[Shop-talk] Ford Explorer Brake Line Repair

[Jim Franklin]

On Aug 5, 2012, at 6:05 PM, Jim Stone wrote:

> I am currently 'borrowing' a cousin's vacation house.  The cousin, who is
> extremely generous with the house, leaves his 2004 Explorer here for his
> guests to use.  Unfortunately, the brakes went out while we were driving it
> today and a little inspection revealed that the right front brake hose has
> split.  I only have limited tools here and no way to put the car on jack
> stands or ramps, but it looks like a very simple repair to me requiring only
a
> socket wrench and one open end, followed by a bleed.  Has anyone here ever
> done it?  I could certainly have the car towed to a mechanic, but doing it
> myself would give us the car to use while we are vacationing and be a nice
way
> to say 'thanks'.

If everything goes right it's very simple. But typically the nuts will be
stuck in place enough that a normal open end will just round off the nut. You
need a flare nut wrench which wraps around the nut touching all six sides.
Sometimes this doesn't work either, if they're really stuck.

However- if you break the things the lines are attached to, you've multiplied
your work/cost by 10, and now you're on the hook to follow through. You might
be able to get a mechanic to fix it quickly, especially if you can go through
the trouble of finding the parts and delivering them with the car if they
don't stock them.