Here's an answer to a question no one's asked...maybe? So I was maybe the only one not in the know about all the rubber lines the braking system had. Most cars have just the front and rear brake lines (4 total), ours have 6 total with the 2 center lines. I went and bought the rear lines, since I already had two sets of fronts (1 for the BBK and 1 for the stock line). Lucky the 3rd gen shares the same front lines as the 4th/5th gens. Then I was reading up on the 5th gen upgrade thread and came across info on BFGoodrich's 6 line set. At this point in time, I already had a Toytec lin, but I guess I had a brain fart and forgot about it. I ended up ordering a set of Wheelers lines, which I ended up not using neither one because I wanted longer lines. Then I made a thread asking about the stock line length, but no one had the info on that or the length of other companies. Anyway, here's some extra information in case anyone needed it.

These are the stock lines at full droop. The stock lines measure 14". Can't imagine the case of them breaking if they were at full flex.


I spent alot of time looking into it but there are several companies that make ss center lines for the 4th gen, which would also work for the 5th gen. Crown actually makes them for several companies (MetalTech, Toytec, Total Chaos to name some). They have the crown logo on their lines and in some of their product numbering.Crown Performance. They also make custom lengths and colors, but if you plan it out, getting it from Toytec / Metaltech would be less because I think one off orders cost more than when those other distributors buy in bulk.

Wheelers, All Pro Offroad and Low Range Offroad also provide their own versions of center lines.

There is also a complete set by BFGoodrich and they offer it in +0, +2, and +4 sizes. I found the best price for these are actually on eBay if you shop around enough (roughly 150 shipped).

Individually, you can buy the front and rear lines as well. They're branded Stoptech but the numbers are interchangeable with Centric (who is the parent company that makes the Stoptech components anyway). Sometimes Amazon listings will have the Centric lines for less than the Stoptech ones, and you'll end up getting a Stoptech branded package anyway.
Front Line: 950.44007
Rear Line: 950.44507

And if you happen to have a front BBK without a line then this will be the part number you need: 950.44006


Here you guys see the comparison between the length of the stock lines (14"), Toytec line (15"), and the Low Range Offroad line (20").

From my research and now that I have the measurement for the stock line. Here are the various lengths from the companies I've seen so far for the center line.
Stock line: 14"
Toytec (Crown sourced): 15"
Wheeler's Off Road line: 16"
All Pro Off Road line: 17"
MetalTech line: 20"
Low Range Off Road line: 20"
BFGoodrich: 14", 16", 18"

These plugs that come with the Stoptech/Centric ss lines came in handy while working on the center lines. They work two ways, as end caps to the hard lines or if you reverse them, they can also plug up the rubber female ends on the lines. However, if you use them this way, they will still slowly leak brake fluid but not quick enough to empty your braking system.



I ended up removing both the brackets and the lines to make the install of the new lines much easier.



Makes it easier to remove the spring clips if you have the brackets removed from the axle / frame.



Cleaned up and put on a few coats of rustoleum onto the brackets.



Here are the new lines ready to be installed back onto the truck.



Installed back on. Make sure you don't over tighten the hard lines. I've broken hard lines in the past. Torque ratings for these fittings are in inch-lbs. You can use a micro torque wrench with crowfoot sockets if you want to be cautious. One of my l ines ended up not being tight enough but I fixed it while bleeding the system. Remember to bleed the whole system and not just the rears. You're supposed to bleed everything anytime you open up the system.



I hope that was useful. I read through many posts on the 5th gen upgrade and various other build threads talking about the complexity of this install.
I felt it was maybe a 3 on a scale of 10 in difficulty. Should take maybe an hour to exchange out the lines and bleed depending on how efficient you are at bleeding. I spent a little longer since I had to tackle some rust and paint in between. I also was replacing all my braking components at the same time. I'll add more to my original post as I find more companies that make SS lines besides Centric/Stoptech and Crown. 20" lines are a bit long and I'm not sure if you even need it with the long travel setup but you can never been too safe with braking components. If I had to do it again I would have probably gone with the All Pro line since it added 3" and was the least expensive. Even if you had to buy the Stoptech/Centric F/R lines, you'd still save about 40 bucks in comparison to getting the BF Goodrich lines.

Thanks for putting together this information about the brake line lengths. I definitely spent a while trying to find exact lengths, but only saw references to stock. These are also the only options that I found when searching through the forums on here and other part sites.

Do you remember if all of these have the protective sheathing over the stainless braid? I see the PVC coating on the Low Range Offroad lines and the red/black sheathing on the Wheeler's, but didn't see mention for the others.

The other lines should have the coating on them as well.

I’m glad the info was helpful. I was in that same boat when I was trying to figure which lines to go with. Figured that I needed longer lines and metaltech wouldn’t get them to me on time. So I looked into a few others hehe

Thanks for the helpful post. I wanted to change all of mine out to stainless, and bought the front and rear pairs initially since I was doing the calipers anyway. I wasn’t able to install them though because the fittings on the frame side were so frozen/corroded that I could not break them loose without either rounding the fittings, or twisting the frame hardline! I soaked them in PB Blaster prior to starting the job, and while doing the work, but in the end decided to not over complicate the job by breaking the hard lines as I needed to get it back together for work the next day. Eventually I want to do the whole set though, so this thread will help in buying the center lines. Anyone else have the issue I did with the originals? How did you get them off without destroying the hardlines?

Awesome, thanks! I am also looking at getting extended lines for a future lift. If I were to go up to a 3" lift, do you think the 2" extra from the Wheeler's would be sufficient, or would it be better to go with the All-Pro or longer? I initially saw the Low Range, but I think 20" would be too much extra length, as you pointed out in your original post.

Terminator03, I lift in Ohio with all of the salt, so mine has some major corrosion as well. I am also hoping to replace the lines while I do brakes/rotors/calipers. Hopefully I can get everything off without breaking things haha. I'll let you know if I encounter the same difficulties.

I got lucky and was able to break the connections with liquid wrench. I used flared crowfoot socket wrench connections to prevent rounding of the hardline bolts. I liked the leverage I got with those as opposed to using flarenut wrenches.

On my RX7, it was more of a nightmare trying to get the hardlines off. I had to use a blow torch and rapid cooling with pb blaster to open the lines up due to the corrosion. I ended up replacing the hardline on that car.

The low range off road line is also made from crown performance. Crown is located in north San Diego. They made my rear lines for me in 5 min while I rated in the lobby.


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I replaced all 6 brake hoses with stainless steel. Used Stoptech front & rear and 20” Trail Gear for the two rear center lines. Here are some notes that may be helpful to anyone taking this on.

- First, shoutout to @tv4184 for the brilliant idea of removing the brackets and old hoses so you can swap them out on your workbench. The definition of working smarter, not harder, especially b/c the Trail Gear hoses differ from the OEM style. You have to fit a c-ring on one side so the OEM clip can secure the fitting to the bracket. I can’t imagine trying to do that under the truck.



Ready to reinstall.



- Stoptech provides caps for the ends of the hard lines but they were useless since the opening was way too small to go over the flared end. Luckily, these caulk tube sealers worked. They’re designed to roll down onto the tip of a caulk tube like a condom. They popped right on and prevented fluid drips even without having to unroll them.





- If I had a do-over, I wouldn’t buy Stoptech or the 20” Trail Gear hoses. One of the Stoptech hoses was really tough to get seated. Drip, drip, drip until I finally got it right and tight. Then the rear lines had L & R stickers on them. My assumption is that L = driver’s side, right? Either they don’t see it that way or the stickers were just reversed. That was annoying.

No issues with the center hoses, I would just buy 16” lengths next time b/c my truck is only mildly lifted so they’re on the long side. BTW, I somehow ended up with 2 sets of those so I’ll be listing the unopened surplus set for sale.

- Once the spare is removed and the rear end on jackstands, you can do the center hoses and both rear hoses without removing the wheels.

Bleeding was no issue. Maybe I’m wrong but there seems to be a lot of angst over bleeding b/c of the ABS and such. Not saying it isn’t a challenge but my understanding is that you only need the simple front/rear line procedure unless you replace one of the major components.

Brake pedal travel and feel didn’t change much but the same effort yields a quicker and firmer response.