60-62 manual trans trucks - flex hose in clutch line????

[Chuck78]

60-62 owners,
has anyone discovered a source for the rubber section of the hydraulic line on manual trans trucks??? Mine is most likely original, and although I think my clutch problems are mostly due to honing the master bore a lot and still having slight pits in the bore, but I'd still like to replace that rubber flex hose section when I swap over to a divorced clutch master and power brakes. I could probably come up with some type of other hose if needed, if I could find a brake hose with the right connections to use some fitting adapters on (thinking rear axle to frame flex hoses), but it'd be nice if I could just get one that would be the right threads and length to just bolt in, so I could not have to bend a new length hard line from the new clutch master.

Also, a side note, I think my master is the problem with my clutch, as I rebuilt it and honed it out a bit but it;s still got some pits in it. My symptom is that when I hold the clutch to the floor as I creep to a stop, if I hold it there too long, it won't release all the way, which is a huge problem if coming to a stop and you get stuck in gear and stall or can't shift and jam up the linkages! I think I am bleeding off a little fluid somewhere possibly. I also have had a lot of trouble bleeding all the air out of the line, as with a vacuum pump on my brand new slave cylinder, I get a good steady stream of fluid, but I can't seem to get all the tiny little air bubbles out. This led me to think that maybe when I am sucking with the vacuum pump, I am actually pulling some air into the line via a poor sealing master or maybe a leaky hose on top of the bell where I cannot see it. Not sure if this is possible, but I can't seem to get all the air out.

Any support for my theories, or suggestions of other methods or places to look for the problem? I'll soon be swapping to the dual reservoir power master and a reman. 1962 manual master minus residual valve to be used as a clutch master, so if it's the master, that'll solve my problem, but I'd still like to have some support for my theories so I can store that in my memory banks.

Thanks guys,

Chuck in Ohio

[Bears63]

The last time I had to have a new line for a hydraulic clutch ('63 K10), I took the old line to the local John Deere dealership and had their parts guy make one for me. They had correct size fittings, pressed fittings on to the length of hydraulic hose, and it worked like a champ all for less than $10. Check out your local implement dealer, their parts departments are used to making hydraulic lines.

It does sound like you have leakage in the clutch system. I wouldn't be surprised if it is that master cylinder causing it. You will find out for certain once you switch things out. Just how much did you hone the bore trying to get rid of pits? If you honed too much that bore will be oversized and it will never seal up.

[Chuck78]

I didn't take the time to locate my feeler gauges, so I don't know how much I honed it out. I ran the hone on a med speed cordless drill in and out several times, looked at it and still saw minor pits, ran it in and out a few more times, and decided that I didn;t want to try anymore, as I figured, just to get by, a few pits are better than the entire bore being way too large.

That's a good tip on the John Deere dealership. I'll have to look for some places that do hydraulic hoses around here. Being in a major city, I don't know of any implement dealers outside of town, because I never venture out too far outside of Columbus, population 1,000,000, as most things I need are all here in the inner city.

[Corts60]

I am having the exact same problem on my '60. I just replaced the slave and master cylinder but I am still having a little bleed by somewhere. I also think it is the hose bleeding down. That is my next step, replace the hose.

Good luck!

[Chuck78]

I was checking out my clutch flex hose today with a handy little mirror on a stick, and saw that it was about 9" of flex hose with the 1/4" tube female thread fitting on the end, and then the hard line that goes several inches up to the master. Well, what I didn't realize is that the other end that goes over the bellhousing, it';s got the hard line crimped straight into the hydraulic hose end on that side.
Went to NAPA today to pick up my rear motor mounts that mount the bellhousing to the crossmember (602-1034, only $6.32 each!), and I asked if I could browse their hydraulic hoses to see if I could just grab one off the shelf that had the 1/4" tube fitting threads (I think it's 7/16x24, have to doublecheck that it's not 20tpi). She said no, they're all in boxes, but you can dig through this old school brake/clutch hydraulics catalog with illustrations and see what you can find, and we';ll check to see if it's still a good part #.
It was near closing time, so I browsed through quickly and found a few that looked like I could make them work, and got to about the 600th or so illustration, and had found several possible candidates if I wanted to cut off the hard line on top of the bell somewhere and pull it out and put a flare and fitting in it (p/n 38307 and 38308 are 7/16x24 and 26-5/8" and 26-9/16" long), and then I came across NAPA p/n 38936, which looks like a fairly similar setup that's 36" long, with about a foot of rubber hose, and about 2 feet of hard line that is bent to go over a bellhousing. I think both sections are a bit long, but the hard line could be re-bent and cut off wherever needed. I've got the other two coming in tomorrow from their main warehouse in town, and I';ll be checking those two out in person, and look through the other 400 illustrations to see if I can come up with anything better. Really all you'd need is a short hose with two female threads and use the hard portion of the stock line if it's not too rusted, but I may order this other one in from their Illinois warehouse.

Illustrations #10 and 11 had hoses with two female 7/16x24 threads, but I forgot to look up those part #'s and see what length they were.

I've had the best luck getting old parts from NAPA over any of the other stores, so I'm gonna try and use them a lot more often when I can;t buy it online at Rockauto.com. I'll post what I find works out best here.

[Chuck78]

[Chuck78]

Originally Posted by Chuck78

NAPA p/n 38936

The more I look at it, the more I think this line would be an almost exact fit for our trucks, but a little longer, might only need a really short piece of hard line out of the master. I got one of the other two brake hoses there, and that will leave me with about a foot or so of hard line to bend up on the other end at the slave, no problem, with the attached hard line section of the hose going straight into the master.

[Chuck78]

accidentally hit "reply" too soon, that last post was NAPA p/n 38936 looks close, may try that after I see the other two that they have in town

this is brake hose 38307, 26-5/8" long total


and brake hose 38308, 26-9/16" long total.


obviously, these are much longer than the stock rubber hose. I was going to try and bend a coat hanger over the bell tonight to measure and use for reference, but I gave up as it was dark outside and the garage is full of Camaro stuff and tools... I'm thinking that if using one of these two brake hoses, and attaching the integrated hard line to the master, you could save a lot of bending tubing over the bell (or save yourself from trying to cut and flare a 46 year old rusty hydraulic line), and run the rubber line most of the way across the bell, where you might have a foot of hard line to bend on the other end.
If you went with the 38936, which is really similar to the original line, you'd definitely have more tedious bending to do, but then again, it's pretty much exactly what we need, with some adjustments to the bends and lengths. I have no idea what application vehicle that is off of. I'm fearing that straightening out the bends in it that we may not need there may be difficult, but I suppose if that didn't work out, you could just cut and flare it there, remove the old line, bend a new one just like it, and then use a union to couple the new hard/flex line and also the new repro piece copied from the original line. Then you'd have a joint in the line in a real tough to get to spot behind the distributor, but it's a solution.

[Chuck78]

That's the stock line configuration, as Classic foolishly sells it with NO FLEX LINE inline! Just for comparison's sake, that's what you'd be bending it to the contour of.

[62 C10shorty]

Hey Chuck78, I'd like to replace the hyd. clutch line and there's no part I can find in the usual sources (LMC, ClassicParts,RockAuto). Did you ever find the exact replacement hose & line, or did you wind up adapting Napa Part #38936?

[dthela]

I used stainless 1/8 line all the way, why use rubber?

[jocko]

you must use a flexible link somewhere or you risk a broken line or worse. The slave cyl is solidly mounted to the firewall, but the trans/bell/motor flex in the mounts when torque is produced. Same logic as why there are flexible brake lines at the front wheels.

[62 C10shorty]

FOUND IT. Here is a link for the exact pre-bent OEM-spec hydraulic clutch line: http://inlinetube.com/Preformed%20Li.../CT-CAT-06.htm


PART NUMBER CTH60001

[maxwoof]

Also, go to the truckandcarshop.com. The 60-72 catalog page 114 has them.
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[j.kirn]

Got mine at Inlinetube.com, exact fit and length