Done !
Well there's your problem - There's a bunch of this under there....
click for big...
...and the culprit..
Background : Late Thanksgiving night my wife decided to take kids shopping and took the Avalanche which she rarely does, only because I had her car. At 10:00 PM she called me a said the pedal hit the floor as she was exiting the highway. She managed to navigate traffic by downshifting and using what little pedal was left, and she managed to limp it to a relatives house a few miles away. I retrieved it that night and limped it the 30 miles home using a combination of downshifting, parking brake, and planning waaayyy ahead. ABS->left front line popped and the rest looked awful.
I'd bought the GM 22932594 last spring in anticipation of doing this as dealer quoted $1200+ for just the hardlines. I figured the flex hoses were old too so I got a Classic Tube SBH6057 braided stainless flex hose set.
I replaced every brake line EXCEPT the two hardlines on the rear axle & the 2 from the MC to the proportioning valve which looked great.
Total project time ~ 14 hours by myself in my driveway with mostly hand tools & truck on 4 stout stands with wheels off.
Some notes / things learned
- Almost everything brake related is 9/16" - NOT 15mm - Do yourself a favor & get a quality 9/16" flare wrench if you don't have one. Banjo bolts are 11mm - Bleeders are 10mm
- Trace your lines and diagram ABS connections. There's a lot of mis-info on the net.
- Diagram bundles like ABS are over frame & front left frame area
- Check your bleeders before you get going. 2 of mine were not bad & loosened. 2 took an hour each of torching (propane), cooling, PBBlasting, tapping, etc..to save. If you snap one, its better to have that new caliper ready.
- Remove front splash guard - under rad - 5 bolts
- Remove left front wheel well - eleventy billion push fasteners, clips, etc...some on backside
- Remove left rear wheel well shield - 6 screws
- Remove spare tire & tuck cable/hanger up out of the way
- Ripping out out all of the old lines took ~ 3 hours - many, many clips, some which have mysterious opening methods - I cut & broke lines into manageable pieces. Some snapped like little twigs - yikes.
- At the ABS unit I cut all 5 lines about 1/2" from the nuts then used a socket to remove.
- Rear line -> flex junction - Snapped off line at nut & used a socket & long flex extension to spin off nut- I could sit under bed with just enough room to work, but it was very tight & awkward.
- Rear axle lines at distribution block would twist with nut. Had to repeatedly torch , tap, PBBlaster to free them.
- I installed new lines in this order - Rear, right front, left front, front MC, rear MC.
- Feed the rear in from the left wheel area to the front taking care to route correctly over/thorugh harnesses, clips, openings, etc..
- Right front is tough - Feed it toward the rear down by the exhaust then work the front to the right. Be patient.
- The bundle over the frame by the ABS unit is a pain.
- 'Pre formed' lines are not exact. I did much hand massaging of bends to get fittings into perfect position. (I like to have the line flare centered, straight, & relaxed in the hole before turning nut)
- If you get every line into every factory clip, go buy a lotto ticket. The lotto has better odds. I spent way too much time doing this & I think I missed 3-5 total (out of what, 40 ?). Due to inaccuracies in the 'pre form' lines, some aren't even close
- Get a stubby 9/16" flare wrench (or just a stubby 9/16" open end) = Invaluable for ABS area and above rear diff.
Flex lines
- SBH6057 kit fit perfectly
- Corrosion / blooming of alum rear calipers where banjo bolts are. Fitting couldn't seat against caliper. These leaked first time & I had to remove & clean area and also used slightly thicker copper washers.
- Rear flex lines at caliper go with little cut out facing away from caliper or else it hits the caliper.
- Both front A arm hose bracket bolts snapped when I just breathed on them. Could not drill out bolts. Drill holes in brackets & zip tied with beefy ties. Will outlast ownership.
Bleeding
- Used a little hand pump vacuum thing - Took a while for fluid to get to rear & right front. When it did, it was nasty for a bit then cleared up as the new came along.
Pedal now feels fantastic ! Test drive was awesome.
ABS light is on. I plan to have local shop 'exercise' the ABS unit & bleed everything again to get any air out of the unit. Hopefully that'll cure the light. (or...since the pedal feels so good, I may just wait a while and see if light goes off on its own!)
And, that's the end of the giant post !
Hope this helps somebody.