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Here's a little tale of woe re: my '40 BL-65. In the 11 months I've owned the ship the right brake has been dismal. Relined it twice, but it just hasn't been "right." The pedal has felt hard compared to the left side and when the shoes were adjusted out, the brake tended to heat and bind. If they were adjusted in, I had no brake. You can see the accumulation of dust on the gear leg in the pictures of the right brake.
A couple people at Sun 'N Fun looked over the old girl pretty well and at least one commented that the right brake wasn't right. At least one fellow said the bell crank angle was wrong. It went in one ear and out the other. Now that I have looked at it more carefully, I see the observers were right!
Here are a few pictures:
This is the left brake. It's worked fine the whole time. Note the angle of the bell crank relative to the gear leg.
This is the right brake. The parking brake is off and the cable is loose. This is the way it looked when I bought the airplane. The tab connecting the Z-link to the "wishbone" is clearly too long and looks like an owner-made part. It's squared off and interferes with the leg. Because of the geometry, the bell crank can't move much and there is maybe 1/16th to 3/32 travel on the whole mechanism before the top arm of the bell crank is being pulled straight up. It's impossible to get enough movement on the shoes to get effective braking.
Here's the "improved" tab-- much out of focus!
I was able to (have my mechanic) drill a hole closer to the "wishbone" and round off the end of the tab. Paint to follow! (I also need to paint the left backing plate, I know.) The tab still sticks out of the backing plate more than the left side, but it's so much better now!
The long and the short of it is that the right brake now works fine. Lots of pedal and lots of grab. Pure magic!
Josh
A couple people at Sun 'N Fun looked over the old girl pretty well and at least one commented that the right brake wasn't right. At least one fellow said the bell crank angle was wrong. It went in one ear and out the other. Now that I have looked at it more carefully, I see the observers were right!
Here are a few pictures:
This is the left brake. It's worked fine the whole time. Note the angle of the bell crank relative to the gear leg.
This is the right brake. The parking brake is off and the cable is loose. This is the way it looked when I bought the airplane. The tab connecting the Z-link to the "wishbone" is clearly too long and looks like an owner-made part. It's squared off and interferes with the leg. Because of the geometry, the bell crank can't move much and there is maybe 1/16th to 3/32 travel on the whole mechanism before the top arm of the bell crank is being pulled straight up. It's impossible to get enough movement on the shoes to get effective braking.
Here's the "improved" tab-- much out of focus!
I was able to (have my mechanic) drill a hole closer to the "wishbone" and round off the end of the tab. Paint to follow! (I also need to paint the left backing plate, I know.) The tab still sticks out of the backing plate more than the left side, but it's so much better now!
The long and the short of it is that the right brake now works fine. Lots of pedal and lots of grab. Pure magic!
Josh
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