Do I need rock/gravel guard?

[Cousin_Eddie]

Morning all

I was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on whether or not replacement brake hard lines for my 84 K10 need to have the coils or rock/gravel guards as I understand the are called. I bought a whole stainless steel kit from the stop shop and the hard lines that run along the rear axle don't have any of the guard on them. In my mind it would be to easy to crush these lines while 4 wheeling or in rough terrain but maybe I'm overthinking it. I would appreciate your input. My gut tells me to send them back and go a different route but that's another two weeks before I can get it put back together. Let me know what you think.

 

[mtbadbob]

I guess it depends on how serious you are off-roading. Is there a bunch of loose rock in your area? Do you bomb down gravel roads 100 mph? The lines you have are probably for a truck not meant for much off-highway use.

 

[Grit dog]

Move the lines to the top of the axle if you’re worried about smashing them on a rock. The coils won’t help that anyways.
Like many repairs, consider the actual intended future use and roi when spending money on parts to “bulletproof” something that may be just fine for…..ever save for some weird scenario.

 

[Cousin_Eddie]

It's not like I'll be rock crawling or anything but I can't count the number of times I've yanked something loose on a tree stump or rock buried in the weeds. Moving them to the top sounds like a good idea. I'll just need something to keep them there.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

You could still get the coil guard stuff separately a couple years ago, just slip it on before you do any bends or flares. If it's not a pre done kit that is.


I prefer to have the rock guard. I do a lot of gravel though.

 

[Grit dog]

He said he bought a kit so that would imply pre-bent. Rear axle lines aren’t horribly hard to make since you don’t have to fish them thru a bunch of areas, imo. If you made a set you could mount them wherever you want on the axle and/or put those coils over them.

 

[bucket]

The best place for brake lines on the rear axle is behind the tubes and high up... but not on top. You want them high enough to be out of harm's way, but not so high that they can get blasted with gravel and debris from the front wheels.

 

[Grit dog]

Or in other words, much to do about nothing. If you drive your squarebody enough to worry about it, it’s a good day and probably nothing will ever happen anyway.
Personally I’d only be worried about it for aesthetics sake if it was nice enough to worth worrying about.