DIY how to - front brake line replacement advice - good stuff

I had to replace my front brake lines and doing it the way most videos show how its done just doesn't work on our tacos because the steering tie rod bar is all up in your way so I just wanted to add a little heads up for anyone about to be replacing their brake lines.

first drain your master cylinder by pulling out the screen basket then sucking out all the old fluid with one of those turkey basters, if its dirty with sediments in there then squish it in and out with the turkey baster to flush it out off of the bottom so its suspended and can be sucked out. your not going to avoid it all leaking out anyways so you may as well avoid a bigger mess by not letting it run out all over the frame rail and you while you work under the truck.

you dont need to remove the tires but you will need to jack up the side you are working on so you have room under the truck to work but only if you have the car height regular truck, prerunners and 4wd are already high enough to get under them.

once that is done just take your hose off the caliper then remove the holding brackets before taking the holding clip off and then by reaching over the tire and from under the fender well, break the short metal line loose from the tee fitting on the frame rail and then finally remove the holding bracket on the tubing on the inside of the frame rail (mine only had this on drivers side) so you can then be free to feed the short metal line down through the holding bracket by twisting it around at just the right angles so it comes out with the hose still attached. put it in a vise to hold it while you break the hose fitting loose and take note to retighten the new on in the exact same position and angle. be careful the mounting tangs are pointed the right way and do not to bend the metal line if you can help it, you need to keep it bent the same way as much as possible so everything lines up again later.

you need to do it this way because that is the only place you have decent room to work a wrench. I just spent 2 hours on one break line unsuccessfully trying to restart the threads on the hose by not taking out the short metal line with it and I just couldn't do it because you cant get your hands in there no matter which way you turn the wheel.

also you can forget about using a 10mm line wrench to break the brake line fittings loose so just use a small vise grip pliers to break the fittings loose or you will strip them, they are not 10mm but more like 9.75mm so its just lose enough to strip it every damn time. once its loose you can use the line wrench but any wrench is going to do the job just fine once its loose.

starting the metal line fitting in the new hose is tricky because its a tight fit so you have to press it in hard while turning but be very careful to get the threads started on straight, you don't want to strip it or you will need to but a replacement for both lines.

once you are done refill the reservoir with fresh new fluid and then use the gravity feed bleeding method of just opening the bleeders and let the new fluid flow down from the master cylinder and push out all the air along with any remaining old fluid in the lines as you continue to top off the reservoir every few minutes as needed. its best to use a clear hose over the bleeder screw running into a bottle to keep an eye on it so you can see when you get solid clean fluid coming out with no more air bubbles so you know when to stop. do one wheel at a time and also don't forget to do the rear brakes too.

now pump up your brakes and if it doesn't feel solid rebleed all the lines again.

the first one took me 3 1/2 hours but the second line only took me 30 minutes because I did not try to undo the hose to metal line connection while it was still in place.