Hydraulic hose repair,Help (again)
 

Adding to our on going problems the rear hose on Caf's F650GS has worn through! The clip that holds it away from the drive chain has broke and it looks like it's been rubing on the chain and sprung a leak:(
I have some liquid metal or radiator putty and gaffer tape, do you think any of these would work?
No chance of getting anything made up here (India) not seen any hose shops!!
Any ideas guys?????

Pete

Flexible hoses are also used for cars. I would have tried various car-workshops, they should be able to make a new.
Trucks and agricultural machines also use various hydraulic systems.

Don't use liquid metal or radiator putty.

The problem with car, truck etc is the bore size. Would I not need a large master cylinder to move the fluid?

No, the bore of the hose doesn't matter.

OK, i'm off on the hunt for a car repair shop that can make bespoke hoses in amongst the tea plantations. Wish me luck :scooter:

A repair with tape or similar is not likely to work as the pressures involved are extreme.....

If you cut the hose & can find some "small bore" metal pipe that fits really tight inside, then some jubilee clips (or similar) that might do as a temp fix????

Quick Fix
 

Hi i have done some quick fixs on tractor hoses ,cut a small bit of rubber and place over the hole then fit a hose clip over that . It works if the holes not to big . hope it helps

Pete
Pigford's idea works if you cannot get a hose made up-
You do need to keep an eye on it- good job it's only the rear brake!
Try to find some s.steel pipe
then check daily and carry a wee yellow bottle!

I think 'Pigford' as probably got the best solution to your problem and you may well be suprised how long it lasts.
:thumbup1:

Tried a fix but no good! I should of said that it's a braided hose so the hose itself is the white hard plastic type. I cut out the damaged area and stripped back the stainless braid then got some rubber hose and pushed it on (it was really really tight) and then used two tie wraps at each end. The problem seems to be that the rubber pipe is "pulsing" when the brake is applied and not moving the fluid down to the caliper. The rubber hose was purchased from a auto shop and is the hose he sells for car brakes!!
Back to the drawing board.
Cheers for the advice, keep it coming :thumbup1:
Pete

As long as there is NO fluid in the pipe ( if there is take 2 piece of flat wood/plastic/tubing to protect the OE btaided from mole grip pliers)
and seal off with mole grips.

HEAT the plastic GENTLY to allow the 'bridging' pipe to enter- it will shrink again abit when cooling naturally ( no rapid cooling as that can cause cracks)

p.s if you have some shrink wrap (long shot) I'd put a few cuts up the hose whilst open- When the job is done and finished, slide the shrink wrap over the bridging tube and braid edge and apply heat to shrink - a few layers would be one, one at a time- the use circlips to secure tight each braid end to bridging bit

Bert, sorry but not following!! Can you go over what your explaining.

Cheers
Pete

gladly
1- if you can get shrink wrap used to tidy/insulate up electrical junctions, then get a bit- it's a thin rubber tube that shrinks when heat (a match/lighter) is applied to it.
If you can't don't worry - use electrical tape instead

1- assuming you have cut the hose and removed the damaged part
2- assuming you have a small metal (pref steel if possible) which we will call the 'bridging part'
purpose is to use that bridging part to join the two parts of ther hydraulic tube.

1-IF you have some shrink wrap (increasing in size cut lengths about 1" longer than the bridging tube and sleve up the hydraulic pipe and leave there- do not heat it yet.

2- keeping the shrink wrap away from heat (put soem tape to keep it away as far as possible from your source of heat (lighter will do CAREFULLY)

now carefully HEAT up the plastic inner braid (not in the flame!) of your damaged pipe to soften it

3- push through the bridging part when the plastic has softened and allow to cool naturally- the plastic will return moslty to its original size

4-now allow one size of the shrink wrap to cover the bridging gap and apply heat gently to make it shrink over the bridging part

5- repeat with a slightly larger bit of shrink wrap to build a bit of thickness and help make a seal

If you do not have/cannot get shrink wrap then ignore all references to it and when the briging pipe has been put in, wrap tightly with plastic type electrical insulating tape then add a circlip at each joint.

release clamp you put in earlier
fill with hydraulic fluid
bleed caliper
and away you go

In extremis- if no repair is possible
empty hydraulic liquid from rear brake line
remove brake pads and keep safe all bits
use electrical tape to close off cut hydraulic pipe and tidy up
use cable ties pref. or tape again to keep hoses from rubbing and out of the way of moving parts.
REMEMBER that you will have no back brake at all

USE ENGINE BRAKING AND FRONT BRAKES as front brakes are really the ones that stop the bike-
The only time the loss of a rear brake will become a real pain is if you go off road downhill

Then replace brake hose at nearest opportunity or arrange to have one DHL'ed to you at a location about a week ahead
Worth remembering that DHL can be instructed to 'Keep parcel at destination depot' which normally is easier to find than some obscure address which you are unlikely to have.

makes sense?

May sound obvious, but did you try bleeding the brake first?

Jubilee clips would be a much more effective than cableties, though it's not always easy finding ones small enough for what you're talking about.

Main problem is that a brake hydraulic system exerts VERY high pressures which a patch just won't hold.
Even if its a braided hose, cut it with pliers/snips.hacksaw even) to remove the knackered bit. The plastic bit is just a cover to make it look prettier & not damage the soft alloy parts of your bike.
I erally think the only chance of making a repair that works is fitting a bit os metal pipe in the hose to join them.
It'll still be a bit "hit & miss" to stop it being forced apart when you use the brake!

Easiest thing is as mentioned, just disconnect it - most braking is via the front anyhow (unless off roading).

Good luck.

You're right, I wouldn't miss my back brake all that much.

There must be a bit of thin metal pipe about that you can use as a bodge. Diesel injector pipe maybe, car brake line, etc. You only need an inch or two. You need to get it inside the existing hose, the further the better. To make it less likely to fire out under pressure, scour some grooves around it with a file or something. If you can't find any hose-clips, fence wire should do the trick quite well. Use a few separate loops, you might get more pressure that way.

You can't patch hydraulic hose. The pressures are too great.

You can live without the back brake. Just ride slower and safer than normal.

Hydraulic hose with that bore isnt uncommon. Brake hoses on bikes are all the same size. It's not just for bikes either.

There has GOT TO be a bike shop, spare parts shop or garage which will have some. Any old hose off any old bike will do the job.

Dont forget to use new copper or aluminium sealing washers. If you cant, heat the old ones up in a hot oven or blowtorch them.

Break Repair
 

Hi Pete and All,
:mchappy:

With the intention and in the spirit of being helpful and innovative not everything has to lok the way you think it should or be as the manufacturer made it.

Repairing things like brake hoses can be a bit of a problem I would think that India would be an innovative place as people make lots of things out of what they have.

I am thinking that there may be some old cars or motorcycle shops around the place specially where they have people movers motorbikes with little passenger carriers either to the side or in front ….or machine shops with equipment like lathes, drills and perhaps it would be helpful to have some oxy acetylene welding equipment. Braising/welding with brass rod should work well, also silver soldering …. Not tin or the one you do with a soldering iron….

Ok the first thing to do is find a short flexible hose that can be placed into the centre of a steel break line … perhaps a piece of break line from a wreck…. The beset place to get a short flex line from is out of an old car at the differential end where the brake line goes from a single steel line and then into a T section allowing the fluid to be directed to the brake cylinders use the fittings if you have to and the steel lines that are in the T section.

On your bike master cylinder there is usually a banjo or circular part that a special bolt fits through … and at the caliper end there should be a similar fitting or the same …… Once you have laid out all the bits and you have
The banjo from the m/cyl and a short piece of steel line with a fitting that will fit to your secondhand hose….just a short flex line will do and then another fitting that will join the flex line to the brake line that will go to the caliper …… last of all you will have the Banjo that fits to the caliper…..
The beset place to get a short flex line from is out of an old car at the differential end where the brake line goes from a single steel line and then into a T section allowing the fluid to be directed to the brake cylinders use the fittings if you have to and the steel lines that are in the T section if other pipe flaring equipment and perhaps parts are not available , so basically once you have all your parts lid out then remove the existing clamps that hold the hose to the banjo….. see what you have to do to attach the pipe to the banjo by welding it to the banjo( it is best that somehow the pipes overlap , use another piece of tube over the top and weld in place > You may have to enlarge the hole in the banjo that the pipe goes into . This can be done by carefully drilling out the old pipe, fill any other holes so they are blocked.

Perhaps this might be better than a repair that can break down.

It is also a good trick if you can cover the steel pipe with some clear plastic tube or similar where it goes to the caliper along the swing arm
This should be an effective repair and perhaps last the rest of your trip.
Look towards being innovative.
Hope this helps

Kind regards
Champ :D

Possibly not, but you can cut out the damaged part and join the pipe back together as I tried to describe. It'll work, my old Suzuki (sj410) ran for many years with a joined (bodged) brake hose.

Yeah, I believe that method was also adopted by Toyota :oops2: