Driving tip of the day..

[nathanm]

You young guys that never had to put up with drum brake fade should be thankful for modern brake systems.

Having experienced a bit of fade with ventilated disc brakes, I can only imagine. I also once wore out the synchros on a late-80s Honda. That shouldn't be possible, given that I've speed shifted the one I still have more times than I've used the clutch and it's synchros all still mostly work. (second is getting worn, but the others are fine) For a while I made it my mission to only use the clutch from a standing start. Turned out to be a very useful skill when I went out to the car one day and found the clutch fluid reservoir bone dry. Made me wish I had a cable actuated clutch instead of the hydraulic crap.

The weird part is that I never found a leak.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Having experienced a bit of fade with ventilated disc brakes, I can only imagine. I also once wore out the synchros on a late-80s Honda. That shouldn't be possible, given that I've speed shifted the one I still have more times than I've used the clutch and it's synchros all still mostly work. (second is getting worn, but the others are fine) For a while I made it my mission to only use the clutch from a standing start. Turned out to be a very useful skill when I went out to the car one day and found the clutch fluid reservoir bone dry. Made me wish I had a cable actuated clutch instead of the hydraulic crap.

The weird part is that I never found a leak.

Oil mites.  They get into the reservoir and can drain it in just a couple of hours.  They breed extremely fast and are little drinking machines.


Had a friend with 61 Rambler American that had mechanical clutch - steel rods bent and twisted around as linkage.  Just before the last link, there was a rubber coupling that cushioned everything.  It was about 1.5" wide x 3" long, about 3/8" thick.  It looked like a section of sidewall cut out of a tire (nylon belted tire), but it really was the piece that was designed for that.  It broke, so - you guessed it - took an old bias ply tire (from Bill's, I think) and cut a section out of the sidewall and fixed it.  Perfect repair.

[Red Arrow]

There is an old 54 Oldsmobile for sale on one of my traffic patterns in Broken Arrow.  Well worn, but rebuildable.  Would put a Cummins diesel and Allison tranny in it, then put some better wheels/brakes/suspension on it.  Then get an old vintage travel trailer to pull with it.  Like in the Lucille Ball movie....

Olds had the hydramatic transmissions.  The Rocket V8 was an Olds only engine as were other GM division engines until something like the 70s.  Engine and tranny may be OK for a small to medium travel trailer.  Olds brakes may have been better than Buick's but if you want to pull a trailer around, an upgrade would make sense.

[Red Arrow]

Made me wish I had a cable actuated clutch instead of the hydraulic crap.

I had a clutch cable break on my 81 Buick Skylark.  I forget how many miles but it was well over 100,000.

[Hoss]

I had a clutch cable break on my 81 Buick Skylark.  I forget how many miles but it was well over 100,000.

First manual I learned on didn't have a slave cylinder; it was a 1963 3/4 ton Chevy pickup.  At long lights there was no way I was holding that clutch in (3 speed on the column).

[AquaMan]

I've had mechanical, hydraulic and cable clutch linkages. They have all failed. My cable linked Trooper failed downshifting on the BA, my hydraulic Datsun failed slowly and gave me some warning. Even had a bus whose mechanical linkage failed and left me stranded. But the worst was my 56 Chevy. I slid on gravel on Reservoir Hill into a ditch. Went airborne coming out of the ditch, hit the ground and attempted to downshift before I hit a tree. The linkage had broken, though all I remember is the pedal flat on the floor, I swerved and commenced rolling the car about a dozen times. It was a BelAir coupe retrofitted with a Corvette 327/300 and a 3spd with overdrive and .411 rear end. The doors popped open and were promptly smashed to about 6inches in length as we turned over, and over. Nothing much usable left of the car except 4 seriously shaken souls.

Could have been the recalled Firestone 500's, the gravel or the fact that I had been driving about 70mph seconds earlier. They were dangerous cars for a lot of reasons.

[Red Arrow]

I've had mechanical, hydraulic and cable clutch linkages. They have all failed. My cable linked Trooper failed downshifting on the BA, my hydraulic Datsun failed slowly and gave me some warning. Even had a bus whose mechanical linkage failed and left me stranded. But the worst was my 56 Chevy. I slid on gravel on Reservoir Hill into a ditch. Went airborne coming out of the ditch, hit the ground and attempted to downshift before I hit a tree. The linkage had broken, though all I remember is the pedal flat on the floor, I swerved and commenced rolling the car about a dozen times. It was a BelAir coupe retrofitted with a Corvette 327/300 and a 3spd with overdrive and .411 rear end. The doors popped open and were promptly smashed to about 6inches in length as we turned over, and over. Nothing much usable left of the car except 4 seriously shaken souls.

Could have been the recalled Firestone 500's, the gravel or the fact that I had been driving about 70mph seconds earlier. They were dangerous cars for a lot of reasons.

Couldn't have been the gravel or speed.  Had to be the crappy tires.   

You were lucky that you didn't get to demonstrate the piercing effects of solid steering columns that went straight from the steering wheel to the front of the car which were so popular then.  Remember the shock films in Driver's Ed?  I started to get sick and had to leave.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I've had mechanical, hydraulic and cable clutch linkages. They have all failed. My cable linked Trooper failed downshifting on the BA, my hydraulic Datsun failed slowly and gave me some warning. Even had a bus whose mechanical linkage failed and left me stranded. But the worst was my 56 Chevy. I slid on gravel on Reservoir Hill into a ditch. Went airborne coming out of the ditch, hit the ground and attempted to downshift before I hit a tree. The linkage had broken, though all I remember is the pedal flat on the floor, I swerved and commenced rolling the car about a dozen times. It was a BelAir coupe retrofitted with a Corvette 327/300 and a 3spd with overdrive and .411 rear end. The doors popped open and were promptly smashed to about 6inches in length as we turned over, and over. Nothing much usable left of the car except 4 seriously shaken souls.

Could have been the recalled Firestone 500's, the gravel or the fact that I had been driving about 70mph seconds earlier. They were dangerous cars for a lot of reasons.

I'm betting it wasn't the tires....

[Red Arrow]

I'm betting it wasn't the tires....

Spoil sport.

[AquaMan]

Shoulda' got a lawyer!

The real problem was my 16 year old ego.