Procedure for removing the brake line and emergency brake cable?

[dwoloz]

I'm swapping rear trailing arms and need to remove the brake and emergency brake lines

Is fluid going to spray everywhere if I remove the brake line?

For the emergency brake, I removed the 15mm bolt on the little cover on the hub and can see where the cable goes into the hub but don't know how to get it out


Also, what is the ball joint plastic piece connection? Is there a trick to getting the socket out of the ball without breaking the plastic?

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by dwoloz

Is fluid going to spray everywhere if I remove the brake line?

Not unless someone has their foot on the brake pedal. To minimize brake fluid loss, remove the brake reservoir cap, place a piece of Saran Wrap over the port, then reinstall the cap.

Originally Posted by dwoloz

Also, what is the ball joint plastic piece connection? Is there a trick to getting the socket out of the ball without breaking the plastic?

The ball is not intended to come out of the socket. Remove the nuts, then remove the sway bar links. Unless the links are fairly new, you would do well to replace them, anyway. Doing so will give you a noticible improvement in handling for not much money.

[dwoloz]

Very interesting about the saran wrap. What exactly does that do?



And what about the emergency brake cable?

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by dwoloz

Very interesting about the saran wrap. What exactly does that do?

Same thing as placing you finger over the end of a drinking straw. It prevents air from entering the reservoir through the vent in the cap.

[Monomer]

Originally Posted by tangofox007

Same thing as placing you finger over the end of a drinking straw. It prevents air from entering the reservoir through the vent in the cap.

...as the caps are vented.


brake fluid is some nasty stuff. wear latex/nitrle gloves

[dwoloz]

Cool cool


I desperately need to figure out how to get the ebrake cable out though

[dwoloz]

A member here Billybob did me the great favor of writing out the explanation of how to work with the ebrake. My god it is complicated though! If theres any easier way feel free to chime in

You first have to disconnect the front Ebrake cable from the tensioner located above the drive shaft. Loosen the adjusting bolt all the way out, then you can remove the downward facing bolt/pin that attaches the front cable's shackle to the tensioner freeing it. With the front cable disconnected you can move the tensioner around and slip both cable ends off the tensioner's hooks. Now you will have the slack you need to get to the wheel ends of the cables. Remove the wheel, the calipers, and the rotor. Then you remove the two spring/clips (you do this with either the proper tool or a flat tipped screwdriver through the lug bolt hole of the wheel hub, the screw driver tip needs to be small enough to fit through the hole but large enough to allow you to push inward compressing the spring while at the same time rotating it to unlatch the small hook at its end) that hold the Ebrake pads in place, then you can remove the very strong bottom spring. To do this you really need a stiff strong hook tipped tool, you hook the end of the spring and pull its end from the slot in the Ebrake shoe, with one end free you need to unhook the other end. With the bottom spring removed you can grab the two shoes and pull them outward and upward to completely remove them. The top spring and the adjuster can stay attached. Now you pry the spreading cam apparatus downward and outward getting it from behind the wheel hub. Once it's out from behind the wheel hub you can see the cables end shackle, there is a small short pin then you need to drive out freeing the cable from the adjuster. The last thing is you need to remove the single bolt located on the back/inboard side of the wheel carrier. This bolt secures the Ebrake's cable end bracket to the wheel carrier. With that removed you can pull the cable inward out of the back of the wheel carrier freeing it completely from the wheel end. To get it completely off the car there is a spring clip which secures the front end of the cable to the brackets on the car's underside, the spring clips are held in tension around the metal ferrule at the cables front end. The proper tools make the Ebrake stuff a chore using what ever other tools you have will make it more time consuming and more frustrating but it can be dome. Good Luck

[dwoloz]

OK forget removing the cable end at the wheel, too complicated

I'm just going to remove the cable at the junction near the front of the driveshaft and then pull a new arm from a pick n pull car leaving the cable intact . Direct swap