Brake Lines and Cribbage Pegs.

[samwise68]

So, I haven't done much to my truck as of late. Aside from fill the gas tank, and check the fluids, she's been good to me.

Well, today after class let out, I drove from the college to a coffee shop where I hang out and such. Play music, read, talk, whatever. Regardless. Left the coffee shop, and was going to go back to school, and lo and behold, no brake pedal.

None at all.

I had always had squishy brakes, but this scared me.

After taking a few side streets, and weaseling my way through a few stop signs by loading the clutch, and turning off the ignition to stop, I finally made it to a gas station, and called my mom, who had just gotten off of work. Asked her to pick me up some brake fluid, and bring it to me.

Ended up being that the brake hose broke. Yeah, just, detached from the plate that it goes through to the brake line. So, stepped on the brakes, and all the brake fluid in the front reservoir just gushed out. The proportioning valve...appears to be stuck open. So, thats not exactley assisting in the manner.

I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to make it through town, which includes 3 sets of stop lights on the route I have to take, and get home, 12 miles away? Taping the hose back together isn't exactley an option. And I had limited tools. But, oh, look. My trusty cribbage board. (Yes, I carry a cribbage board and a deck of cards with me at all times.) And, what do ya know, a cribbage peg fits right into the protrouding end of the brake hose/line.

So, filled the master again, and the leaking was slowed substantially. Enough that I could make it home.

So, I now get to fix that little issue. Couldn't come at a worse possible time, but hey. Whatcha gonna do.

Just thought I'd share my fun little adventure with you all.

-Sam.

[BLACK AND BLUE 67-72]

Reminds me of the time me and my ex girlfriend were going to school in my 67 GMC and came up to a stop sign pressed the brake pedal, had good brakes then pow, the pedal went to the floor smoke started rolling out from under the hood!!!! My brake line for the front had rubbed a hole in it on the frame and sprayed brake fluid on the exhaust manifold causing the smoke, I limped it to school and back home with rear brakes only!!!! That sucked!!

[tcb-1]

Sam aka McGyver.

don't ask me about blowing down the carb barrel of a 68 VW........ that's another story.

sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get home. but a cribbage peg? now that's ingenuity at it's finest!!!!!!!

[cdyblu]

Leave it to a fellow Hodag to come up with a solution like that.

[samwise68]

Haha, ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Black and Blue - that had to of been a helluva stink. Not to mention a smoke screen. haha. Betcha she was real pleased about it.

tcb - it was just...there. haha. I had nothing else to use, and after scanning the truck, it was like, "zoinks! got it!"

cdyblu - way to represent! Not many people throw out the name of our beloved mascot, especially when it comes to the few boards that I frequent. Thanks for that.

[cdyblu]

Sam, I was born and raised on the west side of Rhinelander

[67_C-30]

That's even better than pantyhose fan belts!

I thought what the h--- is a Hodag??? Thank goodness for wikipedia!

[Ackattack]

Ah college......I remember when i was replacing some u-bolts on the rear leaf springs for whatever reason, I had already cut off the old ones, and the new ones were too long. I had to go to work later that day. So I made a spacer out of wood and drove it like that for a few days until I could get the right sized u-bolts.

Also, my buddy blew out a brake line on the highway slamming on the brakes to avoid the idiot who cut in front of him. He ended up using a pair of vice grips to hold the line closed and drove it on home. He said it pulled to the one side pretty bad, but he was able to make it home.

[samwise68]

Cdyblu - Wow, over by the papermill, West school, Boom lake..ish? I live in Woodboro, technically. haha.

67 - Haha. Great little story isn't it? Yeah...our mascot is based on a hoax. Gotta love it.

Ack - College is an interesting time, thats for sure. I'm lucky I don't have class again until tuesday, but I have some work to do to get 'er back on the road. It should all work out. If worse comes to worse, I just have to buy a new brake hose, which is around $17. And I have quite a few aluminum cans that I can cash in for that, . hahah.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by samwise68

67 - Haha. Great little story isn't it? Yeah...our mascot is based on a hoax. Gotta love it.

.

It is very cool. My great-grandmother use to spin yarns about a Sawdust Monster. It was supposedly a yeti/bigfoot type creature that lived in the huge sawdust piles of an old sawmill. She (and several other people that were alive back then) swore she saw it when she was a little girl which would have had to been in the late teens - early 1920's. No one was supposed to have been hurt or killed, but there was supposedly piles of dog bones found around the mill. Crazy story I know, but she told it until the day she died.