Hello, my name is Steve and I'm about to become an alcoholic ( hello Steve ) and 2005 LR3 HSE owner. Forgive this post as I'm about to indulge in some cathartic prose which may go on for some time (all the while I have the imagined voice of Douglas Adams in my head as I write this).

The reason I'm about to resort to self destructive behavior is that my rear brake hard lines have corroded to the point they seem be better suited to a small irrigation system than to holding high pressure braking fluid. As my vehicle is not some pristine example to be washed and waxed (what all with I call project 'deferred maintenance', oh and then there's the rodents ...( , the fact it is basically a work truck for me to tow my trailer and sit most of the year mostly being a 'tug' to move my trailer at my home track from my parking space (Joliet Autobahn) to the paddock and back at 20 mph and then a couple of highway trips per year to put my race car back into storage. It has served this purpose well for years despite having questionable reliability issues with the electronics once the cowling seal dry-rotted and the truck was semi-flooded to the point where, after cleanup, I can expect random dash errors, the radio to go on and off, the heated seats not working, etc. etc. .... doesn't matter to me.

So I've got a sub 100k mile LR3 that has some pretty bits (body isn't bad, nor is the interior), new front hubs and brake parts, what seems to be a strong drivetrain, and still working air suspension. Yet it has almost no intrinsic value except to me (it is probably worth a lot more in parts but I don't have the time or inclination to do a part-out). At this point I don't expect to get this vehicle properly road worthy, but I do want to make one final trip, towing my trailer with trailer brakes, about 50 miles, and then use it once again as a tug and perhaps now start doing some mud & rock crawls since I no longer worry about breaking my tow vehicle (time to get another truck).

So I started with a corroded driver side hard line leak near the rear caliper. After finding various info on the internet including videos from the sponsor of this site, British Atlantic, who's videos TOTALLY got me through the front hub & brake repair (a whole lot of pounding), I found the shortcut is to cut the line(s) hiding under the heat shield on the driver side and then do a splice there. I did that and it SEEMS to be holding but that is just cascading the failure to other weak points in the rear hard lines (sorry about my prose, but I'm still dealing with lack of sight due to rust and brake fluid in my eyes even after several flushes ... I might need a doctor).

Anyway, I'm here in mild despair asking that to do next:

• find a good home for this thing in the Chicago area (not looking to make medium $$$ on this)
• find a way to 'rig this up' for one last slow highway trip to the track where it can be a 'tug' like it has been for years.
• find somebody who does part these out (would want fair compensation).
• claim it was stolen and find a peat bog to lose it in.
• Fake my own death.
• What haven't I thought of.

I'm sure I can regroup tomorrow and come to a solution ( I did once roll my track car at Road America with a different brake failure and manage to drive that car home! ) . Right now I'm just wallowing in self pity, misery, pain and looking for ideas from fellow fools.

Please contribute your ideas and/or commiserate as appropriate.

Thanks,

- Steve ... tired of LR3 being on 4 jack stands and the wife complaining about it all.

 

Steve, thanks for sharing G&T is generally more of a warm weather drink for me, but hey, whatever gets you through the day.

If you want to take one more shot at replacing the hard lines, this diagram may help.

click here: for Brake lines diagram & parts list

Other than that I'd recommend listing it 'classified' section of this site with the full description of what is and what is not good on the truck.

 

Thanks WaltNYC for responding. The G&T comment was my reference to this being a British vehicle (my only), my love of Douglass Adams and it was 80 degrees F on the FIRST day I started on this fools errand.

Anyway after sitting on the moment I went for one more try with my spool of copper/nickel brake line, flare tool, compression fittings and did hook up both rear calipers, bleed and took for a successful short test drive. It is now back into a condition that will suit my purposes for the next year or two during which time I'll be looking for a basic super cab pickup for towing duties with passenger room.

I don't consider my fix generally road worthy as I have lots of extra copper tubing 'all up in there' behind the rear diff (looks like an aborted still attempt) and no real fixation of the lines other than their own shape & tension ... so any real driving is going to subject them to vibration and potential wear against something unknown. However the lines hold pressure, it works well for some measured voyages with a trailer with brakes, and is perfect as my on-site track tug. And now I have no excuse not to go do some off-road fun stuff w/o worry of breaking my tow vehicle (remember, I'm in Illinois where we do not know what the word elevation means, so off-road means mud crawls and the odd rock climb where a catastrophe means a 6' drop at worst ).

So I'm out of the pit of despair and back to planning out the maintenance of my other vehicles and actually making my next race this Sunday.

- Steve