1991 Loyale wagon. Am replacing the front strut shocks. Look like brake lines need to be removed from the caliper in order to remove strut assembly. Just want to check before I make tons more work for myself. Thanks 

Pretty much. Remove brake line from caliper and remove the little clip holding the brake line to strut, slide out line .

OK. Easy enough to lift off the brake lines.   Am also looking at getting a new clutch cable [ before mine breaks- 330k miles] . Will try a local Subaru dealer for any stock still available. And, can a used FWD axle [ off the car- but still in good condition with 8 years / 80k miles on it]  simply have NEW BOOTS installed? Thinking preventative for known good c/v axle. Or should I skip that and just look for reliable re-man axles? I have two Cardone axles on there now for several years and boots still look ok. Maybe will investigate some silicone coating to keep them from cracking. Thanks.  

Clean, re grease, reboot OEM axles.   From everything I've seen on here, the aftermarket axles are junk.  A long while back, I remember mention of one brand some had good luck with, but I never tried them.  I've been rebooting them since 1988.

Edited August 16, 20196 yr by DaveT

Reboot Subaru OEM axles.  Aftermarket are trash. most people wouldn’t buy things with failure rates as high as aftermarket axles. I don’t get how shops can even stand to install them.  

ignore anecdotal statistically irrelevant comments about brand “xyz” being good. There’s no point as long as your axles are good or used Subaru axles are available. 

You don’t have to split the brake line. Carefully cut the little retainer bracket, then bend the two sections back to allow the brake line to come free once the clip is removed (remove clip before cutting). 

Do the same on the new struts  

The brake line will still be retained by the clip in the bracket. 

Cheers 

Bennie

I’ve done what Bennie said about 50 times.  

remove clip

cut through a corner of the bracket that holds the brake line. Dremel, angle grinder, Ive even done it with a small hand held metal hand saw.  

Bend bracket until the line can slip through.  

Do the same to new struts and Install

slide brake line into bracket

bend bracket back to its nominal position.

Insert clip

if you’re in an area prone to rust treat the cut metal on the new strut with some rust preventive paint/coating for aesthetics.  It’s thick enough if it’s not going to rust through like a fender but it will have surface rust if you want it to look a certain way.  

4 hours ago, idosubaru said:

I’ve done what Bennie said about 50 times.  

remove clip

cut through a corner of the bracket that holds the brake line. Dremel, angle grinder, Ive even done it with a small hand held metal hand saw.  

Bend bracket until the line can slip through.  

Do the same to new struts and Install

slide brake line into bracket

bend bracket back to its nominal position.

Insert clip

if you’re in an area prone to rust treat the cut metal on the new strut with some rust preventive paint/coating for aesthetics.  It’s thick enough if it’s not going to rust through like a fender but it will have surface rust if you want it to look a certain way.  

I attached my brake line to a new strut with a cable tie.  So far so good.

 

Sam

4 hours ago, idosubaru said:

I’ve done what Bennie said about 50 times.  

remove clip

cut through a corner of the bracket that holds the brake line. Dremel, angle grinder, Ive even done it with a small hand held metal hand saw.  

Bend bracket until the line can slip through.  

Do the same to new struts and Install

slide brake line into bracket

bend bracket back to its nominal position.

Insert clip

if you’re in an area prone to rust treat the cut metal on the new strut with some rust preventive paint/coating for aesthetics.  It’s thick enough if it’s not going to rust through like a fender but it will have surface rust if you want it to look a certain way.  

I prefer to make 2 cuts so the hose can be removed without bending. 

Two cuts sounds like bracket is surgically removed.

Done the one cut a few times no dramas. The zip cable tie may give no problems other than inspection by authorities

Nope, not the greatest picture, but maybe it makes sense. I'm just cutting out a chunk out of the end that's barely the width of the hose, this leaves all the surface on either side for the clip to rest against.

On 8/15/2019 at 10:00 PM, DaveT said:

Clean, re grease, reboot OEM axles.   From everything I've seen on here, the aftermarket axles are junk.  A long while back, I remember mention of one brand some had good luck with, but I never tried them.  I've been rebooting them since 1988.

Where to find new boots for OEM axles

Sorry Sorry NVM! just asked this question before research. RockAuto has them.

 

Thanks you guys. Best way for me was to slice through strut bracket and bend the new "tabs" in opposite directions till brake line can pass through. And no critical loss of structural integrity. No need to disconnect brake line. All you guys are the best. thanks

Edited September 1, 20196 yr by rickyhils