Had the family out for a little soft core wheelin outside of Boise today. Didn't even bother disconnecting my sway bar disconnects for the front axle which ended up being the direct cause for my complete loss of brakes. ('84 CJ7)

We were almost back to the main dirt road (wheelin off of Blacks Creek Rd. for those that know the area) and hit a horizontal rut across the road at a good speed. Both front wheels hit at the same time and compressed the axle up. My sway bar rotated up (connected remember) and sheared off my extended brake line on the driver side where it attaches to the factory hard line at the frame.

I was able to get it stopped but a brake pedal going to the floor while wheelin is not a good feeling.

Took me about a half hour but I was able to cut the hard line and crimp the end good enough to get the Jeep home. It would still drip when pressure was applied, but I was able to get it home with out hardly using the brakes.

So, I have a CJ to fix (again). This factory hard line is 1 piece that goes from the proportioning valve on the driver side frame below the master cylinder up to the front of the vehicle where the flexible line from the drivers side front disc caliper attaches to it. I need a replacement for this hard line.

Everything I see on the web are complete hard line kits for about $200. Anyone know if I can get just the piece I need? I wonder if it's still availble from the dealer? I'm sure I can have one made, but am wondering if a custom brake line can be made using the hard line that has the wire spring like thing wrapped around for protection. I would like to retain that feature.

Anyone have any experience?? Thanks for any help.

Mark

can't just use 1/4" line and some new fittings? bend it yourself and flare it? glad you and yours are OK. that stuff is no fun.

brake lines of any length are readlly available at any parts store== NAPA -etc.
do it yourself and route the lines so they won't get smashed !!!!!

This is an easy do it yer selfer. As was said, 1/4" tubing is readily available at Napa. I've repaired my brakelines before useing it. I now carry a few lengths of 1/4" tubing, some flare fittings, a bender, a flare tool, and wheel cutter in my standard arsenal of trail gear. Let alone my brakelines, I can replace my entire clutchline on the trail if need be :smokin:

Okay, I haven't fabbed any hard lines in the past so just a bit nervous with something I haven't had experience with.

I'll head to NAPA or Schucks/Checker tomorrow and pick up a bend & flare kit and some brake line and learn how to do it.

Thanks for the advise gentlemen.

Buy a quality flare tool, the double flare ends on brake lines can be a bitch with a cheap flare tool.

glad youre all ok. ... and make sure the flare kit will give you the proper angle of flare for making brake lines.... some kits are sold as "brake line" flare kits but are actually a few degrees off from the angle brake fittings are manufactured to.

x2 on the double flare sometimes being a bitch to do, you will almost always have to use a little cheater bar to crank the flare tool tight enough, and if its a cheap tool the std tightening handle will bend.

I'd suspect your brake lines are 3/16--not 1/4. Good idea to make sure before buying/cutting, etc.

Yup, 3/16". All back together and working fine but I'd like to make sure everyone understands what happened to us on the trail because I fear it could happen to others...

'84 CJ7 with a simple 2.5" spring lift. Shackles are 1" longer than stock, so 3" total suspension lift. Here's where the problem hides -- I also have sway bar quick disconnects (running the factory anti sway bar). The quick disconncts are 8" long. My disconnects were probably designed for some range of lift, mine being at the bottom end. In order for the 8" long disconnects to fit, the factory sway must be rotated up to make room. This has been fine for years and I never had a problem.

Well, yesterday I hit a bump head on and hard enough that it forced the entire axle upward obviously higher than its done before. It helps to take a peak at your setup to see what I'm talking about, but when the axle goes up the connected sway bar goes up as well. The horizonal part of the sway bar outboard of the frame on each side rotates upward when the axle compresses. Yesterday it rotated high enough to sheer off my flexible brake line where it attaches to the hard line out board of the frame on the driver side. I took a look at the passenger side and saw the flexible line was bent upward again where attaches to the factory line and again by the sway bar rotating up.

So I replaced both of the flexible lines today in the front and to take care of the issue, I chopped 2.5" off of each of my 8" long disconnects. The shorter disconnects alow me to rotate the anti sway bar down when connecting to the lower connection point. This added space should prevent the sway from ever contacting my brake lines again.

Maybe I'm the only one who this has ever happened to, but it sure seems plausible that this is a situation waiting to happen to others with similar setups to mine.