Toyota Extended Brake Lines

If you lift your Toyota pickup, 4Runner or Tacoma, you'll need extended brake lines. Your axle moves further from your frame and your brake lines need to stretch to accommodate the extra axle articulation on the trail. We usually upgrade to braided stainless because they'll last longer than stock rubber brake lines and they resist bulging when you brake. The reduced bulging is supposed to make you feel like you have firmer brakes, but honestly we haven't noticed much of a difference in any of our junk heaps that we run on the trail.

The Procomp brake lines are a few inches shorter than the Trail-Gear brake lines, so they're suitable for lower lifts. Unfortunately, while you can buy the Trail-Gear lines individually, the Procomp lines come as a set. Like the Trail-Gear lines they'll work on lifted '79-'95 Toyota Pickups and 4Runners, Suzuki Samurais with Toyota axles, and 1995.5-2004 Toyota Tacomas with a solid axles swap. They are DOT approved.

The standard Toyota brake line fitting is 10mmx1.0. Most fittings take a 10mm wrench for the hard lines (the male fittings) and 14mm for the female fittings. If you're replacing stock soft lines for extended Toyota brake lines you'll need both 10mm and 14mm to separate them. Where the lines enter tees, calipers, or drum brake assemblies, you'll need a 10mm wrench.

It's best to use a flare nut wrench to keep from stripping the non-hardened brake line fittings.

The flare is a double flare, also known as an inverted flare. It requires a double flaring tool. Brake systems from other manufacturers use single flares and bubble flares, but neither of these flare types will seal in Toyota master cylinders, Toyota calipers, or Toyota drum assemblies.

Removing old brake lines can be tricky as they're often rusty and rusted together. In the worst case scenario you'll demolish the old brake lines and need to bend and double flare new hard lines. You can aid removal by doing two things:

1. Use penetrant on the fittings the day before. You can use one of the popular canned ones, and we also like ATF mixed with acetone.
2. Use a flare nut wrench to remove and install fittings. - This type of wrench wraps around soft metal fittings and can prevent stripping. Using an open end wrench frequently results in rounding off the fitting. If that happens, you'll need to use vise grips and prepare to make a new brake line.

With old, rusty brake lines it's pretty much a crap shoot as to whether you'll ruin them while removing them. Your best bet is to prepare for the worst.