Replacing hoses

[yellowviper]

I want to replace the rubber hoses on my 2001 rt/10 with steel braided ones. Do you know where I may get them? thanks. Jack

[Sybil TF]

Coolant? Brake?

[yellowviper]

Coolant. Should I do brake lines also?

[LifeIsGood]

As info...I replaced my coolant hoses with silicon. I have these brake lines...IPSCO SS braided brake flex lines (http://ipsco.org/Viper_files/Gen%202%20Brake%20line%20kit.htm).

[XSnake]

You replace the coolant hoses with silicone and the brake hoses with SS.

[C.J]

Jack, I've never seen coolant hoses for the Viper with a stainless braided covering. Do your hoses need replacing or is this to enhance the looks of your engine bay?

[yellowviper]

C.J., the rubber hoses are 13 years old and I just thought, to play it safe and replace them. My luch they would leak on a road trip. Jack

[C.J]

Your Viper has pretty low miles, and I had the same concern with mine when I bought it. I talked with Chuck Tator (aka Viper Wizard) and he still has the original hoses on his '94 (or was it a '95?) Viper. He said the hoses are very high quality from Dodge. When I swapped my coolant, I checked the hoses and they all seem to be in great shape. You're probalby more likely to have a p/s pulley fail or have the water pump impeller fail vs. have the radiator hoses fail.

There was a bad batch of water pumps in 2001, and some of those pumps have impellers that will spin on the shaft.

[AZTVR]

C.J., the rubber hoses are 13 years old and I just thought, to play it safe and replace them. My luch they would leak on a road trip. Jack I replaced the 2 main rubber hoses on my '02 for the same reason. I was just going to use OEM replacements; but, found that, at the time, the Mopar stock of upper hoses were formed incorrectly, so, I bought the silicone ones.

The originals that I took off looked just fine on the inside, though.

[Sybil TF]

I would think that it is cheap insurance to change the coolant hoses when doing a flush but that is a matter of opinion since they aren't cheap as compared to a Chevy LOL.

I bought mine from Roe and used Evan's coolant instead of the water based coolant.You never have to change it again but it cost $40.00 a gallon!:(

[Luisv]

Replacing the coolant hoses are not a big deal. Cheap little refresh. But I do agree with what was said, for the most part, the stock ones will hold up well for a long time.

On a side note, avoid the stainless coolant hoses as they tend to be more rigid. You do want a certain amount of flex in there. Nobody, that I know of, makes formed stainless braided hoses for our cars. I would say it's best to just go with the silicone hoses if you want some added insurance.

[mitchdob]

Do it (replace them).

I have a 2000 ACR/GTS with 14k miles on it and the top hose blew last week. I replaced both the top and bottom hoses (and belt) with the Snake-Oly silicone hoses. Also completely removed/flushed the crappy green coolant out of the system and replaced it with the Mopar red 5 year HOAT anti-freeze.

[Venom-US]

http://www.hps-siliconehoses.com/index.php/hps-silicone-coupler-coupling-hose.htmlThese are the silicone hoses I used....a lot cheaper than Snake-Oly.

[nrs1]

The ROE Racing silicone hoses have a bleeder in the upper for ease of burping the system. Worked great on mine.

[LifeIsGood]

+1 on the Roe Racing bleeder valve...

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss78/kenandkristine/Viper/Viper%20Club%20DIY/Coolant%20Flush/ROEUpperRadiatorHoseBleederKit.jpg

This is what I have (I painted mine red and ignore the blue painters tape under the hoses, this picture was taken during installation)...

Silicone Radiator Hose Set Gen2 96-02 Vipers (http://www.roeracing.com/ProductCart/pc/Silicone-Radiator-Hose-Set-Gen2-96-02-Vipers-157p2.htm)

Upper Radiator Hose Bleeder Kit 96-02 GTS & 97-02 RT/10 (http://www.roeracing.com/ProductCart/pc/Upper-Radiator-Hose-Bleeder-Kit-96-02-GTS-97-02-RT-10-157p496.htm)