How many hours to replace the flex lines with stainless and bleed the system?

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Mar 7, 2001 | 09:01 PM

markbradford

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From: Chicago

How many hours to replace the flex lines with stainless and bleed the system?

I got dinged for three hours to put stainless steel brake lines and racing brake fluid on yesterday. Reasonable???

TIA!

Mar 7, 2001 | 10:12 PM

Rich L.

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That might be excessive.

It took me that long having never done brake lines before. I could probably do it in half that now. I don't know what the book says.

Rich

Mar 7, 2001 | 10:37 PM

®ob

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Sounds about right. Considering you have to remove all the wheels...

change all the brake lines, and then do a full system flush. I'm sure book time would call for that.

Mar 8, 2001 | 12:29 AM

MikTip

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Re: How many hours to replace the flex lines with stainless and bleed the system?

Three hours is a good, reasonable amount of time for such a job. Especially adding in a flush an bleed, plus R&R of all 4 wheels!

Brakes are one of those jobs, you dont want to rush, or be in a big hurry to get done.

You basically need to do one brake at a time. Remove old lines, in such a manner as to not introduce any dirt into the calipers and reinstall. Usually requires setting up the line so it doesnt rub on anything while steering. You cant just throw in a line any old way. It needs to be placed specifically out of harms way. Then checked with full throws of the steering from left to right to make sure the line will survive.

I've seen a dealership once install lines, and as soon as the owner drove out the parking lot, the front two lines were ripped out, because the mechanic did not tighten them correctly to allow free movement of the steering.
The frantic owner returned moments later, with a few choice words for the service manager! Luckily he recognized there was a problem and was able to use the parking brake to control the car. Dealers excuse was the lines were not factory, so they cant be held responsable. Hearing that, I departed.

Mar 8, 2001 | 06:29 AM

Bollinger

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why not braided?

Don't you have to use braided on the front due to steering anyway? There are braided lines which don't give at well over 5000 PSI.

Mar 8, 2001 | 06:40 AM

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Less than that for a garage, but doing it yourself will prolly take 4 or more...

I've done all of this. YOU NEED FLARE WRENCHES FOR THE NUTS! They are soft copper and strip very easily(been there, done that). You'll be replacing 2 lines for each rear wheel, and one for each front wheel. It is pretty straightforward but time consuming.

Bleed the system sfterwards with the help of a friend if you don't want to buy all sorts of needless crap for the job. Just make sure he/she doesn't depress the brake pedal more than half way when pumping it. Do a search for proper bleeding technique.

Have fun...brake fluid feels very strange on the hands.

Mar 8, 2001 | 07:53 AM

markbradford

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From: Chicago

UPDATE: Service manager called, only charging me for 1.5 hours. My dealer's the $hit!!!!!

And my shop rate is $69 CDN an hour - so that's only about $45-50 USD.

Total bill came to less than $150 with 4L of Mobil 1 and an oil change! Sweet.