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Parking Brake...

comfortcat

Well Known Member
OK!

Time for installing a parking brake.

Is Matco still the best choice? I'd like the dual valve. BTW: I'm going with the Bonoco brake lines if that makes a difference.


I see they have a straight value and a 90 degree valve.

Option? I have not bought the valve yet so I have options.

advTHANKSance

Dkb
 
I think I got this one from Van's. I mounted it above where the normal lines would be on the firewall. This keeps it away from the rudder/brake pedals.

1179607295_HM95Y-M.jpg


Used a scrap of the hat section for the tipup canopy release as a mounting bracket. This way I could stick some nutplates behind it and not have the bolts poke through the firewall. The plate on the side acts as a position limiter for the control arm and holds the control cable.

1206906821_9cFKa-M.jpg


I used Bonaco lines. The ones coming up from the brake cylinders are shorter than normal, since they don't have to loop over the rudder pedal tubes.

IMG2004-M.jpg


Last step was to add a microswitch for a parking brake warning light.

IMG2824-M.jpg


Parking brake control is mounted below the panel on the side.

IMG2821-M.jpg
 
Agreed! I've always liked the idea of a parking brake on my 9A, but have had concerns about adding "parking brake released" to my pre-landing checklist. The microswitch idea is a winner!

There is a "Check Brakes" on all checklists. Wouldn't the brakes feel funny with parking brake valve closed?

Also, taxi at full throttle might be a hint too. ;)
 
I can't take all of the credit on the microswitch.

I stole some of the ideas in my parking brake implementation from others on this forum. :D
 
There is a "Check Brakes" on all checklists. Wouldn't the brakes feel funny with parking brake valve closed?

Also, taxi at full throttle might be a hint too. ;)

Startup checklist, yes. But I don't have "Check Brakes" on my PRE-LANDING checklist, as there's nothing for me to do if I check them and they go to the floor. I still have to land and I certainly can't service them from up there. :cool:
 
Beautiful Bruce. I would like to highlight that in your installation the arm down position is brakes off. I did mine the same way after a friend who mounted his the opposite way landed with his brakes on after vibration and gravity applied his parking brake for him, in flight:eek:

All Best

Jeremy
 
Not all checklists, all checklists...

I meant that all manufacturers have a check brakes step in a checklist BTW: My IFR instructor did include a "check brakes" before landing; the "Undercarriage" part of GUMPS on a fixed gear.


All check lists? Can you imagine:

ENGINE OUT CHECKLIST
==================
Fuel to both (Cessna thing)
Primer Locked
Ignition both
Brakes Checked
Mixture rich
...

:D

Startup checklist, yes. But I don't have "Check Brakes" on my PRE-LANDING checklist, as there's nothing for me to do if I check them and they go to the floor. I still have to land and I certainly can't service them from up there. :cool:
 
<snip> I don't have "Check Brakes" on my PRE-LANDING checklist, as there's nothing for me to do if I check them and they go to the floor. I still have to land and I certainly can't service them from up there. :cool:

Perhaps nothing you could do about it, but it would give you a heads up for what to expect after touch down...before you get there.
 
locked or inop brakes = ......????

So you hi-timers out there, or any unfortunate enough to have experienced this....if brakes are unknown, or possibly one is locked, are you better to land on grass?.....slippage = less force on gear, nose over, etc.
other options...
- would the fire guys foam the runway to make it slippery? ( like I've heard done for gear-up landings)
- if you're Bob Hoover, touch each wheel lightly to see if it's locked.
- if not, then land,
- if locked, go find a frozen lake? :)
 
Parking brake mounting bracket

Bruce

Beautiful install on the new Matco parking brake valve. Where did you get the bracket. It looks like the one from Van's is for an old style Matco valve. Not to mention he wants $179!! for it.

Jeff
 
Bruce

Beautiful install on the new Matco parking brake valve. Where did you get the bracket. It looks like the one from Van's is for an old style Matco valve. Not to mention he wants $179!! for it.

Jeff

Order an F704k upright cap strip and cut it down. This will give you a nice parking brake standoff like Bruce's. It also provides a means to develop a stopper device and rivet it to the side of the standoff bracket.

I copied Bruce's design and am very pleased. So far I used it for transport of my aircraft to the airport and on various engine runups. It's a very positive lock and does not bleed off. You won't take off with it on!
 
I think I only needed a couple of feet, so buy the shortest length. This particular control is one you can cut to fit.
 
So you hi-timers out there, or any unfortunate enough to have experienced this....if brakes are unknown, or possibly one is locked, are you better to land on grass?.....slippage = less force on gear, nose over, etc.
other options...
- would the fire guys foam the runway to make it slippery? ( like I've heard done for gear-up landings)
- if you're Bob Hoover, touch each wheel lightly to see if it's locked.
- if not, then land,
- if locked, go find a frozen lake? :)

Yes, I had the brakes lock solid one night on landing after a night spraying sortie in an early 502 Airtractor. The early models had the park brake on/off valve on the lower subpanel that worked the same as the Matco type we have in our RV's today. It had a simple 3"long "throw over" lever on the valve to operate it.
During flight the field map and job details had fallen to the floor and I had reached down to pick them up and un be known to me(dark cockpit) the leg of my flight suit had bumped the park brake valve to the ON position:eek::eek:
All was good until I needed some brake to keep straight on the landing roll. As you can imagine this resulted in one brake locking and was quickly followed by the other as I tried to keep the thing straight and on the runway. Fortunately I was in the latter part of the landing roll by then and on a gravel strip with the tailwheel down and locked. The result was a less than elegant sideways grinding halt in a cloud of dust but no harm done to the aircraft.
Airtractor changed the park brake mechanism after that :D

The message here is make sure you fit a LOCKING actuator cable to your park brake so this can't happen to you!
 
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Mine is 5 feet.

Jan, I bought the 8 ft one. It was less costly than the shorter lengths ( probably because they would have to special cut shorter lengths). I panel mounted it and routed it up and over to just left of the firewall recess , then down to the parking brake (mounted next to the recess). That was just under 5 ft. When you pull the cable out to trim the sheath, take care not to lose the little ball bearing residing inside the sheath. It slips back in easily.
 
Thanks Bruce for a great idea. I copied your idea in my RV-7A project. I am placing the control handle in the instrument panel just above the throttle to help insure the parking brake will be off for takeoff and landing.

Frank
Paid for 2014
 
parking brake

I haven't needed a parking brake yet. Maybe someday I will. Less weight without.
 
One of the aircraft I fly regularly has a parking brake system which is notorious for its lack of mechanical reliability. Most owners of the type avoid using the parking brake because it sticks on the "on" position, necessitating an very uncomfortable dive under the instrument panel in order to be able to move the airplane.

Because of this experience I was of a similar anti-parking brake mindset, then went to pay a fuel bill at an unfamiliar airport and turned around just in time to see the airplane start to roll away unattended. THAT got my attention! Now if I need to leave the airplane I throw a pair of balsa wood chocks on the nosewheel.

Needless to say, the aircraft we're building now has a hydraulic (Matco) parking brake in the works.
 
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