Aftermarket brake hose kit recommendations

RCinNC

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My S10 is about five and half years old now with 68,000 miles, and I'm thinking of replacing the original brake hoses. I started doing some research, and it seems like a new set of the OEM rubber hoses are actually a lot more expensive than the aftermarket stainless steel braided ones I've looked at (it's over $300 for just the front OEM brake hoses). So I'm leaning towards the stainless steel ones, both because I'm cheap and because of the performance advantages of the stainless steel braided ones. Trouble is, I've never used the stainless steel ones, so I'm looking for recommendations for a complete brake line replacement kit that has everything needed (so I don't have to piecemeal out the job). So far I've seen the Galfer and Spiegler kits, but wanted to know if there were other good options that someone here was familiar with.

I've bled and flushed brake systems before, but I've never disconnected any brake hoses from the ABS unit. Is there anything tricky about that I should be aware of?
 
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ballisticexchris

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Both Galfer and Spiegler make outstanding brake line sets. Both are lifetime lasting. As long as you do annual brake flushes they will last the life of your bike. I have used both brands. For OEM applications and routing the Galfers are simple. They are pre indexed and a direct replacement. The Spieglers can be indexed upon installation. For custom applications they are the hot ticket.

5 1/2 years is a long time on OEM rubber brake lines. You will notice an immediate improvement in braking power with less input pressure at the lever.
 
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ballisticexchris

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I have never replaced lines on an ABS bike before. I would imagine it's as simple as a standard non ABS bike. The tricky part is the MC. I always remove calipers and hang both front and rear MC up with plunger depressed and tap out the bubbles. Straight shot of brake line going from caliper to MC at highest point. Then leave them overnight. The syringe always works best for me bleeding from caliper to MC.

For the dual front, take both calipers off and have the single line crossover caliper at the bottom to the double line caliper next to the MC at top with no bends that can trap bubbles.

Mityvac makes a real slick one:

 

BadNews

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I actually just finished installing my new Spiegler kit yesterday. This was my first time installing new brake lines, and the the ABS unit was the easiest part of it. I removed the fuel tank to make access easy. There is no need to remove the rear fuel tank mounting bracket like I did. I drained the old fluid out of the front calipers first and did the front lines first. When I removed the ABS lines, there was no fluid left to drip out.

I found the front manifold blocks and fittings the hardest to mount because of limited space, but patience wins the day. Make sure to unbolt the manifold from the frame (upper) and bracket (lower) first because it is easy to bend the bracket. A 17mm wrench will fit both of the manifold blocks.

I have seen on this forum some of the awesome stuff you have fabricated, (unless I'm confusing you with someone else from NC) with your skills it should be relatively simple.

I found the Spiegler kit to be very nice. You can get longer lines for the front if you need them, no extra charge if it's less than 6". The Spiegler lines and fittings are silver/silver, it's $35 more for any other color choices. I opted for black/black because I don't want any flashy stuff to catch the attention of a would be thief (like someone would want to steal a S10!)
 
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RCinNC

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Thanks BadNews. I'm definitely a fabricator from NC, though I don't know if I'm the one you're referring to. I appreciate the heads up on the manifold blocks and fittings, though since I've never done a brake hose change before, I'm not even sure where and what those are. I'll definitely break out the shop manual before I tackle this project.
 

BadNews

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Thanks BadNews. I'm definitely a fabricator from NC, though I don't know if I'm the one you're referring to. I appreciate the heads up on the manifold blocks and fittings, though since I've never done a brake hose change before, I'm not even sure where and what those are. I'll definitely break out the shop manual before I tackle this project.
The hose from the front brake master cylinder runs down to a hard line, which goes to the ABS. The junction between the hose and the hard line is a steel block (manifold) which is bolted to the frame. Same for the return line from the ABS to the front calipers, it's a hard line with a manifold bolted to a bracket which is bolted to the frame. The other end of the steel block manifold hooks up to the caliper hose. At the ABS there are short hoses that connect to the hard lines leading to the front. Once you remove the fuel tank all the ABS stuff is easily accessed.

In the back brakes there are only two hoses. One from the rear cylinder to the ABS, one from the ABS to the rear caliper. No hard lines. Easy.
 

RCinNC

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LOL Chris, five and a half years is nothing. I've literally never replaced a brake hose on any bike I've ever owned, including a Harley I rode for a decade. I'm not even sure why I'm thinking of doing it now, other than boredom. So far I've made it through 35 years of riding with no brake related catastrophes.

I've tried reverse flushing the front brakes on the Super Tenere using a syringe (mine wasn't a MityVac, it was just a big syringe I bought on Amazon). For some reason I could not reverse flush the right side front caliper. I was unable to push fluid through that caliper towards the master cylinder, though I was able to pull fluid from the master cylinder to the caliper using a MityVac vacuum pump. I put enough pressure into the caliper (and yes, the bleeder valve was open) to blow the vinyl hose off the bleeder. The left side caliper reverse flushed normally. It was perplexing enough that I even posted about it on here, but there was no definitive answer for why it wouldn't work.

Thanks for the info on the Galfer and Spielgler systems. So far, those are the only makers of a complete kit for the S10 that I've seen. Spiegler's kit is about $268.00, and Galfer's is $288. The weird part is that both kits contain seven hoses, but the Galfer kit says it contains a hose for the clutch, but the Spiegler kit doesn't mention that it has a clutch hose.

BadNews, did your Spiegler kit contain a clutch hose?

Edit: I answered my own question. I thought the Galfer kit said seven pieces, but it actually says nine.
 
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RCinNC

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The hose from the front brake master cylinder runs down to a hard line, which goes to the ABS. The junction between the hose and the hard line is a steel block (manifold) which is bolted to the frame. Same for the return line from the ABS to the front calipers, it's a hard line with a manifold bolted to a bracket which is bolted to the frame. The other end of the steel block manifold hooks up to the caliper hose. At the ABS there are short hoses that connect to the hard lines leading to the front. Once you remove the fuel tank all the ABS stuff is easily accessed.

In the back brakes there are only two hoses. One from the rear cylinder to the ABS, one from the ABS to the rear caliper. No hard lines. Easy.
Yeah, that was something that I had a question on when I was looking at a parts diagram on Rocky Mountain ATV's website. When you buy an OEM brake hose, it appears that the hard line is included as a part of the hose assembly. When I looked at the Galfer and Spiegler kits, there are no hard lines; so I take it that the aftermarket kits use the existing OEM hard line?
 

BadNews

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Yes, my Spiegler kit uses the existing hard lines, but they include new steel block manifolds to connect the new hoses to the hard lines. I chose the Spiegler over Galfer because the manifold blocks looked more robust than what Galfer showed.
The clutch line is a separate kit, just one line replaces two hoses snd a hard line.
 
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BadNews

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My opinion is that the Spiegler kit was better than the Galfer. It is also more expensive, but I figured Hey I’m only going to do this once, I’m going to go with the best kit I can find.
Spiegler clutch kit was separate.
 

Sierra1

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I've never read anything about replacing the brake lines, only the fluid. Cars or bikes. I switched out my FJ's to braded stainless, but that was to improve the feel; the old lines looked fine.
 
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ballisticexchris

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I've never read anything about replacing the brake lines, only the fluid. Cars or bikes. I switched out my FJ's to braded stainless, but that was to improve the feel; the old lines looked fine.
The braking becomes spongey and the lines swell slowly over time. It is hardly noticeable until you swap them out to quality braided lines. I'm pretty confident the braking will be still be safe with going over the recommended 4 year replacement schedule.
 

RCinNC

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MattR

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I’ve used Hel lines very satisfactorily and will use them on my S10. The Hel kit includes the short lines that come from the ABS pump. Not all kits include them so it’s worth checking. No point having braided lines joined to the old rubber lines.


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RCinNC

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Have you done the job yet? I'm considering replacing my brake hoses with steel braided and was wondering how difficult it is to do? Scale of 1 - 10??
Unfortunately not. Life, as it has a tendency to do, threw up some diversions that made me put this particular project off for a little while.
 

MattR

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Rubber is perishable. Tight valves just leads to performance drop off and eventually head damage. Perished brake line leads to no brakes


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