Here's the story. Perhaps someone has an idea about what might have caused this or if you've heard of it before.
I did my run up in Greenville, Tx and the engine was running a little rough. It had rained hard over the weekend. So I did a full power run up to about 2200 RPM. I heard what sounded like a screech on the right brake but the brake held. The engine ran smoothly in the runup so I took off and flew about 1.5 hours to Claremore OK. When I landed I discovered I had no right brake. I was able to get it stopped with only one, slow, 360 as I made the left turn onto the taxi way. I killed the engine and then walked the airplane to the A&P on the field with the tow bar.
When we pulled the wheel pant off, the inside wheel pant bracket had failed (like it was ripped) into two parts. It had failed on a top to bottom line behind the caliper. The brake fluid had drained out but the line was not cut. The brake pad was chewed up. It was not worn out, it looked like someone chewed on it. The rotor was also grooved.
We think that maybe something got caught between the rotor and the pad and broke or cut the bracket, but we couldn't find anything. And maybe that same thing caused the brake puck to stay open and the fluid drained out.
I have some pictures of the failed bracket, but I can't figure out how to post them. Any thoughts on what might have caused it? Has this bracket failed on anyone else?
My RV-7A was completed in 2010 and it has about 305 (trouble free) hours.
http://i59.tinypic.com/17vgih.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/2w36fk3.jpg
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