Brake fluid and stainless steel lines

[turbospec29]

I'm going to be doing a brake job on my truck. Not just all new rotors and pads, but I found a stainless steel brake line kit and plan to flush the fluid with all new. Just hitting 70k miles on the all original brakes and trying to get a bit better performance for towing. I've done pads and rotors before, just not lines or tried to flush a brake system.

 

Here are my concerns:

1. The new fluid I bought is DOT 4. My truck calls for DOT 3, but I've read that the two are somewhat OK to interchange. My goal here is to completely flush the 3 the best I can and just run the 4. What harm, if any, could this cause?

 

2. The key is to not let the master cylinder run dry, am I right? For if it does bad things can happen? How can I do this when I pull the brake lines off? Am I going to run the system dry, or will the fluid stay in the master cylinder even though I pulled the lines off. The stainless lines just replace the rubber hose to the caliper from the hard line.

[POS VETT]

1. As long as the DOT 4 isn't silicone-base, it should be okay to mix.

 

2. Replace line one at a time, brake fluid in the reservoir will drain, but not that fast. You will have time to refill the reservoir. Use this method; empty the reservoir using turkey-baster or syringe method, refill with new brake fluid and start replacing one line at a time. Check reservoir after installing each line, top it off, then move to the next line. After all lines have been replaced, start bleeding procedure.

 

Do not let brake fluid linger on a painted surface, rinse with water immediately; otherwise the fluid would strip the paint. Use brake fluid from unopened container and make sure it hasn't been dropped or shaken.

[cybe]

*edit; nevermind.

[Cordell]

Dot 3 and 4 can be mixed, dot 4 has a higher boiling point. Avoiding having the master run dry is prefered, its just easier not to have to bleed air from the master, if it happens its not a big deal just takes longer. Also if the truck has ABS you don't want the ABS module to get air in it because that can be a real bitch to bleed, sometimes it even takes a scan tool, however if you keep the reseviour full of fluid you'll avoid any of these headaches.

 

Like Tom said above just do one line at a time, keep the master full inbetween. Then to flush the system just keep bleeding until you get clean fluid all around. There are lots of tools for flushing and bleeding brakes, all of them are just fancier ways of moving fluid through the system, having someone pump and hold while you open bleeders will work just fine.

[turbospec29]

There are lots of tools for flushing and bleeding brakes, all of them are just fancier ways of moving fluid through the system, having someone pump and hold while you open bleeders will work just fine.

 

I actually went ahead and purchased speed bleeders for each corner as well to hopefully assist me in one man bleeding. I've never tried them before, but they seem like they should work.