pantyraider

alejo

yup - much better:

Clark

It looks like the rumble strip is smoother, but the angle and transition to the surface beyond looks much more abrupt.

When I was taking the line in the previous picture, I swear it was not violent at all.

Clark

Hey all, a little more light being shed on the failed brake line. I've been trading PM's with SR71BB, and through the discussion it came to my frontal lobe that I just installed KW coil-overs in July. When I disconnected the shock top, I let the suspension droop and did not do anything to limit that suspension travel, letting it droop until .. well something stopped it.

I don't recall there being obvious tension or strain on the brake line, but SR71BB says that this definitely strained the brake line and I should have done something, like a hook or zip tie, to limit the suspension travel.

I followed the very fine DIY guide by gfacter but I don't think this is mentioned in that particular write-up.

What's everyone's thoughts on this?

mikegarrison

Yes, and no. Yes they source the parts out, although they write specs that the vendors have to meet. It ends up being a co-operative design/build process.

I don't think the OEM vendors for rubber brake hoses are in the low volume SS brake hose aftermarket business. It wouldn't be profitable for them.

mikegarrison

I just did the same thing, and I was very conscious of not loading the brake line. It's possible that you did so if you weren't careful.

You would have to have somebody familiar with metal fatigue look at the part that broke in order to get a really good diagnosis.

mikegarrison

The one time I was in Laguna the dirt was washed away from the inside of the corkscrew. If you had dropped wheels over the edge of the strip you would have probably high-centered the car!

I don't know if they changed it or not for the bikes, but the way it used to be was pretty nice -- if you just nibbled the curbs a little bit then things were fine, but the farther you went into them the more they started pounding the hell out of your suspension. It was more progressive than many curbs are.

Still better than no curbs, though. My local tracks have very little curbing and people tend to crash when they drop wheels off and don't know how to handle it.

Clark

Mike,

There is no metal fatigue to examine, it was the rubber hose that broke.

mikegarrison

Oh!

Is the material deteriorated in any way (rotten)? If so, there was probably some chemical contamination.

Otherwise I think you just sliced it on something sharp. Could have been debris on the track. Might have been while you were working on it, and then it eventually failed when it was hot and at very high pressure.

Is the rubber reinforced with metal or fiber? Can you tell if they were cut? I suppose it is possible that fatigue could break the reinforcing fibers (assuming there are some), then the rubber could have failed. Rubber itself does not fatigue, but it does heat cycle and age through oxidation and UV exposure.

And if it was sliced by something sharp, then yes, I suppose SS lines might have had some protection to offer. What I said before was assuming it was the fitting that snapped, not the line itself.

FormulaRedline

I thought this thread was about roll bars

Maybe we should make a new discussion for brake lines? Or a general Clark rolling thread?