Rear Brake Fitting?

[Jagermeister]

I'm in the process of replacing my old brake hoses, due to age and a 2" body lift. I bought the skyjacker stainless braided hoses, and had no problem on the fronts. But when I went to replace the rear hose I ran into issue.

The stock hose has a 5/8" bulkhead connector built into the end connector, which attaches to a bracket on the frame. The hard line attaches to the hose with a male 3/8-24 inverted flare fitting.

The hose from skyjacker looks to have a -3 AN male fitting, and comes with a female-to-female -3 AN to 3/8-24 inverted flare coupler. No problem for screwing the hard line into the hose, but there is no longer any bulkhead connector. The end of the hardline just dangles in the breeze.

I've searched on JEGS and Summit and such for a bulkhead connector, but (a) they're expensive, (b) I can't find the exact fittings, which would mean additional adapters, and (c) they're mostly aluminium, which I figure isn't the best idea for brake line.

Judging from the skyjacker kit, they sell their kit to many vehicles, and toss in some adapter gooddies for various hose ends, etc. But they don't seem to have considered the lack of a bulkhead connector. The front lines came with bulkhead connectors. Was the rear line kit supposed to include a bulkhead connector, and it got left out?

Suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated.

[drunkbus]

I just put Skyjacker lines on mine. The only problem I had was getting the clip on where it goes into the bracket on the frame. Everything else fit great. Mine came with extra fittings, maybe something was missing out of yours. Which wouldn't surprise me after the dealings I had with Skyjacker.

[drunkbus]

If this is the piece you're talking about, it should have come with the line.

[Jagermeister]

Hi drunkbus.

It's the other end that I've having trouble with. In the upper corner of your picture, it looks like you have some adapter at the bracket, but I can't quite make it out. What did you use?

I called Skyjacker this morning, and the person I spoke with suggested I ziptie it. I asked about getting one of the nice connectors that came with the front lines, and he said that they wouldn't fit on the rear because they are 3/8-24 flare on both sides. He didn't seem too concerned with my problem, to put it nicely.

At this point, I'm thinking about just buying the necessary adapters from Summit, even though that means using an aliminum union.

[drunkbus]

The only problem I had on the other end was getting the clip into the groove. There should be a bracket that the end of the line sticks through and a clip goes onto the backside into a groove on the end of the brake line to hold it in place. I just had to file out the groove a little bit. Other than that the new brake line fit with the old hard line just fine. Maybe you got a line for a different model year? I had a few heated conversations with the hillbillies at Skyjacker over some other things. I like their products but their customer service and organizational skills leave something to be desired.

[drunkbus]

I tried to zoom in on a different picture. It looks like there is a reducer/adapter deal there. Mine came with a few different adapters.

[Jagermeister]

Hi drunkbus. First, thanks for all the help.

I just got off with phone with skyjacker again, and once again they said that they have no fitting that clips onto the frame. I've see the standard fittings at Summit and JEGS, but skyjacker says they don't supply any with that kit. I had him go to this thread on the forum, and look at the pictures that you posted, and he said that he didn't think that the adapter at the frame was from them.

My rear line kit, the RBL12, came with the hose, the T block, two male-to-female adapters for the T block (-3 AN to 3/8-24, maybe), and a -3 AN female to 3/8-24 female barrel union that has no provision for a clip in any way, and is small enough that it slides right trhough the frame bracket.

As one last try, do you happen to remember the part number of the skyjacker kit that you bought? Either I got the wrong kit, or they've cut back on their parts, because it sure looks to me like you got the right parts, and I didn't.

Either way, I'm mightly disappointed in skyjacker. I thought when you sell someone a kit to replace a stock part it ought to fit, or at least warn you if you have to do fitting yourself. Especially on something like brake systems, where a misfit could be significant. I know that they've surely influenced my views about any further purchases from them.

[drunkbus]

I think mine is RBL13 which should just be a longer version of the RBL12. Mine didn't come with any kind of clip, I just reused the stock clip from the old brake line. I didn't have to use the male to female adapters at the T block because I made all new lines on the rear diff that fit the T without the adapters. I must have used one of those adapters up at the other end. You can see in the picture on the backside of the bracket, the end of my line has a fairly good size hex head on it that stops it from going through the bracket. If yours has a smaller head maybe use a washer? Maybe you have your line backwards with the large hex head end at the T block?