I just bought a 94 ranger off my wifes cousin a month or so ago. had to replace the radiator and thermostat right after, first owner decided several bottles of stop leak was the best solution to his problems. after that she ran great, named her cherry, put 2,000 miles on her in a month, had no issues.

a few days ago i noticed i was low on brake fluid. topped off and assumed all was good. but then the next day i was low again. after some looking, i found my brake line is doing exactly what is happening in this video

so, how exactly should i approach fixing this? it seems to be a straight about 10 foot run of metal line. and autozone only sells short sections apparently. i don't want to spend a crap-ton of money at a mechanic for replacing a single metal tube, but I've never done something like this before.

Change it immediately. Next step is it busts and your foot goes all the way to the floor.

How much line you need depends on if you have single cab, extended cab, short bed, long bed.

I have done 3 in the last 6 months very familiar with this operation.

And welcome to the forum.

__________________
00 XLT 4WD XCSB 4.0 my new baby
00 XLT 2WD RCSB 5.0 swap in progress.
98 XLT 4WD XCSB 4.0 dead
99 EXPO donor motor for dead one and parts for the others.
Newest Ranger Forum

its a extended cab. don't know if its short or long bed. how can i tell? how long are each?
being the first vehicle I've worked on, and the first i owned, how hard will it be to do myself? also, where would i go to buy the line? the autozone guy said it should be in sections, and i would need to find where and buy a replacement for the bad section. but it fells like just one long continuous pipe (had to feel since it runs behind the gas tank and i cant really see it there)

If your rear brake line is leaking fluid because of rust chances are you will have more than just the one rusted line to deal with.

All the metal lines need to be inspected if any of them look as bad as the one that is leaking you will need to replace them all.

So your first task is to inspect all the brake lines and front and rear brakes.

While inspecting the brake lines I would have a can of penetrating oil with you to soak down Each fitting that you will need to remove and you need to soak all the bleeder screws at the calipers and wheel cylinders.

Tools you will need are good quality lines wrenches, tubng cutter, tubing bender. A hand full of wire hangers, diagonal cutters, six point socket set, a small ball peen hammer and brass punch and other miscellaneous hand tools.

If you are very lucky during your inspection you may only find severe rust at the point of the leak, if this is the case you could cut the line at a good section where the line is nice and straight, remove the one fitting from the splitter and use the old line as a template to bend the new line into the needed shape.

To make the bends you will have to either use a tubing bender as I mentioned or buy a spring that is designed to slide over the line to prevent the line from kinking when bending.

Not many local shops will have these springs so it is best to plan to use a tubing bender.

Once you get the new line bent close to the shape you need it mark the new line where you need to cut it so it will match up with the old line you cut.

The two sections can be joined with a compression union.

If you find you need to replace the entire length of line you will need the coat hangers to use as a template for the bends.

While your working on the line take some time to occasionally spray each bleeder try to keep them wet with penetrating oil.

Once the repaired section of line is back together you will need to bleed all the brakes.

This is where the penetrating oil may save your bacon, if these bleed screws brake off when trying to loosen them that will mean hours of more work and most likely more parts to get replaced like the calipers and wheel cylinders.

During your brake inspection you may find you want to replace those parts anyways.

I wrote this to give you just a idea of what your up against, this is not a complete to do list or tool list.

I highly recommend you pay a qualified shop or technician to repair your brakes It can be very involved and the tools as well can get expensive.

If you have to replace the entire brake line in one piece it may require removing many parts and buying and using a brake flare tool set.

All of this can be done for if you have good quality tools and a experienced person there to help guide you, without anyone else but yourself I strongly suggest again to pay someone to do this job for you.

Yes no matter who you hire it can get expenisve, but the risk to yourself and others is far too great if things go horribly wrong.

We can help guide you through this process if your insistent on doing this yourself yet there are limits on what can be taught through this forum.

Meaning there is so much involved here it would be like typing the encyclopedia through this forum this would task everyone involved.

Basic knowledge and experience is required before tackling a job of this nature.

It would be different from if we knew you had done many brake jobs, dealt with bleeding brakes and frozen bleed screws and done many repairs to your vehicle.

Starting from scratch on a job like this is asking for trouble.

I feel your time would be better spent making the money doing what your good at, working over time and such to pay for the repair.

Again other members and myself will try and help yet it is just not a good idea.

__________________
2002 Ford Ranger 2 Dr Standard cab 2.3 5 SPD 7.5 373 gears

thanks. i was thinking it would be find the proper length of tube, easily bend it in to shape, and hook it up. this sounds more involved than i imagined. almost certainly taking it to a shop unless i can find someone who really knows what they are doing to help.

No problem, Like I said we would be glad to help but since this is your first vehicle that you owned and will work on lets get you up to speed on a simpler project when your ready.

Once your over this brake job I would start collecting tools and get a factory service manual for your truck.

We can help with many things but nothing is better then information found in a manual, yet even with a manual you will need guidance and advice sorting through information found in the manual.

Like Jim mentioned with a leaking brake line you can go from being able to stop to oh shit in a hurry.

This means you should not drive this truck at all until it is fixed. if this is not possible and you have to drive it at least to a shop to get it repaired PM me and I will let you know how to temporarily rig-fix the brakes so you can get to where you need to go.

__________________
2002 Ford Ranger 2 Dr Standard cab 2.3 5 SPD 7.5 373 gears

little update. my manager at work is a car guy, used to work at a brake shop, so he's been helping me fix it. we pulled a perfect rust-free line at the scrapyard, and managed to get it put on. the part that the scrapyard guy called the proportioning valve was horribly cross threaded though, so after trying to get it on a few times, we went back and pulled a new one. everything is hooked up now, but no brake fluid is going through the new valve at all. so i'm either missing something, or we pulled a clogged/bad one.

this is turning into quite a bit of an ordeal

edit: pulled a new abs valve, and now i have brakes again! next project, useless but pretty led strips in the cab. nothing can go seriously wrong there I hope.
another edit: i have horrible luck. on one of the rgb led strips i put in, which i didnt bother to test after wiring, the green leds are dead

I have the same problem in my 97. Tim you said you went to the salvage yard to get your parts. Here in Kansas City I can't even find a salvage yard that has a donor. It seems that Rangers are 94 - 97 are becoming more scarce. Tim are you in the KC area?

My back lines are rust free. My front passenger has a 1/4" hole at the inner fender well and the drivers side won't hold fluid much longer. So I need both front lines.

Do I buy $100 pre-bent lines or buy all of the tools without any of the experience?

Thanks you in advance,
Brent