Ordering new lines is a better way to go. I've made up lines for vehicles before and the coil brake line you get at an autoparts store is soft, thin crap. It's the only stuff that works with the typical flaring tools though. If you try flaring a factory brake line with a DIY flaring tool you will likely have no luck. By the time you get done buying a flaring tool and the bending tools required to work with the better quality brake tubing, you will have spent more than the factory lines will cost. Plus the ones you make up will still have all sorts of crappy bends in them. And you will be even more frustrated than you are now.

 

Amen Brother

 

An update on this, and a question:

I have the new brake lines and a used ABS unit. I've stripped down the ABS modulator and taken out its shuttle valve. I'm now going to remove the bad modulator and take off its shuttle valve, which is new and which I already did option B with. I'm also planning to take out the pins with the seals (I put on new Falconworks seals before everything went kaput) and put them into the used unit.

One question, though: do I need to remove the whole back half of the modulator with the eight bolts to swap in the new pins/seals and shuttle valve? The guide for this shows it removed for the install (ABS SVS Seals - LAND ROVER CLUB V.I.), but I can't see why it's really necessary. I may be missing something, though. Do I have to do this?

 

I'm no expert on this but why would you need to disassemble the replacement modulator to an extent greater than you did to replace the shuttle valve seals on the original modulator?

 

Well, I'm putting in new Falconworks seals, and that tutorial shows the whole thing disassembled, so I thought maybe I needed to take it apart. My only real concern is that there's some interaction between the valve pin and the other half of the modulator that necessitates removing the other half.

Taking it apart isn't too big of a deal, so perhaps I'll just do it. I may also try taking the pins out of the old one without taking it apart to see if it works.

 

I must've misunderstood. I thought you had installed the Falconworks seals in the old modulator and were simply removing them from it and reinstalling them in the replacement modulator.

 

Sorry, I'm not describing this clearly. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do. But the original instructions for the Falconworks seals show the thing taken apart, so I'm thinking maybe I should take it apart while making the swap over.

 

Final update: success. This has been by far the most arduous repair I've done to date, but I got the new (used) modulator in place with the new brake lines and the Option B setup and the brakes bled. The brakes worked well on a test drive, though I don't notice much difference in the pedal vs. before. No three amigos, though, which was the main point of this whole adventure.

I spent a lot more money and time than I wanted to on this "minor" fix, but I at least learned a few things about the braking system in the process.

A big thanks to everyone who helped with tips and suggestions.

 

Woo hoo! Yippee! And any other exclamation of your choosing! I've lost track of the number of times I've told my family I was going to go do something with the truck and that it was a 15 minute job and three weeks later it was finally wrapped up.

 

Good result Batard. "If at first you don't succeed try, try, try again etc, etc"

Well done eh