<VV> Hard Pedal, poor brakes.

[Tony Underwood]

At 10:10 AM 7/29/2010, corvairduval at cox.net wrote:
>I will also chime in that stuck pistons are #1 for hard brake pedal. And
>many times it is not noticeable that the brakes have diminished capacity.


Sometimes almost NO diminished capacity.  My stuck piston was on the 
right front and there was no pulling at all.   If I hadn't seen the 
worn-wrong brake shoe I wouldn't have known.


>Also, there is nothing wrong with flaring brake tubing and installing an
>inverted flare coupling. I cannot condone using a compression type
>coupling, it is against state inspection rules here, and have been known to
>fail, although probably just due to improper installation.

Like anything else, it falls under Murphy's original first Law, in 
that if a part can be installed wrong, someone will install it that way.


>Whereas a flare
>fitting improperly installed will weep, a compression fitting improperly
>installed can blow the lines apart, at the worst possible time...
>
>No need to reply Tony, I will assume you used a flared coupling! ggg


I am proud of my double-flare kit.   :)


>The other failure of brake hoses is the "check valve" effect. I've seen
>this too often in Corvairs. The brakes work fine for a few stops, and then
>one wheel locks up even with your foot off the brake pedal. The hose to
>that wheel will not allow the fluid to return to the master cylinder when
>your foot is off the brake.


Or worse, it allows fluid to go into the cylinder but not completely 
back out again, causing that brake to drag... for miles.   Eventually 
it gets things so hot the fluid boils in the wheel cylinder.  If it 
happens on the back, it may not exhibit any warnings like pulling, 
and it can cause the car to feel like it's bucking a headwind and 
actually get that brake so hot it blisters the paint on the wheel 
from the glowing brake drum.

I've done that.   I spent some time on the side of the road cracking 
a bleed valve on a wheel cylinder to release pressure so the car 
would roll free, then stuffed a piece of wheel weight into the brake 
hose junction and crimped it into place to block that line off so I 
could get the car home without having the collapsed hose gag up again 
and act like a check valve and jam the remnants of the brake shoes 
against the already warped drum...   that was an interesting day.

The irony was that I was returning from a chapter meeting and tech 
session at a club member's house at the lake, and the 40 mile drive 
back home was an adventure.



tony..