I've dreaded this day for a while now ever since replacing a brake line last August when I hit it with a breaker bar while doing my engine swap.

I've had grinding and grabbing brakes for the first 20 seconds of braking in my Dakota for a month now and I finally had time to pull the wheels off and have a look. I went ahead and bought a heli coil kit for the caliper guide pins to rethread the steering knuckle as I know they are in pretty bad shape.

I found that the pads on my driver side are worn down to about 25% on one pad, and then completely gone on the back pad. Rotors are pretty rough too. Passenger side is about down to 25% on both pads.

The small piece of brake line going from the driver side hose to the small splitter block which leads up to the brake booster is all corroded and should be replaced.

Calipers I don't think are sticking which is good, the wheels moved without too much difficult on each side, but the brake hoses look rough and I know if I'm going to replace the brake line, I'll likely damage the 12 year old hoses so it's best to replace those.

I also noticed my tranny cooler lines are in pretty rough shape too.. didn't look near as bad a year ago.

So I'm probably going to be redoing all the front pads and rotors, new brake lines and brake hoses. Sucks to be dumping more money into it... have of my problems could've been avoided if I didn't live in good ol' rust bucket Ontario.

Good news is that the rear brake lines are fine, frame and body is pretty good, little surface rust on the differentials.

On the new Mazda I picked up I will be rust proofing that thing yearly... so many headaches can be avoided.


ONE QUESTION:

The small clips that secure the brake hoses to the brake lines are all rotted and rusted away and I'm not sure how to remove them without cutting them... any suggestions?

 

uneven wear on pads is either a collapsed brake hose (not releasing pressure) or sticking caliper, calipers are fairly cheap, and given what you are describing with rust I'd go ahead and replace them, there is bound to be crap in them

 

Just checked to see how much the following items would cost from Rockauto:

2x Brake Hoses
2x Loaded Calipers (includes hardware and pads)
2x Rotors

Total: $364 ($101 Shipping to Canada)

Plus the brake line I need from the dealer... I'm guessing around $75-100

So around $450 for a complete job on all front brakes. Rears were done last summer.


Ouch!

Gonna call local part store tomorrow and see how much all of this will cost.

 

bend your own brake line, much much cheaper. Should be able to get prices down because of the shipping too. My '05 I had to do a caliper and at autozone it was only $40 and lifetime wear pads were $40

 

I used a big screwdriver to get the clips lose then some pliers if I remember correctly getting the new clips back on was hard on one side easy on the other. Be careful not to damage the solid line check the line for corrosion if corroded the line may brake on you.

Front brakes are easy just take your time I have replace everything but the solid lines up front.

Just replaced both rotors and pads a few months ago but I'm not happy I already want to rip the rotors and pads out for a quality drilled & slotted pair of rotors and better pads just didn't like how things worked out. My brakes feel good I just want to redo them.

 

I dont have any of the flaring tools to bend my own line.

And I'm sure that all lines and fittings are corroded to hell lol.

 

You can get pre made line in many lengths from most places you just bend to fit. Never tried it but doesn't look all that hard if needed.


Strange my brake lines look aluminum but they are not just coated or anodized with aluminum.

 

http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS-Performan...58028/10002/-1

 

yeah the lines come in different lengths with ends already on them, just get a cheap bender, heck if you wanted to you can get a flaring tool for $20 at most parts stores. Pre bent will cost you a ton (last car I bought pre bent was a cutlass restoration and the short lines from prop valve to master were $300)

 

I called Dodge this morning... $86 for a prebent line that is literally a foot long. I'm in shock. The prebent piece I bought last summer was over 4 feet long and it cost me $116.

Factorychryslerparts.com has it for $10. Part number 52009881AG

Im not able to find pre flared lines so I'm gonna see if someone I know has the tools to make my own line.

Does anyone know the tubing size and the thread size I need for the brakes?