Extended Steel Brake Line busted. Trail fix. (1 Viewer)

[alvarorb]

I had the weirdest thing happen on the Rubicon on Thursday. I was driving on top of the slabs and I hear a noise, like my axle is hung on something. I stop and as I do, my break pedal goes all the way in and it gets mushy, like the brake line is broken.

I get out look under and I see nothing, the ground is completely flat. Except, there is a bit of fluid leaking from the front left wheel well. A rock, a bit smaller than a water polo ball, almost round, got cought between the left front tire and the wheel well. I the process it tore my extended steel brake line and mangled the top part of the shock absorber.

So here I'm I, 7pm top of the slabs. No brakes. Then I remember I have the old stock brake line in my drawer. Only problem: Too short for the terrain and mods on La Cabra. Bernie, Amando Derek come up with a solution. Undo one of the loops on the coil of the hard line on top to extend the hard line downward enough so the old rubber brake line would flex but not to it's limits.

Next problem. No extra brake fluid. We radioded for help and Norcal Doug came to the rescue with a bottle of DOT 3 brake fluid. Once fixed, we bled the brakes and were in business quite fast. The whole ordeal took only about half an hour.

This trail fix did the trick, not only to get me out of the trail. But to get me home. Cdan, expect a call from me tomorrow. I'll need to order a few parts.

Thanks to that all helped.

Alvaro

 

[Snook]

Here is a photo taken at the slab before it was repaired.

Note the original location of brake bracket, bolted to the frame.

Cheers,

 

[cruiserdan]

Nice rock rash on the shock and spring.

 

[NorCalDoug]

Nice rock rash on the shock and spring.

I picked up a dent similar to Alvaro's on my front DS shock...tore my little plastic flap that sat there too.

Wish you were there Dan. Next year?

 

[IdahoDoug]

Nice fix, guys - way to be prepared. I've never seen a rock ride up into a wheel well. Goes to show you that if you wheel long enough you'll get to see just about everything.

Here's another wacky brake failure/trail fix. We were wheeling with chains on in deep snow, and a buddy's chain broke, then wrapped around the rear axle - breaking a chunk of rotor off all the way to the hub. We were as far out as we'd planned to get (of course) so no hope of getting anyone in there, plus he was blocking a couple rigs from coming out of this out and back trail. My buddy let everyone know over the radio what happened and he was going to get a look at it. He came up with an ingenious solution. Took him 10 minutes to think of it, and execute it. He pulled the wheel off, used a hammer to smash the remaining rotor bits off down to the hub, jammed a handy sized piece into the caliper between the pads, zip tied and duct taped it in place and we were off with him not even handicapped at our slow grinding pace. On the road, he simply drove home with his 4 ways on at low speeds. Ingenious, no?

DougM

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Wish you were there Dan. Next year?

Agree-we were all missing Cruiserdan. We need to be creative to get him off work and prevent his sons from climbing fences. I think the damage from this year's trip may pay for his trip next year! It might end up being a "working vacation" for Dan.

 

[alvarorb]

CruiserDrew and I found at Napa a brake line long enough to replace the extended steel brake line that broke off on the Rubicon.
The install was pretty simple. This new brake line has the same ends as the Toyota factory lines. So they lock into position on the retaining brakets. The brake line is 15" long. Which makes it slightly longer than the extended steel line that it replaced. The Napa part number for this extended brake line is: 380515 and they list it as a Clutch Hose.

Here is a pic:

Regards

Alvaro