Well the wife lost brakes on the truck the other day and thankfully neither she or anyone else got hurt and no accident as a result.
Turns out that the steel line from drivers front rotted out. I removed the rotten line and tried to get one from the dealership only to be told that the didn't have any new lines and I had to make one .... whatever. I brought it to a friends shop and had him bend up a new one. The new unit fit like a charm and I had the system bled in short order.
Shortly after that I checked the pedal feel with the truck running and suddenly felt the pedal sink. I investigated further and found a puddle of brake fluid under the rear of the truck now!! After cooling down a little bit I realized what a blessing it was that it let loose while parked in the driveway instead of while driving like the first occurrence.
The newly leaking line is pretty long. Do they sell brake lines that long in length?? Has anyone else been down this road???

Thanks in advance.

 

That's scary! Is it the metal line going across the axle? If so, my dad ordered a replacement for his ram at the dealer

 

No,it's the real long one going from the ABS module all the way back to the rubber line for the axle. I tried the dealer and struck out. I will replace the short ones across the axle too but they are relatively short. I'm guessing that the long one is between 10 & 15 feet long.

 

If you can't find one long enough, get 2 or 3 lines that will cover the necessary length and union fittings. Most any part store will have brake lines that will work. The fun is bending them to fit.

 

The one that goes to the rear I take it. Started dripping around by the back end of gas tank? by where it turns to flex line?

There is a union up around where the frame goes boxed. Get the longest your auto part store carry's 3 unions and an 6 inch line aswell. stock union new long line union small piece to the flex tube

 

You can just buy a big roll of it and make it as long as you require. My brother and I built his brake lines from scratch this way on his 67 Nova.

 

Yup,you hit it right on the head! I was surprised that I was able to remove and replace that one without dropping the fuel tank!! I had that line made up, installed it and started bleeding the brakes and guess what happened ..... you guessed it! It sprung a leak at the other side of the union. Now this line that runs from the union forward leaks. This one runs under the cab to the block for the ABS.

I pretty much had to walk away from it at this point cuz I was really steamin' like a demon. When the shop has an empty bay for me I'll fill the reservoir and proceed with caution. When I get there I'll have all the remaining lines replaced along with a couple of muffler clamps that also rotted away.

Did I tell you that this truck only has 40,000 miles on it ????

 

Ouch. not cool at all. I only knew that because I did that one on mine to and could not find a line long enough.

 

when it comes to rusted brake lines, the age of the truck is more important than the mileage...

Good call replacing the rest of the lines though. I wouldn't trust any of them at this point.

 

And the area you live in. My 2000 model has no rust on the orig lines and I think its due to very limited snow and barely any chemicals used on the roads in NC helping to eat metal away. When I was living in NY growing up I worked at a dealer for a few yrs and most of the cars started showing rust on the bottoms after a few yrs...Lots of snow and salt/chemicals used on the roads there..

After reading this post I went out and checked mine again just to be sure.