close call...somebody's looking out for me!

[Doc Dave]

Today my neighbor and I were installing a Maxbrake hydraulic over electric trailer brake controller in my 2001 Dodge Ram diesel.

During this process we had to bleed a little air in the front line near the master cylinder where we "tee'd" in a fitting. We were pumping the brakes like normal with a bleed, and near the end all of a sudden the brake went to the floor. Inspection revealed that a steel brake line under the truck ruptured, due to rust.

The truck is 10 years old and exposed to some salt in the winter but not near as much as New England or the upper midwest.

I could only think of what if that had happened next month towing a loaded trailer in the West Virgina mountains? I would have lost the front brakes and the trailer brakes both...egads!

Anyway, we spliced in a piece of new line for now, and this winter I am going to replace all the steel brake lines.
Although I am not a professional mechanic I wonder if it would be a good idea in general for others out there to consider doing this as an important preventative maintenance thing on trucks 10 years and up, maybe more frequent in the rust belt.

BTW, the Maxbrake has a really nice brake pedal "feel", more like the brakes on the trailer are "one" with the truck.

[Gordon Maney]

That is pretty sobering, considering I am driving a 2001 Ram that runs every winter in salt.

[Charles Talbert]

Hey Doc,

You may have heard me make mention our local NAPA is gone. The owners had issues with NAPA that seemingly couldn't be resolved and they let NAPA slide and changed over to CarQuest. We have since learned that the CarQuest offerings are in many way superior to NAPA; not in everything, some things NAPA remains the sole source. We deal with an independant NAPA store that is about 30 minutes away now, but we also do a lot with CarQuest.

Since we now have many CarQuest catalogs and literature in house, I've learned that CarQuest has copper-nickel brake line tubing. The claim is that it is far more resistant to rust and corrosion then conventional tubing. We plan to try it on our next major project. You might want to look into that as a possible option.

[Tom Petroff]

It is a much better tube.
Have had great results with it.
I have used our local CarQuest for many, many years and have a great relationship with the owner.
He will bend over backwards to locate something for me from all over St Louis.
CarQuest also added a commercial (heavy) truck line. to there warehouse.
Our local Napa has gone down hill here also. Still buy a few things if he has it and CarQuest dosen't.
TGP

[Charles Talbert]

It is a much better tube.
Have had great results with it.
I have used our local CarQuest for many, many years and have a great relationship with the owner.
He will bend over backwards to locate something for me from all over St Louis.
CarQuest also added a commercial (heavy) truck line. to there warehouse.
Our local Napa has gone down hill here also. Still buy a few things if he has it and CarQuest dosen't.
TGP

We have enjoyed using the availability of the heavy truck line also, it is vast. Since the CarQuest Corp headquarters is in Raleigh, NC, about 2 hours from us, we are very fortunate to have great access.

[Doc Dave]

Charles and Tom,

So is the Car Quest stuff the same as Cunifer?
http://store.fedhillusa.com/?gclid=C...FUmA5Qod5gOWLA
Also can you get it pre-bent from CQ for various models, like the Ram?
Cunifer is an alloy and I noticed it was very easy to bend, as well as being rust resistant.

FedHill will loan you their rather expensive flare tool free if you buy the line.
Some say to use stainless steel to prevent rust, but I would be concerned about trying to bend and flare it for the whole truck?

Now, I use NAPA and Carquest almost exclusively. Have good relations with the people in both. Occasionally use one of the other chains if they have an oil sale.

One thing I do like about Napa though, is still being able to buy parts for the '52 power wagon through them still. They still stock a fair amount of parts.
Also, CQ has eliminated a lot of their small parts/hardware. I tried to buy an internal retaining ring for the PTO u joint, and the manager at CQ said that their previous bin of parts like that had gone away. ONly one blister pack of an assortment of mostly e clips. NAPA has also phased out some of the small hardware, although perhaps not as much?

[Charles Talbert]

We use McMaster-Carr almost exclusively for small parts, if you can't find it there, it's pretty much hopeless these days.

[onetonwagon]

Does McMaster-Carr have a website?

[Charles Talbert]

Does McMaster-Carr have a website?

www.mcmastercarr.com

[Rich Szklany]

I find it very intresting that when you installed the tee at the master cylinder that is when your brake line failed. Was it the line behind the fuel tank. I also had this happen to me the next day after I installed the Maxbrake in my brake line. The Maxbrake works great. My truck is a 1996 Dodge Cummins diesel 15 years old.
Rich

[Doc Dave]

The brake line on mine was farther forward, under the cab. I had planned on replacing the lines this winter but have not got around to it yet.

[Doc Dave]

update- brake line rust out

Well, I never got around to replacing the brake lines last winter, no excuse - just busy like everyone else.
The other day I was pulling my trailer down my farm lane with the 2001 Dodge and noticed the brakes were very weak. Another line had rusted through!
I patched one in for now. That was an adventure as the "junction block" near the MC needs the line to it to have a bubble flare. I found one guy in the county who had such a tool and he did it for me on one end, the other end was a normal double flare.
Well, I said "that's it", the truck is 10 years old. I plan on keeping it another 10 at least, so I bit the bullet and got prebent SS lines from EGR brakes. Very nice, albeit a little pricey, but I can only imagine losing the brakes on a downhill on the Interstate in the mountains, egads! I don't want to have to replace brake lines ever again on this.
Will let the group know how the replacement works. Won't get to it until September or October though.
A less expensive option, although more work, would be to get the Copper -Nickle alloy brake line "Cunifer" and bend your own. That is very nice stuff and easier to bend then stock steel. But you have to bend and flare.

[712edf]

I have seen auto frames rust & rubber brake lines split, but never a metal brake line rust through. It must not be that humid here.

Glad you are giving the matter some attn.

BTW Dad can't locate the ID tag on the NP540, so looks like I'd get to do that myself.

Bucky

[Doc Dave]

To give you an example of what humidity and general moisture condidtions can do, if I blast a piece of metal and can't paint it immediately, just sitting in the air in my shop here will cause rust to start.
That is why I use the Picklex-20 product on all metal I can't paint right away -- to give me some storage time.
I have decided that I would prefer to get a western 1960 D or W cab and pay for the shipping, rather than work XXX hours on trying to restore mine which is a typical eastern truck cab of that vintage.
p.s. -Bucky, thanks again for your interest in my question about the tranny. Don't overdue it, when you get a chance it would be great to know about whether that is an O.D. model.