Heat wave in Phoenix taught me a hard lesson about crane brakes

I was working a job near the Camelback area last August and my crawler crane's brakes started fading bad in the afternoon heat. Turns out the DOT 3 fluid I was using boils way too easy in those temps. Switched to DOT 5.1 and the problem went away. Any of you guys running into brake fade with summer jobs?

2 comments

2 Comments

sethb458d agoMost Upvoted

Did you ever mess with DOT 5 silicone fluid too? I used to think all brake fluids were basically the same until I had a close call on a hot parking garage job last year. Changed my mind real quick.

nina_butler8d ago

Man, you're singing my song! I had the exact same problem on a job in Vegas last July with my service truck's hydraulic brakes. Swapping to DOT 5.1 fluid made a world of difference for me too, night and day on those long hot days.