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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed Previous Posts
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Tuesday, March 23, 2004
DIY is for the Birds My brakes have been on the fritz the last couple of days. Sloppy brake pedal and decreased braking were the first signs. Initial inspection revealed a low master brake cylinder (MBC) rear brake reservoir. At first, I thought my MBC was going bad. I almost bought a new one. I took a closer look and noticed the brake fluid in the rear reservoir looked like mud. Bummer... water in the line. Not good. To my amazement, the front brake reservoir looked clear. I kept the MBC stocked with fresh fluid. Where was it going? There were no leaks... until two days ago. Voila! Culprit discovered! Rear passenger side brake made a puddle of mud in my garage. Must be the brake cylinder. Today, I purchased two new rear brake cylinders (might as well do both), rear brakes, and a spring kit. I got home around 5pm after a belated appointment with the barber. I did not get in until now, 10:30pm. I'm an engineer, car-buff, do-it-yourselfer, and a weekend mechanic. I have done 50 brake jobs in the last 15 years. I consider myself a veteran. I have every tool possible to deal with brakes, including the dreaded rear brake drums. And you know what? I still despise doing rear brakes! Too many damn springs and components that need to be assembled exactly like they were designed. And then there's the rear brake cylinder. It's a simple cast "tube" with two plungers and some seals. Two bolts take them off. The simplicity is ironic... a simple cylinder coupled to a menagerie of springs, shoes, clips, and other assorted crap that never goes back as easily as it was disassembled. @#&$*#@%! Anyone that has done rear brakes knows where I am leading... the damn flare nut that's connected to the brake line. That had to come off to remove the brake cylinder. Ten years of corrosion and wear was my enemy tonight, not to mention a falling sun and rising moon. I snapped the #$@#@#& steel brake line. For some reason, I knew this was going to happen. Why wouldn't it? It's happened to me on the last 49 brake jobs I have done. Why not today? I guess I was hopeful. Dealership closed... @#&$#@! So my only other option was to buy straight line and try to bend it. So I bought a bending tool (I love buying tools, even if I only use them once), and tried to copy the bends of the original line. Yeah right. The line was too long. Figures. So now there's an extra foot of line that hopefully won't get cinched between the rear axle and my Jeep's body. Oh well. Has anybody tried doing rear brakes in the dark? It's something that I wouldn't wish upon my enemies. It's not a pleasant thing. Six back-breaking hours later, my Jeep is back together and working better than ever (I don't think I put the components together correctly the last time I changed my shoes). I still need to commit some time to do the other side, just as preventive maintenance. And, I eventually want to buy the correct line and completely drain and replace the fluid. Water in the line is a terrible, terrible thing. Steel brake lines have a tendency to corrode from the inside out. Not a good thing. Lessons Learned 1) Don't attempt to even change a light bulb on a non-weekend day. Something will always break that will take 5000% longer than you originally anticipated. 2) Don't start brakes after high-noon. Absence of light is a terrible thing. 3) Make sure you put a spare vehicle BEHIND you when jacking your vehicle in the driveway. Putting everything back together just to move a vehicle out of the garage is wasted time. 4) Buy every single component that touches the system you are trying to fix. Chances are, you'll bust an adjacent component. 5) Penetrating oil, torches and molten lava will not break free a flare nut from a brake line over 12 months old. I'd like to slap the cock out of the person's mouth that designed that piss-poor serviceable part. It's not serviceable. 6) Last but not least... doctors fix humans, and mechanics fix cars. Sometimes it's best just to take your junk for experts to fix. If you're not broke, and don't take a lunch to work, spend the money and drop off your POS to an expert. There's better uses for six back-breaking hours of labor. posted by Dino at 11:21 PM (permanent link) |