Bush Mechanics

Evening All,

You touch the brakes and the pedal goes to the floor. After the initial shock you get your vehicle to stop and inspect what has gone wrong. You find you have snagged a brake line and it has been ripped off or a wheel cylinder has karked it.

First you have to isolate the problem area. In older vehicles with metal brake lines you can fold the line over many times to stop the fluid from escaping. On flexible pipes, fold and clamp with multigrips or whatever and tie to the chassis or somewhere with a plastic tie (always carry a handful of heavy duty plastic ties with you). Or you can use your own piece of wire or from a fence nearby.

The brake system will operate with almost any fluid. Water, milk, urine, wine. With regards to the latter, Chateaux Cardboard will do, but draw the line at Cabernet or Pinotage and don't use sparkling wine as it will cause a bleeding problem.

The other solution is to adjust the hand brake and proceed very slowly using it in conjunction with your gears.