Nate,
I thought you knew me better than that! I was not sure if you wanted the
world to know how screwed up your brakes acted for me, I think (looking
back on it all now) that this is one of those stories that make the hair on
the back of your head stand up!
Here goes:
Remember when Nelson, my wife & I drove Nates coach to FC to deliver it,
there was an incident that one was told to people first person. At the
time it was no joke but level heads and the "no fear" mind set made things
come out OK.
After nursing Nates new motor a few hundred miles Nelson & I felt like we
could trust it to get us there we looked for a few creature comforts. The
cruise control didn't work so I thought I would trouble shoot it on the fly.
I found that the brake was not closing off the dump switch located on the
brake pedal so while Nelson was driving, I pulled up on the brake and got
the cruise to engage, woopee!
SOP was to pull up with your foot on the brake pedal and push the cruise on.
This worked fine for 3-400 miles. Nelson was driving and said when he
pulled up on the pedal it felt weird but thought nothing about it. He went
to pull into a rest area to swap drivers. He hit the exit ramp and reached
for the brake and yes, there was none.
The pedal went to the floor & stayed there! We whipped the coach back out
into traffic and asked my wife to wake me because there were no brakes. I
unconsciously somehow heard "no brakes" and shot up out of a sound sleep.
I looked at Nelson and said, "whats happening". He calmly said the brakes
are gone and continued driving down the road.
Nelson is one of those guys that would go to the store for marsh mellows if
the air raid sirens went off and nuclear winter was about to become
reality, very cool!
I felt like data on Star Trek trying to race thoughts of what could be the
problem and how could I fix it on the fly so we could stop this runaway train!
The pedal had no life at all laying there on the floor board so I grabbed
it and tried to pump life into its cold body. No resistance or anything!!
I figured I would start at the top so I starting removing the power level
control panel to access the plunger going into the vacuum booster.
Remember now that Nate has one of those power master boosters. The cotter
pin was still in the arm but the arm was pulled out of the master cylinder
and was hanging straight down.
I looked up and peered out through the windshield to see sparse traffic and
asked Nelson how it was going. He looked down at me with a smile and said
he was fine and asked me how I was doing! A very cool man under pressure!
The rod was very rusty and had threads on it. I thought this rod was
pressed into the master and had no threads and in no way could come out
like this! I pulled up on the brake pedal and repositioned the rod into
the back of the brake master. It went back into place and I felt it bottom
out in its socket.
I pushed down on the pedal with my hand and the brakes worked!! Crisis was
averted, I told Nelson to not pull up on the brakes, he looked at me and
said "duh" with his eyes.
We pulled off at the next fuel station and I bent the brake switch stop
down to where the pedal would not come up that high. Needless to say I
will not be pulling up on brake pedals without thinking any more!
I guess you would have to be there to get the full impact of rocketing down
a runway with no parachute but take it from me it was a most unusual
experience.
Jim Bounds
- ----------------------------
I thought you knew me better than that! I was not sure if you wanted the
world to know how screwed up your brakes acted for me, I think (looking
back on it all now) that this is one of those stories that make the hair on
the back of your head stand up!
Here goes:
Remember when Nelson, my wife & I drove Nates coach to FC to deliver it,
there was an incident that one was told to people first person. At the
time it was no joke but level heads and the "no fear" mind set made things
come out OK.
After nursing Nates new motor a few hundred miles Nelson & I felt like we
could trust it to get us there we looked for a few creature comforts. The
cruise control didn't work so I thought I would trouble shoot it on the fly.
I found that the brake was not closing off the dump switch located on the
brake pedal so while Nelson was driving, I pulled up on the brake and got
the cruise to engage, woopee!
SOP was to pull up with your foot on the brake pedal and push the cruise on.
This worked fine for 3-400 miles. Nelson was driving and said when he
pulled up on the pedal it felt weird but thought nothing about it. He went
to pull into a rest area to swap drivers. He hit the exit ramp and reached
for the brake and yes, there was none.
The pedal went to the floor & stayed there! We whipped the coach back out
into traffic and asked my wife to wake me because there were no brakes. I
unconsciously somehow heard "no brakes" and shot up out of a sound sleep.
I looked at Nelson and said, "whats happening". He calmly said the brakes
are gone and continued driving down the road.
Nelson is one of those guys that would go to the store for marsh mellows if
the air raid sirens went off and nuclear winter was about to become
reality, very cool!
I felt like data on Star Trek trying to race thoughts of what could be the
problem and how could I fix it on the fly so we could stop this runaway train!
The pedal had no life at all laying there on the floor board so I grabbed
it and tried to pump life into its cold body. No resistance or anything!!
I figured I would start at the top so I starting removing the power level
control panel to access the plunger going into the vacuum booster.
Remember now that Nate has one of those power master boosters. The cotter
pin was still in the arm but the arm was pulled out of the master cylinder
and was hanging straight down.
I looked up and peered out through the windshield to see sparse traffic and
asked Nelson how it was going. He looked down at me with a smile and said
he was fine and asked me how I was doing! A very cool man under pressure!
The rod was very rusty and had threads on it. I thought this rod was
pressed into the master and had no threads and in no way could come out
like this! I pulled up on the brake pedal and repositioned the rod into
the back of the brake master. It went back into place and I felt it bottom
out in its socket.
I pushed down on the pedal with my hand and the brakes worked!! Crisis was
averted, I told Nelson to not pull up on the brakes, he looked at me and
said "duh" with his eyes.
We pulled off at the next fuel station and I bent the brake switch stop
down to where the pedal would not come up that high. Needless to say I
will not be pulling up on brake pedals without thinking any more!
I guess you would have to be there to get the full impact of rocketing down
a runway with no parachute but take it from me it was a most unusual
experience.
Jim Bounds
- ----------------------------
