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Almost lost a load last Tuesday because I skimped on a $80 brake line test kit.
The guy I share the bay with caught a tiny pinhole leak during a pre-trip check on that old Freightliner, and I watched the whole drip pattern match what a buddy of mine ignored three years ago when his air brakes locked up near Nashville, has anyone else seen these new composite lines fail way sooner than the old steel ones?
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sandra_black1mo ago
Hope that cheap test kit saved you a trip to the ditch because Nashville brake failures have a way of making news you don't want to be in. Those new composite lines are basically plastic straws waiting to pop at the worst possible moment. You'd think saving 80 bucks would be worth the gamble until you're doing a 60 mph panic stop with a load of gravel.
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robinwalker27d ago
Sandra's right about composites being the new weak link, but it's the same deal as those cheap extension cords everyone buys at the dollar store. You plug in a space heater, the cord gets warm, and you think it's fine until the plastic melts one night. We've gotten so used to saving a few bucks on the little stuff that we forget the whole system depends on that one cheap part holding up. My old man always said buy the good hose clamps and the rest takes care of itself, but nobody wants to hear that when the price tag is right there in front of them.
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