The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline What do 54 1/2 ton Brake Hoses look like?

Do the front brake hoses require an adapter to fit to the hard line tubing and is the hose end secured to the chassis with a jam nut rather than an spring clip?


I've got a 54 Suburban in which I am installing new brake hoses and hard tubing which I bought from INLINE-TUBE. The hoses don’t fit the tubes. The tubes fittings are 3/8 inch and the hose appears to be 7/16 inch. The chassis interface is not right either. The clips they sold me wont fit and they are telling me I need a lock nut and an adapter for the brake line. This doesn’t seem right to me. Does anyone have any insight on this or have factory documentation on how these lines are to be installed. Zeke (from Inline-Tube) insists that the hoses are built properly and are for that application (1954,1/2 ton)

Anybody know if the rear hose is identical to the front ones?

Brake Hose 1 Brake Hose 2 Brake Hose 3

I assume the tubes are the brake lines?

If Inline Tube sold you the lines and the hoses, they should match each other.
Did you buy them all from Inline Tube?

Yes, everything is from INLINE-TUBE and they don't fit each other.

I need HELP. Does anyone have pictures or information from an assembly manual that shows the correct brake line installation?

Here is a general drawing that is not correct for one specific model.

Unless you have a Hydra-Matic transmission, the Suburban brake lines are the same as other 1954 1/2 ton bake lines. Please note that 1/2 ton brake lines/hoses were not the same from 1947-1955st.

Unless you are not correctly/completely describing your mis-matched parts, it looks like Inline Tube is BSing you.

1. You state that the ends on the brake line do not fit/match the ends on the flex lines/hoses?
2. You state that you bought both the lines and hoses from Inline Tube?

The only logical conclusion is that Inline Tube is wrong.

If you send me a private message and include your phone number, I'd be pleased to discuss this with you. If you want, I will then call Inline Tubes.

Hy Russ_B_10, it would appear that there is an error in most of the brake parts catalogs, I verified this morning by looking at a 1954 1/2 ton chassis that the front brake lines are 3/16". Most of the catalogs list the brake hose as having 7/16"24 internal thread, which is the size for 1/4" brake lines. I crossed the o.e.m. p/n 3696551 for the flex hose at the Napa site and came up with the Napa p/n UP13841, the picture and description shows 3/8 internal thread and the correct horseshoe clip attachment to the bracket on the frame $17++ at Napa. The Raybestos p/n is BH13841 $12.61 at RockAuto. Even though the illustrations show everything to be the same as O.E.M. sometimes when the part arrives it has an external thread at the frame attachment end, which requires a locknut (jam nut) to affix it to the frame. I did go over to the Inline Tube website to check it out, but I couldn't find a way to make any specifications for their flex lines to appear, I hope that helps.

I have received correct 1954 1/2 ton brake lines and hoses from both Inline Tubes and from Classic Tubes. I have also received incorrect brake hoses from multiple vendors. Some times they specified the incorrect hose and some times they simply put the wrong hose in the right box.

The frame-attachment ends on the three flexible lines/hoses are the same size, even though the internal diameters of some of the hoses/lines are different. The frame attachment clip and the exterior diameter of those hose ends are the same size/diameter even if the interior diameter and end-fittings on the metal tubes/lines are different. There is no lock-nut used on the hose-to-line ends of these parts. The metal brake line screws into the hose end.

In this case, it seems the same vendor shipped a set of lines and hoses that do not match - it seems that the diameter of metal line male-end is a different diameter than the diameter on the female-end of the flexible line/hose. It seems that the vendor is saying they should work together.

I find it hard to believe that Inline Tube will not resolve this problem/mistake (if the description of the problem/mistake is what it appears to be).

Unless I am reading this incorrectly, the 1954 1/2 ton brake hoses are:

front and rear: 7/16 x 20 exterior (wheel cylinder end) and 3/8 x 24 interior (brake line end)

Thanks 3B and tclederman

3B- That Napa part matches the ones I removed exactly. Autozone also lists the identical specs. What’s so confusing is Inline-Tube is not the only vendor who lists the non-fitting hose See Ecklers .

tclederman- My front and rear hard lines are all 3/16” and will fit the NAPA hose and not the hoses that Inline-Tube supplied. I have identified another Inline-Tube hose TH841 (which I’m guessing is equivalent to NAPA’s 13841) but have yet to get any specs other than they say it wont fit.

They did offer to take the uninstalled hoses back for a credit. I pay return shipping and a 20% restock fee. I’m not real happy with that offer or the fact that the brake line installation isn’t going as smoothly as I had planned. I did a quick Google search of “ inline-tube complaints” and these search results do not give me a lot of hope for a satisfactory resolution.

By the way I love your Blue Suburban. It gives me hope for mine.

Jam-Nut

Hy Russ_B_10, I did go and look at your link, but I guess I'm not confusilator savy enough to make the hose specifications display, I even tried searching for the part again, and still no specs.. As I said, I believe this is an error in the catalogs of many brake parts suppliers, and because the catalog says so, all their people believe it to be true. It can be very hard to get people to believe that there catalogs are wrong, and to get them to change them (I have already changed mine). In the end all we have to identify parts for our projects is parts books and vendor/aftermarket catalogs, and if the information in them is wrong or your project has been modified in the last 50 - 60+ years then the parts won't fit. If you give a good experienced partsman all the facts you can, he should be able to find you what you need, if such a part is still available.

Not sure if this info will help

I purchased hoses from classic parts a few years ago.
tag on hose 63-4497 C (I don't know if this is the part number)
...pic...

...pic...

...pic...

...pic...

...pic...

One end male, other female with slot for the frame clip.

I bought these for a 50 not a 54. the brake line in the pic is the original off a 50.

Thanks DADS50,
Yes that does help. It looks like your 1950 has shorter spindles which allow you to get a wrench on the wheel cylinder hose end. The tubing is the larger 1/4 inch as well. Your hose is the same one they gave me for the rear. I still don't know what application uses the jam-nut instead of the clip. At this point I guess it doesn't matter as I believe the NAPA hose is the correct one for my truck.

I enjoyed watching your YouTube video.

Thank you, I appreciate that

I have upgraded to disc in the front. The hose that goes to the caliper uses the frame clip also
...pic...

One problem I did encounter is that the diameter of the fittings that fit in the ...hole in frame... needed to be dressed down a bit.
You may encounter the same with your new hoses.