K Charles wrote:
When a line "blows" only half the brakes quit with a duel master cylinder and your trailer brakes will stop the trailer. Thanks to Ralph Nater your family wasn't in danger unless you were going to fast.
Not exactly true and I KNOW this from personal experience.
The steel crossover line on my RV ruptured at the fitting due to corrosion. It ruptured right t the point the tube exits the fitting.
At first the pedal became mushy and eventually I lost ALL braking and had to use the parking brake to stop.
All the fluid drained out of the master cylinder before I got her back to the garage.
As you mentioned I THOUGHT that the system isolated front and rear so that if this happened then at least would have front brakes and some stopping power but this is not what happened in my case. The chassis is a 2003 Ford E-450.
I went to Advance Auto and got one of those newfangled pre-made flexible steel lines that you can bend without a tubing bender. I also had to replace the rubber hose that runs from the metal line to the rear caliper as the OEM was molded on to the line.
Brakes work perfectly now and I performed a thorough inspection to the rest of the lines for further defects.
My Dakota ruptured the line that runs from front to rear. Same thing... corrosion from water, road salt, etc trapped between the frame rail and the fuel tank where the line passes.
Similar situation but fortunately it was still in the driveway when it let loose and once again no braking power at all and had to use the parking brake once again.
This time I had to buy a coil of the tubing and flare on the fittings myself as they did not have a pre-made section long enough to reach all the way from the front to the rear.
I really like the bendable tubing. Makes the job a LOT easier, especially when connecting the fittings as it gives and allows hand bending to align the fittings properly.
