Rear Brake Flexi, how on earth does it come out?

[dknight]

so i have just come to remove the rear arm and the flexi is all that is holding it on, but i can not for the life of me figure out how it mounts or comes out? ive tried putting a nut on and taping it out but nothing, and if i try and rotate the pipe still nothing, but if i grab it there is slight movement around, had me swearing for a good 20minutes.

it is this one:



now i can see there is room for a spanner on end but mine seem to be hidden so i can not get to it?

any help be great!

thanks

Dan

[andyd]

Its a while since I did this, but I think it sits inside a hex tube. Someone confirm?

It will be rusted in. As you have done, get it moving a little (rotational), then employ penetrating oil and a persuader (gently! Or you may wreck the little tin hex tube) to tap it out.

You have taken it off the hard line, right?

a

[dknight]

hello

that got it! yes hard line was removed after a bit of lube out she popped

[Chris Williams]

Quote:after a bit of lube out she popped

Ohh Err :wink:
Chris

[jwrayth]

So I'm in the process of doing this myself at the moment, but hit a snag. I already have SS Flexi-lines on my car, and I'm just looking to detach it so I can take the trailing arm off the car and give it a bit of clean. I'm not familiar with how to remove this type of flexi-line from the car, so any advice would be appreciated.

[Rissy]

There's only really two possible scenarios.

1. The pipe should thread through the hole, according to the orientation of your photo, downwards. So on that face (hidden by white glove?) you should find a "U" shaped clip pressed in and around the pipe to stop it from pulling back out (up, according to orientation of your photo). You would need to pull that clip out and away.

2. The pipe should thread through the hole, according to the orientation of your photo, upwards. So on that face (opposite from the face hidden by white glove?) you should find a narrow nut threaded on the end of the cable to stop it from pulling back out (down, according to orientation of your photo).

Second scenario could actually be that the cable is directly threaded into the flanged hole (part of the frame, now covered in epoxy) instead of pushed through with the need for the additional nut I've suggested earlier.

[jwrayth]

Sorry, glove is elastic banded on the bare end to stop fluid leak. Scenario 2 is closest, as there was a hex nut on the gloved side that I backed off.

I was under the impression there should be a lock nut on the side visible here... But obviously not in my case. The side covered by the glove is threaded, so I'm not sure how to back it out.

[Chris Williams]

The flexi lines have a hex on them that fits inside the hex of the bracket welded on the frame. It should just push out (read tap with hammer) whilst protecting the threads on the flexi line. Hopefully should not be to bad to get out as they have been changed, the origionals can be a real pain to remove.
Chris
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[jwrayth]

Thanks Chris and Chris. I'll break out the nylon hammer tomorrow and see what happens. Victory or brake fluid everywhere

[Rich H]

You may have a flexi line with a thin nut on it. You may find the pipe is loose inside the bracket, but wont come out.

What can happen is the line (and the nut) spins slightly in the hex tube part of the bracket - which if you notice has a round bit where it meets the bracket.

What happens then is you can't get the pipe out because the faces of the nut don't line up inside the tube.

A bit of rotation on the flexi pipe end will line up the faces of the nut and tube and allow you to extract the pipe.

[jwrayth]

Forgot to follow up on this; flexi came out with a measured application of force. There was no thin-nut on the end, but some adhesive had been applied inside the hex-tube. Trailing arm is now on the bench being cleaned and treated with good ol' POR15