy a short piece of brake line and SAE fittings. You need a double flare tool but you can splice in a piece.
I'm going to assume when you said rubber hose, you meant a brake hardline to caliper hose. That would be more expensive and complicated than splicing in a harline piece.
If you dont know the difference between seamless/non-seamless brake line, SEA, inverted flare, and JIC/AN fittings, single vs double flare, have someone who does do it.

YES, we know that.... but those are "brake hoses", specifically designed for hydraulic pressure. The OP simply said "rubber hose", and most of us assumed he meant some garden variety piece of rubber hose, as a patch. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't....

Replace the entire line, you'll probably need two pieces of line with a brass, inverted flare union.

$10 or less for the materials.

i agree under no circumstances unless you are fixing my ex wifes car should you use a rubber hose. if it is for her leave the clamps loose too.:D