The left rear brake line has rusted through and now sprays brake fluid on the gas tank. The hole is just downstream of where the line ties into the rear axle brake hose. The problem that I see is that the hard brake line and the left side rubber hose going to the caliper banjo bolt are one assembly. I expected to find a threaded fitting where the hardline meets the rubber brake hose. It appears to be a permanent crimp. None of my local parts jobbers has a direct replacement part. Has anyone else dealt with this problem? I could splice in a new section of hardline. Are the hard lines and fittings metric or fractional? BTW, the right side brake line doesn't look much better so I better plan on replacing it too.
oh well, time for a beer...
turbospeed

 

Are you saying the fitting from the hose to the hard line is missing?

 

its all 3/16 size. my righr rear flex hose leaked on my 250 and it was a dealer only part. it came with the flex hose and the hardline all the way back to the axle connection.it was a regular 3/16 flare fitting. i just used the flex hose a screwed into the existing hardline which was still fine. it was around 40$ if i recall. can u get some pics on here??

 

I took a couple of pictures but for some reason the moderator/administrator won't allow me to attach photos to my post. So I opened an onsite photo gallery named "turbospeed" and put a picture there.

 

thats weird .. probably gonna have to go to dealer. ive never seen a connection like that before. its a regular type fitting going into the axle connector tee right?

 

Well I grabbed the bull by the horns. Pulled the left side line off and went to the see the parts man. Picked up a collection of fittings and adapters as well as copper crush gaskets for the banjo fitting bolts on the calipers. I already had some new 3/16" steel tubing onsite. I was surprised that just about everything on the hydraulic side is still fractional. In any case I re-used the flex hoses and cut back the rotted steel line. Spliced in new steel line and used my double flaring kit for the first time in years. The left side flare fitting at the rear axle tee was the next size up (1/4" tube) from your typical 3/16" line flare fitting. I used a reducer fitting to reduce down to my 3/16" line. In anycase it wasn't too bad of a job. Still not much fun crawling around on my hands and knees and fending off the spiders. Since the right side brakeline also looked pretty corroded, I replaced it too. Afterwards I gave the hydraulic system a quick bleed and took it for a drive. It was definitely better and stopped the truck but still not up to snuff. The truck has about 90k on the clock with original hoses and master cylinder. I may replace the master cylinder and front hoses since they are readily available. I've loaded some "after" pictures to my gallery.

 

looks good.