Chev. C30 Update, Brake Failure & More (long)

[Carter]

Last week I decided since the weather had been so nice and spring gardening time was near that it was time to get a truck load of compost material which is sold at our local county operated mulch and compost facility. The little dump truck had been operating well and gave no thought to having problems so off I went. The drive to the county yard was without incident and after paying the $10 fee and having a huge rubber tire loaded fill the bed the load was covered all was ready for the return trip. Leaving the yard all went well until at the bottom of the slight grade leading to the highway and a stop sign the break pedal went to the floor No Brakes! Shifting quickly into second and using the emergency break it stopped just before entering the highway. Sitting there for a while the thoughts that ran through my mind were that I had recently done a complete rebuild of the entire system including a new dual circuit master cyl, new front calipers, pads, rubber flex lines and steel supply lines. At the rear new shoes, wheel cyls. and like the front, new steel lines were also installed. How to get this thing home was now in my mind and decided I'll drive the damn thing slowly, but drive it will be.
The county roads in the area see little traffic and if I go only a couple of MPH it may take all day but we will me home and not stuck on the read side. The few stop signs were no problem as they were anticipated and combined with the low speed, gearing down and emergency break use I was able to halt. Things seemed to be going well enough until on a long stretch of hilly readway I heard a loud HISSSSSS sound, startled at first I did not understand how no brakes could lead to this. Luckly I was near a local church which sits by it's self in the rural countryside. Into the parking lot we limped. Investigating found one of the six new tires installed only 85 miles ago was flat and a portion if the tubeless tires bead was blown off the rim and sticking out between the rim and the rest of the tire at the rear of the truck. Now what do I do? No brakes, flat tire, had a cell phone but who do I call? Just when I thought it was time to walk the remaining 6 miles home a kindly lady working at the church came out and ask if I needed help and after being informed of my troubles volunteered a ride. I gave her a $20 church donation and home I went. I loaded all necessary tools to change the dead tire for a spare and drove back in my car to make the swap.The chore was completed and the now seemingly cursed truck was ready to continue it's breakless journey.
I now had two vehicles at the church and decided to return home in the car and awate my wife. Once my wife was home from work she drove me there and slowly we crawled home with no more trouble than driving a breakless loaded truck presents
Once home I discovered the Master cyl had complerely failed in both circuits, a Autozone free replacement was installed, the tire was replaced by the dealer and today with help of a neighbor we bled the breaks so the old truck is back on the road....for now.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/580847598nvKoov?start=0

[Monkey Man]

I'm just glad your reflexes and thoughts were in clarity and you stopped before the highway, no more Carter would be No Good!! A dual circuit M/C failing, and then a tyre, that day sucked for sure, I have had similar but not as bad, 2 fan belt faliures in one day (my spare was a crappy one) and bogged to the belly for about 2 hours (I am sure the ground looked more solid than it was ) but I was never at any danger of becoming highway fodder.

Best Regards - MM

[Carter]

Yeah Tony it was an adventure as I am sure yours was also, and no more Carter would not be a good thing since Sandy has had about all of that kind of stuff she can handle.

[powerwagontim]

Hi Carter,
An adventure for sure! Glad it all worked out in the end.
Tim

[T. Highway]

Carter,

Glad to hear that you stayed calm enough to think clearly and react swiftly. Glad you are still here to tell us about it.

On the lighter side of things, will you have to repair the upholstery on the drivers side of the seat after the pucker factor?

Bert

[Carter]

Tim, it was a thrilling day's adventure to be sure and after it was all over and life had settled down Sandy told me to go buy a new truck and stop driving "that wreck"...I did that last Friday but will not just toss away all the $$$ and time that I have put into the C30.

Well Bert, after all that I changed my shorts and fixed the seat.

Also Guys, I see I see I spelled brake "break" well the brakes did break, guess I got caught up in telling the story and was not thinking about spelling.

[powerwagontim]

Hi Carter,
I know for a fact that Joan has NEVER told me to go buy a new truck! Maybe I need to sabotage my brakes and tires a bit!
What did you buy?
Tim

[m-37Bruce]

Nerves of STEEL! New truck, what new truck?

[Carter]

Hi Carter,
I know for a fact that Joan has NEVER told me to go buy a new truck! Maybe I need to sabotage my brakes and tires a bit!
What did you buy?
Tim

Tim, that was the only time for me, think I scared her when I told the story of what all happened so we decided on a 2012 Silverado short bed 4x4 in LS trim and silver to match her silver Equinox. I would have been happy with a W/T but she wanter something fancier. Pix later when the sun is up.

[Carter]

Nerves of STEEL! New truck, what new truck?

Well old buddy, as they say on the boobtube "Tune in later and Film at eleven."

[SOTVEN]

WOW! SCARY EXPERIENCE, BUT WITH A HAPPY ENDING REGARDING GETTING A NEW TRUCK, AS FAR AS I UNDERSTOOD FROM YOUR STORY, IT WAS THE "NEW PARTS" THAT FAILED. THE NEW MC AND THE NEW TIRE, NOTHING OLD. I THINK I WOULD STICK WITH THE OLD WRECK

[HingsingM37]

Carter, What an adeventure! I am certainaly glad you did not end up in a real mess when those brakes went. That could have got ugly real quick. That tire gave you the double whammy . Sounds like all turned out well in the end thank goodness.
Eager to hear about the new wheels

[Carter]

Sotven, you are correct the MC and tire were new. Don't know why the MC failed but the tire was damaged in the bead area by the installer so the shop replaced it no charge.

David, I think the only reason things didn't get ugly is because I usually test the brakes before needing them which allowed enough time to get the old thing stopped before running thru the stop sign onto the road and possibly into another vehicle.

I know driving home with no brakes was a terrible idea from a safety view point however driving as slowly as I did allowed me to bring it to a stop using lower gears and the emergency brake after creeping up to the sign slower than a normal walking pace.

The new one:

[Cal_Gary]

Glad you are safe, Carter. As you know, I got a little practice in recently with my emergency brake, too, just to get the feel of how to operate it in a pinch. Glad you kept your wits and got it stopped ok!
Gary

[Carter]

Gary; I was thinking about your trips to work with your M and its brakes when I was driving home in the C30. I'm glad we both had no other problems to cope with. The emergency brake on the Chev is more robust than on my M and with the load I was carying glad it was.