You may have seen my other post, I am a brand new owner of a 1962 M37 and also new to being a mechanic, ha. I found the brakes were pretty slow, but was told old trucks stop slow and it seemed fine. While I was checking on another repair I noticed the front brake line on the passenger side was broken off. So that explains the poor stopping with 1/2 brakes!
There's about a 12+ inch copper line that broke off. The good side has a flare fitting. Can I get this or something like this at the local auto parts store? I guess it doesn't need to be copper as long as the fittings are the same size. Could anyone point me to what I need?
Yikes! In stock form the truck has only a single brake circuit, which is to say that it has one line that feeds both front and back brakes. A failure such as yours should have left you with NO brakes at all. So it’s puzzling you still had any brakes at all, unless someone has modified your truck into a dual circuit system. Also possible is that the brake line is plugged somewhere towards the front of the truck.
As for the brake line, yes you can certainly get a new line from any local auto parts store. You don’t want plain copper though, you want either nickel copper alloy, or steel. Copper is too soft and will break or split.
Brake lines are 1/4 inch double flare, which is a standard size.
Good luck!
RCrombie wrote:Yikes! In stock form the truck has only a single brake circuit, which is to say that it has one line that feeds both front and back brakes. A failure such as yours should have left you with NO brakes at all. So it’s puzzling you still had any brakes at all, unless someone has modified your truck into a dual circuit system. Also possible is that the brake line is plugged somewhere towards the front of the truck.
As for the brake line, yes you can certainly get a new line from any local auto parts store. You don’t want plain copper though, you want either nickel copper alloy, or steel. Copper is too soft and will break or split.
Brake lines are 1/4 inch double flare, which is a standard size.
Good luck!
Thanks! Yes, my neighbor mentioned it's a dual cylinder. I had check the fluid level, but the second reservoir is farther back so I couldn't see it was empty. I had my wife pump the brake and I can hear it spitting a little air so hopefully not plugged. I'll run to O'Reilly's tonight to see if they have a matching size in stock.
A working engine is good and important, but having brakes that stop is even more important. Going is sometimes optional, but stoping never is. I completely redid m trucks brake lines, new bleeders and new copper/nickel lines, got the parts and a loaner flare tool from FedHill, they have every thing you need to make your truck safe for a long time. The short axle lines are available from the vendors on this forum. They also sell a preformed brake line set too. If one line was perforate4d, the remaining lines are likely to be at the end of their life too. The Fedhill loaner flare tool is really good. They send it to you, then you mail it back. I reused and bought new "armor" or my brake lines. Let us know if you wish any other thoughts. HC
NAM VET wrote:A working engine is good and important, but having brakes that stop is even more important. Going is sometimes optional, but stoping never is. I completely redid m trucks brake lines, new bleeders and new copper/nickel lines, got the parts and a loaner flare tool from FedHill, they have every thing you need to make your truck safe for a long time. The short axle lines are available from the vendors on this forum. They also sell a preformed brake line set too. If one line was perforate4d, the remaining lines are likely to be at the end of their life too. The Fedhill loaner flare tool is really good. They send it to you, then you mail it back. I reused and bought new "armor" or my brake lines. Let us know if you wish any other thoughts. HC
Thanks HC! I went to O'Reilly's and they had a replacement line and I borrowed their flare tool. I was glad to find it wasn't a M37 specific line. The previous owner said he replaced these not too long ago when he re-did the brakes. The truck was not operational and the driver side front brake was locked up when I bought it a few weeks ago. It's possible the line got snapped when the tow truck yanked it out. It took him a while since the truck was sunk in soft gravel perpendicular to the driveway and the tow truck didn't have enough room to back into it so he had to winch it from an angle. The brake wouldn't release through the gravel so he had to reverse winch it off at my house. When he got it on my asphalt driveway I had him give it another tug and it freed up. I'll go through and check the other ones to see how they look.
is it a copper line? copper nickel is ok but copper is technically illegal on brake systems. basically the only time copper should be used in any automotive application is vacuum lines. Steel or copper-nickel only. its going to stop alot better with all 4 wheels working!
Kaegi wrote:is it a copper line? copper nickel is ok but copper is technically illegal on brake systems. basically the only time copper should be used in any automotive application is vacuum lines. Steel or copper-nickel only. its going to stop alot better with all 4 wheels working!
You are correct, it is copper nickel! Can't wait to try it with all four wheels. My wife helped me bleed all the brakes yesterday.
Home
