Some time ago, I posted about fitting a differential guard to the front axle. The intention was to fit one to the rear at the same time, but the long brake pipe to the rear drivers side brake cylinder could potentially rub against the top of the guard. Not a good idea.

I ordered a new length of the brake pipe a long time ago so with time on my hands I cracked on and fitted the guard and the new pipe.

All 4 corners are put on axles stands. This will help with another piece of work later and provide a little extra room under the vehicle.
This is the length of pipe to be replaced

Draining the system:

Brake fluid is quite corrosive to paint so I decided to blow all the fluid out of the entire system. This will prevent drips from the union on the top of the axle case and will help with the next project. (more on that in the next post)

Eezibleed. If you do your own mechanics, this is an essential piece of kit.
One end is attached to the hydraulic fluid reservoir…
…the other end is plumbed into the valve of the spare wheel.
When the bleed nipple of the wheel cylinder is opened, the air pressure in the tyre blows the fluid out of the system.
And that’s what you get… 2/3 of a jar of Branston pickle of brake fluid. Try it with cheddar cheese

Fitting the differential guard:

Diff guard. Remember this?
The first piece to be fitted is the stainless steel top bracket. This is held in place on 2 studs on the upper edge of the differential (sorry about the lighting)
Bracket in place but nuts not yet tightened down
Next, the main diff guard is fixed to the top bracket and the underside of the differential
Bit of a funny angle but this is the underside of the differential showing the two bolts that hold rearward end of the guard.

With the differential guard loosely fitted, all nuts and bolts are tightened down. The next thing is to plumb in the new length of brake line between the 3 way splitter on the axle and the wheel cylinder.

Fitting the new brake line:

New brake lines are delivered cut to the correct length with the ends made off. I have to make something similar to the pipe on the right from the roll on the left.
To make this easier, I straighten the roll of pipe as best as possible. There are tools you can buy to do this that roll them out 100% dead straight. I think I get close enough with my thumbs though.
First bend over the top of the differential guard. Plenty of room so there shouldn’t be any risk of things rubbing

It’s quite a fiddly job to bend the pipe where it should go and the photos wouldn’t be that interesting… so I didn’t take any.

New pipe follows the contours of the axle and connected to the wheel cylinder.

As an aside, it’s normal for leaf springs to look like this but I don’t think it’s particularly becoming. So when I get round to it, I’ll buy some black cavity wax and spruce up them up a bit.

For the time being though, the diff guard is fitted, matching the one on the front axle and there’s no risk of the brake line rubbing on the top.

With the brake system drained down of all fluid, the next task will be to replace the incorrect brake master cycling with the correctly specified item and bleed all the air out.