Sigh, made more work for myself: Replacing front brake tubes?

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Mauser-Oberndorf-AN

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In the midst of reassembling the drinker’s side front disc and caliper on my 73 LeBaron, I stopped paying attention to the brake tube as I was threading on the replacement hose and put too much attention elsewhere. It ruptured. Go figure. Fortunately, the system is basically drained and also fortunately, I bought a full set of lines from an outfit in Ohio as a precaution (the tube across the rear axle did the same thing). I was hoping to be able to get away without firing the parts cannon at everything, but oh well. Guess it was demanding some more new parts.

Replacing that convoluted line going all the way across the engine bay from the driver’s side is a bit daunting to me. Anyone have any suggestions on best practices to doing it?
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Mauser-Oberndorf-AN said:
In the midst of reassembling the drinker’s side front disc and caliper on my 73 LeBaron, I stopped paying attention to the brake tube as I was threading on the replacement hose and put too much attention elsewhere. It ruptured. Go figure. Fortunately, the system is basically drained and also fortunately, I bought a full set of lines from an outfit in Ohio as a precaution (the tube across the rear axle did the same thing). I was hoping to be able to get away without firing the parts cannon at everything, but oh well. Guess it was demanding some more new parts.

Replacing that convoluted line going all the way across the engine bay from the driver’s side is a bit daunting to me. Anyone have any suggestions on best practices to doing it?
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Year and model needed.
I replaced all of the brake lines in Elwood, our 68 Plymouth Fury II. It’s not easy, but you should be able to do it without removing a lot.
 
Take some pics of the old line before you remove it to confirm the routing and the contours/bends in the line. You will probably have to bend the line here and there to install it, reference photos will help you get it back oriented correctly. I would put some tape over the ends of the line to keep debris out during installation. After you have it installed and before you start attaching the ends, blow compressed air through the line, they are not always clean right out of the box.
 
3175375 said:
Year and model needed.
I replaced all of the brake lines in Elwood, our 68 Plymouth Fury II. It’s not easy, but you should be able to do it without removing a lot.
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It’s a 1973 Imperial. Depending on how it looks, I may well end up replacing the rest of the front end lines (to the other side, to the proportioning valve, etc.). Now it now seems to be a matter of finding more time to do it, since it was looking to be roadworthy this week, and for something seemingly that involved with my lack of experience... :( But hey, we all learn pretty much from scratch, don’t we?
 
Mauser-Oberndorf-AN said:
It’s a 1973 Imperial. Depending on how it looks, I may well end up replacing the rest of the front end lines (to the other side, to the proportioning valve, etc.). Now it now seems to be a matter of finding more time to do it, since it was looking to be roadworthy this week, and for something seemingly that involved with my lack of experience... :( But hey, we all learn pretty much from scratch, don’t we?
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You know what to do - you have a special car and you need to make it happen!
 
Flare nut wrenches are needed for this job.

Look at the lines and make sure they are correct before removing them. Slight bending will be needed to get them to fit.

Start at one end of the line and follow it, remove the line from all the clips, he take it out of the car.
 
If you've gone this far, replace all of the tubing. Don't trust your safety, and everyone else's, to 50yo tubing and hoses.
It sucks to face it and do it, but next year you'll be glad you did.
 
fury fan said:
If you've gone this far, replace all of the tubing. Don't trust your safety, and everyone else's, to 50yo tubing and hoses.
It sucks to face it and do it, but next year you'll be glad you did.
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That’s what I’ve been thinking. Thanks everyone for the suggestions! It took some finagling, but managed to get the front driver to front passenger side line in without too big of an ordeal. Fortunately, no need to remove the fan or shroud. It turns out it runs just in front of the radiator by a fraction of an inch.

Now I’m just looking at the lines going into that proportioning/metering block, and kind of regretting not being married yet and having a small kid whose tiny arms I can use to get down and reach it. :lol: Anyone have any tips from doing that before (accessing everything going into the block, not being married)?
 
Mauser-Oberndorf-AN said:
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Thanks everyone for the suggestions! It took some finagling, but managed to get the front driver to front passenger side line in without too big of an ordeal. Fortunately, no need to remove the fan or shroud. It turns out it runs just in front of the radiator by a fraction of an inch.

Now I’m just looking at the lines going into that proportioning/metering block, and kind of regretting not being married yet and having a small kid whose tiny arms I can use to get down and reach it. :lol: Anyone have any tips from doing that before (accessing everything going into the block, not being married)?
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If I remember correctly, I pulled the fender liner to run the lines on that side (I had to fix a hole under the battery tray.
 
Mauser-Oberndorf-AN said:
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Thanks everyone for the suggestions! It took some finagling, but managed to get the front driver to front passenger side line in without too big of an ordeal. Fortunately, no need to remove the fan or shroud. It turns out it runs just in front of the radiator by a fraction of an inch.

Now I’m just looking at the lines going into that proportioning/metering block, and kind of regretting not being married yet and having a small kid whose tiny arms I can use to get down and reach it. :lol: Anyone have any tips from doing that before (accessing everything going into the block, not being married)?
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If you were closer I could loan you a kid, but he might charger you before it was finished.:rofl:
 
Mauser-Oberndorf-AN said:
That’s what I’ve been thinking. Thanks everyone for the suggestions! It took some finagling, but managed to get the front driver to front passenger side line in without too big of an ordeal. Fortunately, no need to remove the fan or shroud. It turns out it runs just in front of the radiator by a fraction of an inch.

Now I’m just looking at the lines going into that proportioning/metering block, and kind of regretting not being married yet and having a small kid whose tiny arms I can use to get down and reach it. :lol: Anyone have any tips from doing that before (accessing everything going into the block, not being married)?
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Little monsters will just blackmail you out of everything they can to do the job. Youtube teaches them the Most Modern Methods for parent-squeezing. You'd be better off using a leprechaun.
 
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