John Courte
Well Known Member
My DAR called out the fact that there were no cotter pins on the brake pedal or brake master cylinder hardware, and I remember actively blowing off that task "until later" some time around 4 years ago because the yoga poses necessary to get under the panel and work with the brakes in-situ are both unfamiliar and painful.
So of course, in correcting the deficiency for airworthiness, I torqued the hardware and installed cotter pins. My brakes now drag, both sides, the right a little worse than the left. I'm just glad I found this out on a taxi test/joyride yesterday. This led me to the wealth of information on VAF regarding this issue, which seems to be fairly common, at least common enough to merit several threads.
Of course, the result is the need for more yoga. I'm going to try just backing off the castle nuts a bit and see if that works before I have to buy a couple of twelve-dollar AN3-58's or disconnect everything to install return springs.
So my advice to all the new builders out there: Sort this out before you put your ship on the landing gear and close the forward deck skin, especially if it's a taildragger.
So of course, in correcting the deficiency for airworthiness, I torqued the hardware and installed cotter pins. My brakes now drag, both sides, the right a little worse than the left. I'm just glad I found this out on a taxi test/joyride yesterday. This led me to the wealth of information on VAF regarding this issue, which seems to be fairly common, at least common enough to merit several threads.
Of course, the result is the need for more yoga. I'm going to try just backing off the castle nuts a bit and see if that works before I have to buy a couple of twelve-dollar AN3-58's or disconnect everything to install return springs.
So my advice to all the new builders out there: Sort this out before you put your ship on the landing gear and close the forward deck skin, especially if it's a taildragger.