Removing rear flex brake line.

[smf333]

Hi Guy's

Just a quick question. This week I noticed my rear nearside alloy was getting very hot. I've had this happen before in my mkV transit which turned out to be a flex hose not allowing the brake piston to return.
Anyway after I ventured in to see if I was right, I found that the rear bottom brake shoe had disintegrated and was scraping around inside the drum in the disc.
So, thinking this was the problem, I diligently decided to change both discs, along with the shoes and pads.
I checked the piston for free movement and found that I could push it in with a 'G' clamp and it did move back out when a pressed the brake.

Unfortunately, the disc is still getting hotter than the space shuttle during re-entry, so I guess my first assumption was probably right after all, and the hose isn't allowing any back flow.

I've got a new piston and hose coming, but I just wanted to get clear how the hose is removed from the bracket on the body?
I'm not worried about the hose to caliper fitting, as I'm going to take it all off in one go, but on vehicles I've worked on before I've had to use two spanners, one to hold the fixed line, and one to hold the flex line.
I've cleaned off most of the rust and I'm currently soaking the nut closest to the bracket for a couple of days before attempting to undo it, but can I just undo this nut in situ on the bracket?
There's no way I can get another spanner in the the lower (hard line) nut as it's too close to the lower control arm.

All the best.

smf.

[b1mcp]

The flex hose sits in a recess in the bracket so it cannot be turned.

You need to remove the fitting on the hard line on the other side of the bracket, and the spring clip, then the flex hose will pull out of the bracket.

Releasing the bracket from the body will give you a bit more room but it's still very difficult and frustrating. A flexible head flare nut spanner will help.

[smf333]

Originally Posted by b1mcp

The flex hose sits in a recess in the bracket so it cannot be turned.

You need to remove the fitting on the hard line on the other side of the bracket, and the spring clip, then the flex hose will pull out of the bracket.

Releasing the bracket from the body will give you a bit more room but it's still very difficult and frustrating. A flexible head flare nut spanner will help.

Thanks for that b1mcp, I realised that this morning when the new flex line turned up!!..... Along with the fact that I'd posted in the wrong section!!

[rabbitrr]

It's one of those jobs that is really simple, but also prone to issue's...

I normally apply this thought process to it

If it looks like it will go well, I have the time to do it and the time to sort any likely problems then I do it.

If I have the time to do it, but would struggle time wise to deal with any likely problems then it's a flip the coin time if I do it or the dealer gets it.

If I don't have the time to do the job OR the time to sort any likely problems OR I consider there ARE going to be problems (like the stupid brake line flare nut snapping the brake line) then the dealer gets it.... And also gets to sort the additional problems THEY cause by twisting the brake line apart....

Get a fixed quote for all work before handing over the keys....

And before anyone mentions dealer vs indy, my first 'foray' with an indy was to for them to do a compression check and replace a blown intercooler on the XC70. Simple enough job, done in a few hours (you think).

Took a week, managed to break the radiator while doing it, didn't do the compression check, ran the car round the yard with the gearbox oil cooling line feed/return joined and not through the rad and when filling with coolant had the engine (diesel) running at about 2500-3000 rpm for god knows how long (not under load) to get the coolant round (?) and then presented a bill the wrong side of £1k.

I'd have been better off either taking a day off work or just dropping it off at the dealer! I wont be going back to that indy, ever.

[smf333]

Yeah, sounds like a lot of bitterness right there rabbit!

Well I'm giving it a really good soak with penetrating oil. The hose turned up this morning but the caliper hasn't, so I guess it's going to be at least Tuesday before I have chance to get to grips with it. So more soaking over the holiday weekend before I even try to break it free!
I can do without the car so time really isn't a problem.

Thanks, smf.

[charles p]

Please tell me how you get on.
I have exactly the same issue - I've replaced discs, pads and caliper and still have an occasional drag, so the flexi is suspect


C

[smf333]

Originally Posted by charles p

Please tell me how you get on.
I have exactly the same issue - I've replaced discs, pads and caliper and still have an occasional drag, so the flexi is suspect


C

Yep no prob's charles, although I'm still waiting on my new caliper to arrive, so it'll be mid-week sometime before I get round to actually doing it.

The flex hose was my first though when I noticed my disc getting hot as it's happened to me before, and they are susceptible to it. But finding the bits of brake shoe wedged in the drum kind'a made me think otherwise.

Anyway, more soaking for a couple of days!

[rabbitrr]

Originally Posted by smf333

Yeah, sounds like a lot of bitterness right there rabbit!

Aye, just a tad... Still, I'm off work on holiday for 5 days and the weathers nice so I've got the tools out and am doing a few jobs on the Frontera. Yeah, I know it's not a Volvo, those (have 3 on the yard atm) are all working fine for a change lol...

The Frontera, a 1995 LWB 2.8 TDi, now at a mere 300 odd thousand miles used to be the daily driver for work but has now been retired to duties as my 'toy'

Been off the road for a few months and is now about time to get it up and going again, so it's MOT next week and I'm just doing the prep work for that, started Friday and so far I've... Made and replaced about 500mm of sill, patched another wee hole up front and am now lining up to replace the O/S rear axle bump stop apart from that it's in quite good order and should survive the MOT fellas poking for another year.

Over the years, the engine has 'morphed' into a Isuzu 3.1, the rear axle into a Trooper rear axle c/w LSD, the DMS Flywheel into a Single Mass Flywheel, Snorkel, recovery winch bumper (had to make that one) and a 2" suspension lift...

That little lot, plus a bit of 'tinkering' with other cars (I consider engine re-builds etc in the tinkering range) over the last 40 odd years is what led to ones frustration with the XC70 and the intercooler moment...

[smf333]

Quick update.

I finally tried to get the bracket and hard line to flex hose off today in preparation for the new caliper and hose.
The weekend soaking with penetrating oil did the trick but it wasn't without near disaster!
the retaining clip came off ok but I couldn't get the bracket to slide down the flex hose giving me access to both hard line and flex hose nuts.
Then I found that the flare spanner for the hard line nut was too big (11mm) and the 10mm was too small!!
So after much cursing wiggling, heating up with my small gas torch, cooling down with the oil the bracket finally broke free!!

Then I set my locking pliers on the hard line nut (which seems not to fit any of my flare spanners!) and used the 14mm flare on the flex nut, and hey presto nut's came loose!

So much corrosion and absolutely awful positioning of the brake lines in the first place make this job an absolute nightmare!!!

All I'm waiting for now is the caliper to turn up and I can finally get the job done!

[b1mcp]

I might be misunderstanding, but if you got the spring clip off before separating the flex hose from the hard line, then you must have broken the clip. So you will need a new one of those before reassembly.