Brakeline - Quick Fix

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Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 00:16:55 -0700
From: Frank Di Giovanni 
Subject: Quick fix tip
To: Toyota 4X4 Mailing List 

This weekend I went 4x4ing in the remote part of northern B.C. , Canada. I
went exploring for new lakes to fish and got into some real rough narrow
trails. We finally found this lake we were searching for with forestry
maps, after about 3 hours. I stopped the truck and noticed the pedal was
kind of spongy, then the light came on. I got out to look under the truck,
to see if a branch or rock hit my rear parking brake cable. Then I looked
at the backing plate to see if it had any oil from the brake fluid, I
looked at the forward wheels and saw a lot of brake fluid on the right side
where the proportioning valve is. Seem where the line comes into the
proportioning valve, they have a coiled up section before entering the
valve. Well on the inspection the coils were rubbing together, probably for
a long time, because they wore a pin hole in the tubing.
 Being 30 miles from the nearest road and being the long weekend(up here in
Canada) I had to resort to a field fix. I used duct tape(a.k.a. 100 mph
tape) and a small worm gear clamp. When I got back to town, I bought J B
Weld, a 2 part compound that hardens to cement. First I made sure it was
totally dry with no oil seeping from the line, then I applied the mixed
compound and let it sit for 4-6 hours, to get it reasonably hard. That did
not work because the oil made the mixture softer til it got runny, and
dripped off. I wiped it off and then added a small piece of duct tape to
seal the pin hole then added more J B Weld, the next day it was hard as a
rock. I limped back home 250 miles with minimum brake pedal usage, it is ok
for light braking but WILL NOT withstand hard braking. To make a long story
short, I will be visiting my toyota dealer tomorrow, how it will not cost
me my left arm, because that's my casting arm :-)

P.S. Any buddy have any field fix they want to share?

 Frank Di Giovanni                              

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