Change your brake line

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

I agree and disagree. Suzuki is just being overly cautious. But do the inspections regularly with every oil change.

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="Water Warrior":228dil72]I agree and disagree. Suzuki is just being overly cautious. But do the inspections regularly with every oil change.

I didn't mean to say that it wasn't overly cautious just that maybe watching for cracks wasn't enough.[/quote:228dil72]
Gotcha. I was sort of speed reading with older eyes. Also might add to your info just for the heck of it. Pull on the brake lever to increase inside pressure and look for bumps or bubbles in the line. They may not be overly noticeable with no pressure.

[Rookie Rider]

:fu: it, im changing it. :tongue:

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

:lol: GZ rider, sometimes I actually have a sensible thought. The only reason it came to me was due to seeing a garden hose bulge out when the nozzle was shut and pressurized the hose. And as I type this memory has surfaced. Years ago I blew up a 2 foot diameter cast iron industrial pump housing by suddenly slaming a valve closed. That was exciting. Pressurized lines can do wonders to equipment of all sorts.

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

[quote="Water Warrior":3joq5hde]Years ago I blew up a 2 foot diameter cast iron industrial pump housing by suddenly slaming a valve closed.

Yikes![/quote:3joq5hde]
I should explain the situation a bit more. Imagine a 2.5 inch steel water line a quarter mile long. Water is flowing in the pipe at a pressure of 120 PSI. The pump is at the discharge end of the pipe. Suddenly close a bypass valve next to the pump and stop the water flow. The mass and weight of the water has to go somewhere. It is called a Water Hammer for a reason. Talk about a big bang theory.

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

No injury thank goodness. Luckily the pump was on the other side of a concrete divider wall when I closed the valve. No shrapnal hit me but a lot of water soaked me completely as it sprayed around.
Water hammers can cost a lot of grief sometimes. One of my co-workers did a no-no one night and fired up to really big pumps in the water distribution system. Talk about a pressure spike. He launched 38 fire hydrants into the sky. Main line breaks and a very annoyed repair crew. Last time I heard he was selling real estate.

[Gz Rider]

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[Water Warrior 2]

Boating !!! H*ll no. I have no talent that will keep me alive when the water is deeper than a bathtub. I have a fear of water after almost drowning as a kid. Can't swim and sink when trying to float in a pool. My last 25 years working as a water treatment operator was sometimes a little unnerving with open water so close and deep. Standing on a steel catwalk above 22 feet of water makes one thankful for safety railings.

[Gz Rider]

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[mrlmd1]

The brake line can fail by the rubber decomposing slowly over the years and the line gets clogged with debris, that's how it can act like a check valve - it may get pressurized by the brake lever or pedal and then not release because the line is partly clogged, and the brake drags.
If one line expands when the pressure is applied (and basically absorbs the pressure) and the other line doesn't (lets the pressure transfer to the brake cylinder) then the brakes will be applied unevenly and the car will swerve to one side. That is not acting like a check valve.

The reason for having steel braided cable wrapped brake lines is to prevent the expansion of the rubber line and more linearly transmit the brake pressure to the wheel cylinder. Brake lines do not fail very often, it's a rare thing, but changing them out every 5-10 years or so or when they look diseased is not a bad thing.

[alantf]

I remember, many years ago, that car brake lines used to be made of steel. This meannt that every couple of years they would rust through, & had to be changed. Thank goodness for copper or stainless brake pipes.

[mrlmd1]

The lines are steel except for where they have to flex, then there are rubber hoses where needed. Some of these may be covered in braid, depending on the manufacturer.

[jonathan180iq]

And braided lines = awesome brake feel ;)
If you're going to do this, go ahead and upgrade!

http://www.galferusa.com/html/

[Gz Rider]

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[jonathan180iq]

A dragging brake can cause a car to pull over a long stretch, but to have a yank on the wheel like that, or a constant vibration through the steering wheel, sounds more like a funky rotor than anything else.

Obviously, if changing lines and what not has solved your problem, then you've done something right. Although I don't really know what it could have been, given the description of the steering wheel jerk.

[mrlmd1]

One of the lines was clogged and not letting the pressure get transmitted through, or the line was soft and expanding with the pressure, so basically only one wheel had an effective brake. Either way, replacing the lines solved the problem and the hardest part of solving it was to realize the fault could be in the brake lines. This can happen to fuel lines too. On a SEADOO forum I am on every once in a while, one of the biggest problems with older jetskis is the gray plastic fuel lines that were used on the old days. They deteriorated and got clogged and/or crapped up the carbs. If you cut one open you could see all the junk in there that accumulated over the years from the gas deteriorating the lines. Change the lines to a proper fuel line = problem solved.

[Gz Rider]

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[5th_bike]

Slightly related, for the same reasons mentioned by many above, we have steel braided washer machine water hoses.

Because, the repeated water hammer from the machines' valves closing makes ordinary rubber hoses bulge, and then burst and flood the place, it's just a matter of time if you don't replace them regularly.