Announcement - Front brake hose machining and routing

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
When we first got the new brake hoses we assumed the "universal" end fittings would be completely universal. Unfortunately, the large foot print of the fitting makes it impossible to position the hose as it was on the Cobalt so it ends up aimed straight back. Some of these hoses got out before we noticed the issue.

To fix this we now machine every fitting so that the foot print is small enough to miss the little wall sticking out from the caliper.

We don't immediately see a problem with the hose aiming straight back but we prefer to mount it aiming up. Here are some photos showing how we like to route the long front hoses:

outboard shot.jpg


control arm.jpg


inboard.jpg


Another thing to note: We've figured out that the rivet holes in the black plastic clamps were small enough that when the rivet was pulled tight, it would expand out against the plastic and sometimes split the clamp. The holes are now being made 1/4 inch to give room for the rivet to expand. If you already have a set of these clamps it is very likely that they will split when you rivet them to the control arm. Run a 1/4 inch drill bit through them to resize the holes before installation.

If you need new clamps or replacement hoses just shoot me an email and I'll send them out.
 

Tony

Well-Known Member
I haven't gotten hoses or clamps like that, are they an add-on to the base kit or just a newer item?
 

Briann1177

Goblin Guru
Tony or anybody else really,

I decided against using the DF provide brake line clamps in place of some tube mount clamps. I was either going to give them back to DF or toss them, but if you want them and can put them to use, then I'll send them your way.
 

Adam

Administrator
Staff member
I haven't gotten hoses or clamps like that, are they an add-on to the base kit or just a newer item?
They are a new design. Originally we used the stock front Cobalt rubber hose at the caliper with a short steel line on the control arm and the donor car's rear rubber hose on the inboard end. The new design is just one long flexible hose from the caliper to the frame.

There are some really neat aluminum clamps online but they can be pretty pricey. We decided to go with a plastic clamp after studying the way Polaris holds the brake hoses on the front control arms of the RZR. I'm sure they injection mold their clamps in batches of 10,000 or more but we decided to go with 3D printed clamps since we are much smaller scale. We use ASA filament that has similar properties to ABS but is UV resistant and weatherproof.
 

Wes

Well-Known Member
Yeah, this is one thing that I have been wanting to fix on mine. I had to go out the back and across the back of the a-arm to make it work. I found that if I rack out the steering in a parking lot or something, the wheel hits the brake line and now I have broken the plastic clamps on both sides.
 

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