Earls or Russels Stainless Steel Brake lines?

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zak

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Russells are a little larger in diameter and come with an additional plastic coating on the outside for protection - I know at least the Russells are DOT approved.

Run a careful search, one person posted to comment about all 3 types of commonly avialable SHO brake lines thqat he had personally tried and he liked Russells the best (something about bellter ends/hardware/plastic outer coating etc.).

Edlebrock is no longer manufacturing the SHO Russells in large lots, therefore they are only avilable special order through SHOsource I believe (*they had the best price on them in any event when I bought mine last summer)..
 
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DJSHO91

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I've been running the Earl's s/s brake lines for several years and have nothing but positive response from them. They are DOT approved also.
 

nw_mr2

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I have the Russels. I had to modify the brackets with a dremel to make them fit. Other than that I've heard nothing bad about them.
 

DJSHO91

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I think you can take one thing from these responses. You can choose either and get a quality product that is far superior to the factory rubber lines.
 

hawkeye18

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Does Goodrich still make lines for the SHO? I have a set of goodrich lines on my 94 ATX that work fairly well.
 

St Louis SHO

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The Russell lines suck to put on unless equipped to do so. Earls go on 3x easier than Russell, other than that, quality product either way.

- James
 

hawkeye18

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The Russell lines suck to put on unless equipped to do so. Earls go on 3x easier than Russell, other than that, quality product either way.

- James

You are referring to modifying ze brackets, no? I believe you must modify the brackets when using the goodrich lines as well.
 

jmpSHO

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That's what I want to know. I wish I knew that before I ordered the Russell brake lines. I would have went with earls instead. I hate doing extra work if I don't have to.
 

nw_mr2

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It's been a while since I did it, but basically used the dremel to make the hole larger. There is a "key" kind of shape to it that lets the brake line in only a certain way. However, the key on the russel lines is about 20 degrees off.

I was concerned about having it fit to loose and wear the hard lines more than it should, so I just checked and re-checked often to make sure I didn't grind too much. Once I got it through, I used a combination of e-clips (I also re-used some of the stock ones) to make each line tight. I mine are now more solid than they were from the factory :)
 

hawkeye18

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The brackets have a flat on one end, and about 160 degrees away a tongue sticking out into the middle where the line is supposed to slot into. Problem is, on the replacement lines, the matching groove is 180 degrees from the flat - so it no worky. I just dremel the tongue off the bracket with a carbide cutting drum and it fits like a champ, and it still doesn't rotate (which was the point of all that).
 

St Louis SHO

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The hole in the bracket needs to be enlarged about 1/8" for the russell lines. The Earls lines, you only need to remove the "key"

Either line set is fine, but you'll spend about an hour more doing the russells.

- James
 

jmpSHO

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So I got my Russell lines the other day and I'm just curious what all the washers are for. Am I supposed to use them?
 

Ocnaj

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They are probably the crush rings for the banjo bolts. They go on both sides of the brake line where it bolts on to the caliper.
 

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