[FC] Brakes

[wild8bill at aol.com]

Brake horror story: My wife was driving our rampside down Moeser in the  
East Bay. People who live here are already cringing; for those that don't know 
 of the road, it goes straight up the East Bay hills under some power 
lines, no  switchbacks, only a couple small curves, it's the road everyone drives 
up to see  how powerful their car is, maybe a 10-15% slope in places.
 
Well, she gets down about 3/4 of the way and loses her brakes, the pedal  
just goes to the floor. It's just a two lane road, and she passed a car and 
ran  through a traffic light while trying to use the E-brake. Luckily, there 
wasn't a  whole class of grade school kids filling the crosswalk going to 
and from the  schools on both sides. After the E-brake wasn't doing the job, 
she had the  presence of mind to stick it in first and let out the clutch. It 
slowed enough  to where she could pull onto a side street down where it got 
flat, and stop with  the E-brake. Her ordeal lasted about 30 seconds, and 
she had time to think about  what she was going to hit to stop the truck, she 
had her eye on a fence and some  hedges. Luckily, she didn't hit any other 
cars or pedestrians, and the total  damage was a $10 brake hose. I have 
since convinced her to not trust the old  cars, and to downshift going down 
steep hills instead of riding the brakes.  We'll be putting a dual master 
cylinder in there, as well as replacing all the  brake hoses. She often hauls 1-2 
yards of gravel or soil in the rampside as part  of her landscaping 
business, so the brakes really get a workout.
 
Bill
Richmond CA
 
 
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