Making brake hoses

[magneticanomaly]

Brake hoses were not available for my 1962 Peugeot when I rebuilt it in 1976. A wonderful old-school place called Trenton Brakes i nTrenton, NJ made me new ones by cutting off the (metric) threaded part and silver-soldering it to some reusable screw-on) hydraulic fittings, and adding new hose.

Later I bought the stuff myself and have done it a number of times. But the hoses do not last as long as I think they should. The minor problem is that since they have steel wire reinforcement, they are stiffer than OEM type. The more serious problem (IME) is that moisture penetrates between the hose and ferrule, and rusts the steel, the flexing finishes it off and they eventually blow right next to the ferrule.

The good thing is that you can cut off an inch and make the hose up again right there at the side of the road..

But I would like a better solution. Anyone know of a combination of polyglycol-resistant hose and reusable fittings that work well?

Yes, I am going to kill myself and everyone else doing this since 1976. Thanks. Back to my question.

 

[moonlight machine]

Get stainless fittings, use teflon/stainless steel braided lines. -3 is the size you need. Earls Performance in Indianapolis will have what you need. 317 241 0318 You will find their fittings and lines on all real race cars. I made stainless lines for my friends Corvette about 30 years ago with no failures.

 

[Mud]

Get stainless fittings, use teflon/stainless steel braided lines. -3 is the size you need. Earls Performance in Indianapolis will have what you need. 317 241 0318 You will find their fittings and lines on all real race cars. I made stainless lines for my friends Corvette about 30 years ago with no failures.

+1 for this. There are adapters made now for every brake line known to man. If Earl's doesn't have the right one look around. I did exactly this in '78 for a 4WD vehicle, drove it for 100K miles over 30 years until the rest of the vehicle rusted to death, those lines were(are) still like new.

 

[scsmith42]

In lots of parts of the US, local companies can make up new brake hoses. Here in the Raleigh area Alliance Hose will make them. I know that there are folks in Austin, TX that do as well. You might want to check around amongst your local hydraulic hose manufacturers to see if someone can make them new.

 

[magneticanomaly]

Hoses for the truck I blew one on most recently (1953 IH R-130) are available, and I ordered a set. But to get the truck backo n the road, I made a new one with the old reusable fittings and the intended-for-air-brakes steel-braided hose I have been using.

The most recent failure was not due to corrosion of the braid, but simple fatigue from flexing. Lately when I make one up, I lubricate and seal the ferrule with lindeed oil when I screw it onto the hose. After a lot of playing around and steering of the wheel while I watched the hose, I decided a couple of inches shorter would actually flex less.

One of the delights of running ancient equipment, is that after years of ownng it I have had most of it apart at least once, and have had the opportunity to torque things properly, apply never-seez to threads, change to brass or stainless here and there. Now, while I cringe to rememebr the nightmare of hammering and torching and breaking things in the early days, now most repairs go smoothly and nothing breaks.

The stainless-braided Teflon hoses sound good, although Teflon is more plastic than elastic, and stainless braid might not have any bettwer flex-life than carbon steel. I am still interested in other alternatives.

 

[Doozer]

Brake hoses are available for the '53 R-110 half ton.
Look at Rockauto or any auto parts. The rear
hose is the same for sure. The fronts screw into
the slave cylinders, and I think are a straight 3/8-24
connection with a copper washer (not banjo).
You could probably have a direct fit of the 1/2 ton
hoses or a good fit with a little adapting.
I have a R-110, R-162, and an R-1856.

-Doozer

 

[Peroni]

Talk with the folks at Paragon Performance in California. I've had them make custom Teflon braided stainless brake lines with SS fittings for several projects over the years. One set if 16 yrs old now and still working fine with no leaks or fatigue.

 

[GTinGA]

Also check with boat trailer sources. I just put a set of stainless brake lines on my boat trailer which gets dipped in saltwater often. Mine came from etrailer.com.

 

[macsonboy]

Brake hoses were not available for my 1962 Peugeot when I rebuilt it in 1976. A wonderful old-school place called Trenton Brakes i nTrenton, NJ made me new ones by cutting off the (metric) threaded part and silver-soldering it to some reusable screw-on) hydraulic fittings, and adding new hose.

Later I bought the stuff myself and have done it a number of times. But the hoses do not last as long as I think they should. The minor problem is that since they have steel wire reinforcement, they are stiffer than OEM type. The more serious problem (IME) is that moisture penetrates between the hose and ferrule, and rusts the steel, the flexing finishes it off and they eventually blow right next to the ferrule.

The good thing is that you can cut off an inch and make the hose up again right there at the side of the road..

But I would like a better solution. Anyone know of a combination of polyglycol-resistant hose and reusable fittings that work well?

Yes, I am going to kill myself and everyone else doing this since 1976. Thanks. Back to my question.

 

[macsonboy]

don;t forget to change the brake fluid sometimes

 

[magneticanomaly]

Automatic partial fluid change when the hose blows!