Brake line failure

Alright, help a newbie out.

07 Tundra, brakes were acting squishy this afternoon when I went for a quick store run, by the time I got home I almost had to e-brake my way into the garage. Get out, I can smell the fluid and there's stuff sprayed all over the inside of the wheel well and dripping out of the garage like a murder victim.

After letting things cool down a bit, I found a rather large hole in one of the hard lines, looks like salt's just disintegrated it. So, a few questions:
I can't find this specific 'line' on diagrams/online, are they just 'standard' length hoses? This one's about 12" long. Can I buy one and just gently bend it into shape/use a pully/round object to bend into shape?
Is this realistically serviceable without removing the wheel?
Is the brake fluid going to just dissolve everything under the wheel well? My understanding is it's pretty caustic.
Is this worth me trying to do, followed by a car shop inspecting everything? Or are they just going to turn around and say 'yeah that one looks great but the other 25 hoses are just as dissolved, we gotta do the rest now' and it end up costing me the same amount anyhow?
Thanks...

 

Yikes. Your truck is rusting away. I would be checking all of my brake lines. Better yet, I would be doing a thorough evaluation of my rust situation to make sure any other repairs are needed, or even worth doing.

 

Unfortunately this is pretty good shape for NY. This is about 3 winters' worth of salt. When I got this, I had to pass over a handful of trucks that you could pull chunks off the underside like old bark, still for sale for over $10k.

 

You can go to any auto parts store and buy a line with the matching length that's just a straight section with the end fittings. Get that and bend it by hand into shape. Be a bit gentle on the curves, you'll notice when it starts feeling like it's going to kink, so stop before that point but otherwise it can bend pretty tight.

Unscrew old line, bend new one into vague shape, screw new one in, bleed brakes, good to go.

I would personally pull the tire, but not mandatory if you can squish yourself in there.

And I'd inspect the other lines as much as possible.

 

Thanks, that's good info. I'm not confident I can actually unscrew the existing line, it might just fragment apart when I try, but I guess off is off. Are there special fittings I need to be aware of? Or are they universal at this point?

I'll need more brake fluid too I guess, and probably brake cleaner to get all this existing stuff off...

 

You don't unscrew the line itself, there are inverted flare fittings on both ends of the line, they're essentially a special nut that threads into a female receiver. That's what you unscrew, and they're pretty beefy. You can put an open end wrench on them, or vice grips, or since your line is fucked you could cut the line up and slide a socket or something over them. The universal brake lines you want need to match that same fitting. I THINK they're M10x1.0, there's only a couple brake line types out there. In an ideal world I would remove the brake line from the truck, take it with you to the parts store and then you can match up the end fittings and length. And yes, buy more brake fluid I think all Toyota brake lines are the same (probably all Japanese vehicles in general for that matter), so it should be straightforward to find a replacement.

 

Oh so like a pair of female connectors into a common male? Okay, yeah if the line just disintegrates I'll get it off one way or another. I'm sure I can get this thing off to take with me. Not like I'm driving it anywhere!

 

M10x1.0 is indeed correct.

 

Yea, they look like this. And you want an inverted flare on the end, there's different kind of shapes on the end of the brake line where it flares out. The inverted flare is the most common. You'll see what it looks like when you pull the line off.

 

I was just looking at this part. SAE Double/Inverted flare, with the M10x1.0 nut, mated to that rubber hose on one end, and I think another hard one on the other end (with a two-sided female mate between them). I'm gonna pull the whole mess off tomorrow and see if it's degraded enough to warrant replacing all parts, or see if the mates are still in good enough shape. Are those lines often sold as-is like that? Or do I need to get a flaring tool, nuts, etc?

I'm lucky the previous owner lifted it, I can nearly fit my entire torso into the wheel well.

 

They're sold like in the photo as a completely assembled unit. Any parts store will have a big selection of length and fitting types, will be like $15 for a line. And you are correct, there's a hardline on the frame side, then soft line at the suspension (rubber) and then back to hardline to the caliper. OEMs try to keep as much hardline as possible since it improves brake feel, so they only run soft line at the suspension or other flexible areas.

 

Awesome, that'll make my life a lot easier. Do those fittings generally degrade at the same rate as the lines? Or at least I guess, should I just consider replacing the whole mess while I'm in there? At least what I can get to.

 

Can't say, I've never had something like that happen. The rubber lines generally start cracking first where I live.

I would probably replace all the lines you could access, maybe not now but in the near future. For probably $100 you could replace all the lines on the rear axle and in the wheel wells.

 

OP, I’ve been rocking one of these on my driver’s side for about 5 years now. No leaks, no problems.

 

Replacement successful. It was so rusted through that the nut was welded to the flange, and the whole mess just twisted off of the line itself. After some cleanup, I got the new line on, though I can't guarantee it's the same nut flaring, gonna have the shop check it to make sure it's okay (it doesn't match OEM). No leaks though!


Rear brakes' bleed bolts are rusted solid too, and wd40 didn't help, so guessing it needs some lovin' at the shop as well. I can get there with 30% or whatever brake power so they can deal with this at that point

 

Heat the bleeder screw with a propane torch until glowing red. Let it cool down and break it loose.

 

Just remember, brake fluid is EXTREMELY flammable.

 

Brilliant, I'll go buy a propane torch and set fire to the brake fluid and WD40 that's drenching all the bleed screws.

 

I never told you to put open flame in fluid, just heat up the external part to break loose rust. Worked like a charm for my canadian rusty calipers. Have your garden hose close just in case