In a message dated 2/15/03 8:01:31 AM Pacific Standard Time, BillDentin
writes:
<<I agree with you! I, too, am not convinced it is safer. I had the brakes
fail on a 1980s Chevrolet 3/4 Ton Van, and it had a dual brake system. I had
no brakes. My salvation was STANDING on the emergency brake pedal. >>
In a message dated 2/15/2003 6:27:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
WEmery7451@aol.com writes:
> ... I lost all
> brake with two different tow vehicles due to metal lines rusting through
> and
> failing. While using a 1971 Chrysler Newport, I towed home from the Penn
> Ohio Truck Stop to Pittsburgh after crimping shut the right rear wheel
> brake
> line to correct a leak.
Reminds me of last spring. Saturday noontime, in the mid-central part of
Pennsylvania (ironically, near Mechanicsburg, as I recall), I blew out a
rusted metal rear brake line on my Explorer, with my clunky old trailer and a
Standard Pennant saloon in tow.
Not only was it difficult to find a mechanic in Mechanicsburg, apparently
none of them actually works on a Saturday afternoon. Sigh....
I gave up searching after about an hour, stocked up with several bottles of
STP's finest brake fluid, and managed to make it the last six hours home on
front brakes alone...planning my stops and slowdowns WELL AHEAD OF TIME.
Dual circuit brakes do seem to have their place, but I would have to say it
wasn't outrageously better having only one of the two circuits than having
nothing at all.
Oh, the "emergency" brake on the Explorer never was worth much of anything as
far as I was concerned....
--Andy Mace
"There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and
those who don't."
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