Pro tip: always check your brake lines before a long mountain drive

I drove up to Estes Park last Saturday with my family, heading into Rocky Mountain National Park. About halfway up Trail Ridge Road, my brake pedal went soft and I lost almost all stopping power on a steep downhill curve. I managed to engine brake and coast into a pullout, shaking like a leaf. Turns out a small leak in the rear brake line had been dripping for weeks and I just never looked underneath. My neighbor who works on old farm trucks told me he always runs his fingers along the rubber lines before any trip over 100 miles. Now I do the same every oil change. Has anyone else had a brake failure out of nowhere, or do you have a quick check you swear by?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jana1mo ago

shaking like a leaf" yeah i know that feeling all too well. happened to me in my old jeep going down a fire road in the desert, pedal went to the floor and i had to throw it into 4 low and use the parking brake to slow down. now i do the same thing your neighbor does, i grab each rubber brake line and flex it while looking for cracks or wet spots, takes like 2 minutes and saves your butt. also started bleeding my brakes once a year just to be safe, cheap insurance.

cole_baker1mo ago

dude that jeep story is sketchy. glad you got it stopped. my thing was a brake hose that looked totally fine from the outside but had collapsed inside, pedal went soft on me pulling up to a stop sign in the rain. after that i started doing exactly what you said, checking those rubber lines every few months. also switched to using a pressure bleeder instead of the old two person method, makes it way easier to do a good flush without air bubbles. best $50 i ever spent.

robins831mo ago

Stop acting like checking brake lines is some magic solution to brake failure. Most failures come from the master cylinder or a seized caliper, not a leaky line you can spot with your fingers. You're better off just stomping the pedal hard once a week to see if it feels spongy instead of crawling under your truck like a nervous wreck.