Brake line liability

Twill hold the pressure, sure.........but

Its not DOT compliant.

Flexabilty can be the main downfall with anything steel braided on a air brake hose. No flex. With age the hose fails due to repeated bending.

Will you go to jail, probably not. But if your employer is a professional he should know better.

 

Stratoflex is usually referring to Parker 213 series hose. It is certified DOT FMVSS 106 air brake hose. Reason not used as much any more is price. Here is a link https://ph.parker.com/us/en/transportation-sae-j1402-ai-hose-213

 

Is it Gates C5C,C5D,or C5E?
Aeroquip/Stratoflex and weatherbead devoloped it in the 30’s for aircraft and it became availiable to public after WW2. That hose was the industry standard from the 1940’s thru the early’80’s for everything on the older trucks. Used for air and all the liquids. Gates makes the exact aeroquip replacement sizes and hose ends. Parker has there own spec that has a hard time interchanging with the older weatherhead fittings.

 

From the Gates book. Meets and exceeds all Dot/FMVSS criteria. All perfectly acceptable and legal.

 

The stratoflex type steel braid hose was used on steer axle brakes and the hoses to the cans on the rears for 40 years before the manufacturers started to cheap out with the nylon and non steel cord rubber hose. So bending and flexing is not a problem. We kept having problems with the rubber hoses on the steer brakes kinking and breaking at hoseends on our ‘99 and ‘03 FL’s. So what did Frieghtliner do? They replaced them with stratoflex hose under warranty. Never had another problem. Everytime after that whenever we would take it back in to them for leaks or bad nylon hoses that get brittle in our heat and humidity they'd replace with stratoflex. Proving that the “ancient” technology is still superior for longitivtiy.

 

I’ve always used them on my Classics steer axle. Sometimes lasting only one year, sometimes 4-5 yrs. I can only guess that the age of the hose prior, makes the difference. What I’ve done, is make them up a little longer, maybe 3”, and cut out the inner fender well, so they don’t rub. Keeps the flex off the ends. Works much better.