A

alpinelakespilot2000

Well Known Member
I know a lot of builders have installed the parking brake valve in the location noted in the picture below.



Does anyone have any suggestions on how to support/clamp the cable just before it connects to the brake lever? I'm thinking of some sort of angle coming off the top firewall angle (using a piece of 1.75" angle riveted to the firewall stiffener... I would then adel clamp the cable to that angle), but wondering if there are any other more graceful ways.

Thanks
 
Steve, that's what I'm planning on... I don't think there's anything "ungraceful" about that approach... should work just fine..
 
Parking Brake Valve location

I mounted mine where the flexible hose connections were mounted. Then I braced the parking brake cable with a pair of Adel clamps to one of the flexible brake lines. This reduced the number of fittings by eliminating the connection set up for the flex lines and allowed me to use the supplied flex lines (saved $$). Works good through 100 hours to date.
Hope that helps!

Sebastian Trost
RV-7A QB
Flying!!
Cameron Park, CA (O61)
 
I made my clamp location integral with the mount (many pictures somewhere on my build log). Next time, I would do a bigger doubler on the firewall to reduce flexing.
 
brake valve related question

I have mounted the brake valve in the same place and of course the flex hoses supplied with the finish kit are too long by about 8 inches, did most people return these for credit (will Van's do this?) and order shorter hoses or get the hoses shortened locally?
 
uk_figs said:
I have mounted the brake valve in the same place and of course the flex hoses supplied with the finish kit are too long by about 8 inches, did most people return these for credit (will Van's do this?) and order shorter hoses or get the hoses shortened locally?
Click to expand...
Yes, I am planning to have some hoses made for me to go straight from the rudder pedals directly into the parking break without using elbows. I thought about looping the stock hoses up high and then into the brake, but then I'd have to support them somehow. It's nice to know that I may be able to get Van's to take them back, for partial credit I assume since it was part of the finish kit.

FWIW, here's a pic. of how I'm thinking I'll end up supporting my adel clamp. I'll trim the excess off the angle and then just rivet it to the firewall angle with two 470-4 rivets. For me a piece of 1.5 x 1.5 angle worked perfect. When clamped as is, I've got very smooth travel on my cable with no potential for reversal.

The other option I considered is Bill Repucci's idea pictured above, but Bill is building a tip up. On a slider, the forward ribs go up at an angle to the panel. This would require the piece of angle that Bill is using to be shaped with a couple compound bends. I didn't think I could make it look as nice on the slider version as Bill made it look on the tip up.



Thanks to all for the ideas.
 
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I am building a slider also so your bracket idea should work for me, will an adel clamp hold the cable well enough to stop it sliding?
 
Z Angle

I used a section of 'Z' angle to support the cable.

If you do it this way you will also need to remove the lever assembly (to protect the 'O' rings), grind the weld off that attaches the lever to the shaft , rotate the lever 45? and re-weld it; in order to have it function in the vertical.

Pete.
parkbrakevalvefo6.jpg
 
uk_figs said:
I am building a slider also so your bracket idea should work for me, will an adel clamp hold the cable well enough to stop it sliding?
Click to expand...
Dave,

If you look at the pictures I posted, you will see two layers of shrink tubing on the cable to build it up and give the clamp some "grip". That thing is not moving.

Another trick is to use safety wire to hold it in place.

Steve,

Nice clamp, I wish I had thought of that. May I suggest you use a plate nut and cap screw to hold the clamp so you can easily remove/loosen/adjust it easily after you rivet that top skin in place? (Can you tell I'm not a fan of Phillips head screws?)

PS. I moved the cable down close to the valve so the sheathing works as a stop so you can't pull the lever over center.
 
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uk_figs said:
I am building a slider also so your bracket idea should work for me, will an adel clamp hold the cable well enough to stop it sliding?
Click to expand...
I think Van's sells a clamp specificially for this purpose, though I'm not exactly sure what it looks like or how its better. It is the CT-740 clamp and sells for $10.50 :eek: . Like Bill, though, I think an adel clamp is more than adequate since the "corrugated" cable sheathing will dig into the rubber cushion on the adel clamp, preventing it from going anywhere.

Bill-
Good point about the cap screw. I'll have to get a few for locations where they could be trouble later. I generally use a cordless screwdriver with my Phillips heads and have never had a problem with them stripping, but I have heard that that caps work much better. Likewise good idea about moving the cable sheathing down to act as sort of a second stop for upward travel.
 
Just installed mine

I remembered reading this thread a little while ago and since I just installed my parking brake valve I thought I'd share what I came up with. A few notes about this:
  • The flex brake lines that Vans sells can be used
  • I'm using the cable sheath and wire retainers that Vans sells (CT A-740 and the wire nut kit)
  • It uses the existing firewall holes (maybe QB issue only)
brake_assembled.png


I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

-Rick
 
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Variation on a theme

Here's another solution, uses existing rivet pattern on the firewall, existing hoses and brake lines, also minimises the number of places to leak from. This is a 6A with the latest firewall which as far as I can see is the one from a 7A.

IMG_4564%20(Medium).JPG
 
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