Brake line?

I would say dead short on the brake line, shouldnt have damaged anything else IMO

Eric said:

I would say dead short on the brake line, shouldnt have damaged anything else IMO

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I don't know the pathway of the short yet. No wire touched the brake line the way I understand it. I have not seen it. He installed a new winch and the brake line got hot. Smoking hot. It melted the plastic clips and a leak started at the junction of the steel line to the rubber caliber line at the driver side front.

as long as the line isn't leaking i would just flush the brake fluid and call it a day...if your super worried then you can cut and splice a new piece in that section and it'll be fine.

I think the brake line is overheating since it is the path of least resistance and the winch for some reason is not grounding back to the battery.

gregert12 said:

I think the brake line is overheating since it is the path of least resistance and the winch for some reason is not grounding back to the battery.

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Yeah, it's some weird dang thing. I had a post on here about this a couple months ago. He installed the new Ramsay winch. The winch worked fine as he spooled the rope on it after he installed it. But while doing that the brake line started to smoke. If he disconnects the Jeeps battery cables and just uses the winch cables it does not have this issue. But once both sets of cables are hooked back up she has a short, but the winch operates fine. Sorting this issue out may be a lot of fun as I have next Friday to do it. Like I said, this Jeep is over 300 miles away.

Back to my original question. If I do need to replace the steel brake line am I good to go by buying a similar length of universal steel line and just bending it into a workable shape? All the brake fluid has leaked out at the juncture between the caliber hose and the steel line at the frame. I am imagining this is all metals in these lines so I am not sure why it leaked. Could it be a fitting seat is plastic?

bob1340 said:

If I do need to replace the steel brake line am I good to go by buying a similar length of universal steel line and just bending it into a workable shape? All the brake fluid has leaked out at the juncture between the caliber hose and the steel line at the frame. I am imagining this is all metals in these lines so I am not sure why it leaked. Could it be a fitting seat is plastic?

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Normally brake lines are aluminum and not steel. You will need a double flaring tool and the fittings on the ends are not plastic but a brass bushing and the nut after presses it together.

gregert12 said:

Normally brake lines are aluminum and not steel. You will need a double flaring tool and the fittings on the ends are not plastic but a brass bushing and the nut after presses it together.

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This is the stock brake line that goes from the drivers side frame at the front where the flexible line connects between the wheel caliber and the brake line. The other end of this line hooks into the portioning valve or what ever its called.

It is definitely a steel line. I've never seen a aluminum brake line. Or I guess I should say I've never worked with one.