The parts called for in her mod have been made from aluminum and steel. I had to take them to a machine shop to get the new "HR" parts heliarc welded onto the orginal brake pedals. While I was there, I had the machinist cut some of the aluminum for me. I fashioned the spacers myself out of .040 2024 T3 Aluminum. The brake pedals were taken out and cleaned for the steel parts to be welded on. It was very difficult to remove the pedals and put them back in, it took a few hours.
The right brake is installed! Its pretty neat to see how these work. I won't be able to actually test them for a little bit, but I tested the movement and the solidness of the build. Many thanks to Deb Iwatate for a great design! Incidentally, I got the brakes (Cleveland 10-35s) from Canard.com classifieds. The price was right, less than 1/2 the price of new ones (and these were never used), and the aluminum parts plus paying a machine shop to cut and weld was only about $50.
Installing the brass inserts into the nylaflow tubing and then into the 269P brass fitting was a real pain. After several tries, and a bloody knuckle (and a few choice words), I called my brother Mike, the A&P. He told me to heat the tip of the tubing and cool the insert (yer basic expansion and compression). It worked, but I also flared the end of the nylaflow tubing slightly with a nail before jamming the insert in. No bloody knuckles this time. I then tightened the insert (a compression fitting, really) onto the 269P brass elbow. There is still a little play between the tubing and where it meets the fitting, which means I need to push the inserts in a wee bit further, or crank the nut on the fitting down some more.Switched from nyloflow to nyloseal, a much more durable tubing, and a lot easier to work with. No longer is the brass insert required, the nyloseal plugs right into the brass fitting. The brakes turned out nicely. It's crowded up front where the cylinders are. Careful positioning and floxing of the brake tubing is required to assure that my feet wont ever accidentally disturb the brake line. In the picture above, you can also see that the axle bolts are brand new, and that the rotors have been cleaned.
According to Rutan, Nyloseal needs to be replaced yearly, so, I made a conduit out of drinking straws,to enable me to slip the brake lines in and out. I initially made this conduit only for the gear legs, but then extended it up front to the cylinders themselves. (I suppose I could have just used a larger diameter tubing as a conduit....) The brake lines will go in the tubing, and I floxed the conduit near the brake pedals. That way, if my feet rest on them, they wont crush the brake lines.
Drinking straws: Not the best idea for an aircraft. Replaced them with 3/8 OD nylon tubing that is attached to the airframe wall by cushioned clamps that are held in place by regular drywall screws that are floxed into the fuselage. You can barely see them in this photo: Follow the brake line out of the brass elbow below the cylinder, and you can see it.I also began taking the brake pads, rotors and drums apart for some badly needed inspection and cleaning (and possibly replacement). There is some corrosion there, but the mechanic I took the rotors to assured me they could be cleaned nicely with some emory cloth and some WD-40.
Rotors have been cleaned and replaced, the wheel bearings have been regreased and repacked, and the wheel axle bolts have been replaced. All thats needed now for the brakes to be complete is some brake fluid!
Tested it w/fluid... Lots of mess and finally limited success. Brake puck stuck, probably because the brake cylinders have been sitting for years. Cleaned them out and tried again. Success
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