IRONMAN76

Irish_alley I wrote that wrong the truck pulls hard to the left when braking. Oilcanhenry got me flustered. After I replaced the front pads, calipers and rotors, we bled the brakes. We had no fluid at right caliper at brake hose. I had no fluid at brake hose where it coupled with brake line. I have fluid at master cylinder, proportioning valve has four lines coming out of it. The line going to the right front has no fluid. The valve is discontinued through the dealer and the aftermarket price is expensive. All I am hoping for is someone who may have ran into this problem before and am assuming it is stuck and maybe there is a way to free it up. I'm not a professional driver, I do not drive a rig, I know how to drive and know how to brake. I'm not going to kill anyone. I just want to drive my truck again.

oilcanhenry

I understand that you are not a professional driver, but as one myself, I gave you some very good advice to keep you from harming yourself, or other people. I know that you are not intending to harm anyone, but if you continue to drive with a vehicle in this condition it could happen. If you were to slam on the brakes, your vehicle will not drive straight with a front brake non-operational. As a professional driver I have seen MANY lethal vehicle deaths that did not need to happen, had the driver(s) been paying attention to the road, I never said or intended to imply you were a poor driver, but you yourself admitted that you wished to bypass the ABS system, which would cost you $350 USD to repair, when it would cost MUCH more in attorneys/legal fees and a possible civil law-suit if anyone was harmed in bypassing the braking system and someone was harmed.

I am an "old-school" driver, so like we all were and are, we don't _NOT_ stop to help someone out that has been in some sort of accident. That means looking at mangled up bodies all too often, unfortunately, before the paramedics and the highway patrol arrive on scene. In point of fact I have seen the Bridgestone tires on a Ford Explorer explode in front of me in a 65 MPH zone, but thankfully in that case the two occupants did not die, but were beat-up real good. Since I had given lots of clearance between them, I was not involved in harming them, as other non-pro drivers would have done, being way too close (tailgating them) and it makes me sick to my stomach see the new breed of truck drivers do this kind of thing. With light vehicle drivers, it happens everyday, no matter what I happen to be driving, but at least in a rig I have a trailer to give me some protection, unlike my car or pickup truck. Tailgating is a very harmful, and often at high speeds, a very deadly risk, likely as bad as impaired driving, IMO.

In my profession, hauling HAZMAT materials quite often, we are extremely well-trained in safety precautions. IMO, every driver, car or truck, should have to see some of the highway patrol photographs of deadly driving, and what a human being looks like having died an awful, and all too often very ugly death, or suffer from major life-long injuries. It is not a pretty sight at all, I can assure you of that. I don't believe this is "off-topic" since the vehicles we repair can and will be driven, safely or otherwise.

oilcanhenry

You and me both. And Shark is correct about the inner portion of the brake line disturbing the flow of brake fluid to a particular brake. I am not one for more laws, but in the case of brakes, I know full well that many people have no idea about brake wear and that they are running on lousy brakes. I would support a law that brakes are checked by professional mechanics every few years, and some states do just that. Betcha Tech2 may have seen brakes way past their replacement time to replace them and the rotors or brake drums.

As a truck driver, I have to adjust my own air-brakes, which involves crawling under the rig or trailer with a 13mm or 1/2 inch wrench, pushing in on the locking lug, and tightening them all the way down, then backing them off a quarter of the way back. Yes, many trucks and trailers these days have self-adjusting brakes, but they often get clogged up with grime, dust, ect and still need to be checked, as well as checking the hub seals for gear oil leaks onto the brake shoes, which is quite common on older equipment.

Some outfits are slowly using disk brakes, at least on the tractor, but they are still few and far between. By DOT law the driver is totally responsible for making sure the brakes are safe to drive, and the fines if they are not can be quite high. We are often given vehicle inspections at weight stations, as well as visits by the highway patrol DOT division to a trucking facility. They can literally shut down the whole operation if too many vehicles are out of specifications. You have no civilian Rights, like the 4th Amendment with a CDL in the USA while driving, or responsible for a rig, assigned or not. All transportation companies have annual or bi-annual DOT inspections too.