2002 siverado supid brake lines....

[MinnesotaDave]

So my brake line blew a while back and I'm now fixing it.

Turns out Chevy put the anti lock brake box under the truck, blocked by the torsion bar, and ran 5 lines to it.
My old one had it under the hood....where it belongs.

The current design is completely stupid!!

After cutting the box out I realized that removing the torsion bar will make putting it together easier.

Published spec for it lists jacking up the cab 2 inches on the drivers side as well.

.....stupid....stupid.....stupid.....stupid.....st upid......etc until I run out of keyboard

...That is all....rant mostly over

[Hobbytime]

what year? I had a 2003 silverado duramax and that box was tucked in the drivers side frame rail and was some what accessible, I re did all the lines with stainless ones...

[MinnesotaDave]

what year? I had a 2003 silverado duramax and that box was tucked in the drivers side frame rail and was some what accessible, I re did all the lines with stainless ones...

2002 1/2 ton, extended cab, 4x4.

It is definitely not very accessible. It's between the tranny/transfercase and the frame rail, and between the cab floor and torsion bar.
I barely had enough space to cut off the lines.
Also, the frame rail is too close to the cab floor where the lines go over the rail to the outside (to avoid the exhaust heat).

I paid $90 for the pre-bent stainless kit that is made for it.
I normally bend and flare all my lines from a roll of tubing, but these trucks have so many problems with rusted lines that a kit is available.

Could just be I was tired and cranky though, it was late last night.
Pretty sure I'll still have to pull the torsion bar though for good access to put back together.
I'm going to try and avoid raising the cab - the body mount bolts are probably rusted even worse that the torsion adjuster...

The mechanic shops list the job at 8 hrs labor. I'm betting it will take me that long as well.

[TJS]

My Wife's 03 Escalade same way. Her rear line blew out last winter. Almost a collision. When I did the lines it was a pain too out of that ABS block. I cross threaded on of them (cause you cannot get in there). Had to take the box out and re-tap it. It has been fine ever since. Dumbass engineers.

[MinnesotaDave]

My Wife's 03 Escalade same way. Her rear line blew out last winter. Almost a collision. When I did the lines it was a pain too out of that ABS block. I cross threaded on of them (cause you cannot get in there). Had to take the box out and re-tap it. It has been fine ever since. Dumbass engineers.

The cross threading would be easy to do based on the lack of hand clearance. But I'm pretty sure removal of my torsion bar will fix that problem mostly.

Dumbass engineers.....agreed...

I seriously cannot think of a good reason to put it under there.
My old truck only has 1 brake line under it - going to the rear.

If there was a jumper wire kit available I would relocate the box.

[John T]

I've been replacing any blown brake lines with Copper/nickle... It's a breeze to shape/bend/flare.

but I see you already bought SS.


I feel Rant #2 will be Bleeding them...

[Jax]

Brakes must have been an inside joke at GM in those days. I've had two(still have the 97) Chevy trucks that ABS made outright dangerous. If either front tire skid's,the pedal go's to floor leaving you with no brakes until pedal is released and re-applied. To disable ABS, I pulled the fuse out.

[Hobbytime]

2002 1/2 ton, extended cab, 4x4.

It is definitely not very accessible. It's between the tranny/transfercase and the frame rail, and between the cab floor and torsion bar.
I barely had enough space to cut off the lines.
Also, the frame rail is too close to the cab floor where the lines go over the rail to the outside (to avoid the exhaust heat).

I paid $90 for the pre-bent stainless kit that is made for it.
I normally bend and flare all my lines from a roll of tubing, but these trucks have so many problems with rusted lines that a kit is available.

Could just be I was tired and cranky though, it was late last night.
Pretty sure I'll still have to pull the torsion bar though for good access to put back together.
I'm going to try and avoid raising the cab - the body mount bolts are probably rusted even worse that the torsion adjuster...

The mechanic shops list the job at 8 hrs labor. I'm betting it will take me that long as well.

mine was a 3500 crew cab, so chassis was longer and that may have been reason torsion bar was not in the way...

[bead-boy]

I had several brake line blowouts on my '97 Ford f350. Finally told mechanic to replace everything with the good stuff. Didn't want my wife having a blowout going up and down these hills while pulling a loaded 3 horse trailer.

[pat h]

Should have been a recall along with 02-06 gauge clusters, I was able to get all on 2 trucks a 02 and 04 1/2 tons 4x4 with doing one at a time and not painting yourself into a corner, with time and patience I got everything back in stock location on frame rails and factory clips except for passenger front I had to cut or would have had to remove ?? then I just double flared it, the ss brake lines are nice and cheap for a reason( every chevy truck will need them) but the fittings are steel so paint or antisieze the part you can see after you check for leaks

[Hobbytime]

Should have been a recall along with 02-06 gauge clusters, I was able to get all on 2 trucks a 02 and 04 1/2 tons 4x4 with doing one at a time and not painting yourself into a corner, with time and patience I got everything back in stock location on frame rails and factory clips except for passenger front I had to cut or would have had to remove ?? then I just double flared it, the ss brake lines are nice and cheap for a reason( every chevy truck will need them) but the fittings are steel so paint or antisieze the part you can see after you check for leaks

GM paid off the NTSB....
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...Q2KSAH2ubsfAVm
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...e7prSvi8I6j95E

[Virgil5]

Yews guyz don't understand.
Them fine vehicles were designed by fine engineerz who were totally consumed by thinking on how the hell they'd pay student loans so they had little time to think about the truck.

There was a second team of enfinerz dedicated to how cheap the dam truck could be made. Sure the ABullshyt box could be located where it could be replaced easily, but that cost 17 cents more per truck. Sure long lasting brake lines could be installed for 97 cents more per truck but the cheap crap was available and they could get the heapOcrap beyond warranty with it, so Enjynuring made a decision, bean counting signed off and heapOcrap units rolled onto trains for delivery to victims. It was the industry standard.

Hey they got away with so called dual braking systems that didn't work for years too.

[walker]

Just unbolt the bracket and drop the box a little. I have replaced several of them without issue from 02-13

[CAVEMANN]

I hated the torsion bar trucks! We had a 3/4 t Suburban with hydroboost that was as good as NO BRAKES & GM said they couldn't do anything about it, the boss finally too out a horse at about 90 mph that fixed it..... permanently!

[Willie B]

Yup, heard it, said it...... Move to South Carolina if you want to stop complaining. Ford, GM, and Dodge are unaware of winter, and road salt. Toyota knows about it cause they lost a suit. Those in southern states don't understand your complaint.

In VT, they stopped salting when it snows. They have taken it a step further, they spread liquid salt with lubricant and beet juice to make it last longer every night. Who knows, it might snow. Corrosion is now worse than ever.

[jakedaawg]

I've done at least 11 of them with the prebent lines...just unbolt the bed and lift it to get the rear one in. The rest aren't too bad. Make sure you replace the flexible lines as well as they fail on the inside and prevent caliper retraction.

[kbeitz]

This is why I cosmoline every one of my vehicles undercarriage ...
Works like a dream...

[mla2ofus]

Never thought about it, but I wonder if phil swift's wonderful flex seal would make a good coating for brake lines?
Mike

[labparamour]

Dumbass engineers.

Guy at work said: “an engineer will crawl over 10 naked women to screw a mechanic.”

[MinnesotaDave]

Made some progress.

Slid the torsion bar forward out of the way, removed drivers inner fender - access is now excellent.

Took the bed off, removed all the rear lines, removed diff. cover and removed axles, took off brake backing plates because the inner shield rusted almost completely off, removed leaking axle seals.

Broke several bolts...not sure that's progress though

It's no wonder people said this job costs them over $1000 at a shop. With so many parts rusted to dirty dust, the hours keep adding up.

This is what it looks like when you realize the bed has to come off after the truck is partially disassembled...

[M J D]

Just seen this thread. When I told you the process was pretty easy, I was referring to a 2 wd. How did routing the lines by the body mount go?

[MinnesotaDave]

Just seen this thread. When I told you the process was pretty easy, I was referring to a 2 wd. How did routing the lines by the body mount go?

I haven't done the front yet, but it looks like they will fit.

Bulletin says to jack up cab 2" but I'm gonna try do without that step.

Yeah, this one is a 4x4 - but it looks workable now

[M J D]

Cool. With some bending and straightening they should go thru that mount portion. Getting the vehicle extremely high in the air makes it easier. I had the rocker panel area about 3' off the floor and they went in fairly well . Bleeding is a bit of a pain because of all the airspace that needs to be filled. I went through about a quart and a half to 2 quarts to bleed mine.

[MinnesotaDave]

Cool. With some bending and straightening they should go thru that mount portion. Getting the vehicle extremely high in the air makes it easier. I had the rocker panel area about 3' off the floor and they went in fairly well . Bleeding is a bit of a pain because of all the airspace that needs to be filled. I went through about a quart and a half to 2 quarts to bleed mine.

I wonder if that's why they recommend raising the cab 2" - then the lines fit through the gap without trying to bend around the mounts.

[John T]

This is why I cosmoline every one of my vehicles undercarriage ...
Works like a dream...

I get various penetrating oil aerosol cans for free... I use them to douche the underside of my truck.

fluid film is nice but Xpensive.

years ago I had an old fire extinguisher with air fitting / I would fill with used motor oil and diesel ... worked great.