WingnutWick
Well Known Member
Well,
The girlfriend’s RV-6A continues to give me headaches as I slowly learn more about this plane. I recently just finished doing her annual following a new paint job. New brake rotors, pads, and O-rings. I also had to remove the piston from the pedal do get the valve open to allow the fluid to come up through the bottom. I finally finished this (along with a lot of other things) so her plane would be all good to go before I left for a couple months. Did a few flights uneventfully. Then on the last flight before I left, naturally, as we were pulling off the runway she said the right brake felt weird. Sure enough it seemed locked up. I tried pumping the pedal to see if I could free it, which it did but then subsequently seemed to start dragging again. Shortly after that smoke was coming up and we jumped out.
Sure enough the right brake had caught fire. Fire was going inside the wheel pant for about a minute before we could get an extinguisher on it. Newly painted pant - toast. Smoke had traveled up the leg fairing which blackened the leg and wing root with soot but I believe (hope) that it’s limited to just that vice any real heat damage to the leg itself or wing root.
Brake line at the brake assembly burned through, and it looks like some burning of the fiberglass/carbon fiber around the wheel leg. See pics.
I am looking to get some guidance and opinions on what is salvageable from this fire and what to look for to make that determination. Also any ideas what caused the locking? When I put the pistons back on, I tightened them....can this cause binding?
What kind of temps can these wheel and brake parts withstand? Also, I am unfamiliar with the construction of the leg. Is this carbon fiber surrounding the metal leg? What is that for? Is the burn damage at the base ok? Also, unrelated, it looks like there is a crack at the top (red arrow in pic) that we noticed in the carbon fiber material. Is this an issue?
Finally, wheel pants, what’s the process to make new ones after you order them from Vans? A royal pain or pretty easy?
Her original post was here: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=173877
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you, cheers!
Charles
The girlfriend’s RV-6A continues to give me headaches as I slowly learn more about this plane. I recently just finished doing her annual following a new paint job. New brake rotors, pads, and O-rings. I also had to remove the piston from the pedal do get the valve open to allow the fluid to come up through the bottom. I finally finished this (along with a lot of other things) so her plane would be all good to go before I left for a couple months. Did a few flights uneventfully. Then on the last flight before I left, naturally, as we were pulling off the runway she said the right brake felt weird. Sure enough it seemed locked up. I tried pumping the pedal to see if I could free it, which it did but then subsequently seemed to start dragging again. Shortly after that smoke was coming up and we jumped out.
Sure enough the right brake had caught fire. Fire was going inside the wheel pant for about a minute before we could get an extinguisher on it. Newly painted pant - toast. Smoke had traveled up the leg fairing which blackened the leg and wing root with soot but I believe (hope) that it’s limited to just that vice any real heat damage to the leg itself or wing root.
Brake line at the brake assembly burned through, and it looks like some burning of the fiberglass/carbon fiber around the wheel leg. See pics.
I am looking to get some guidance and opinions on what is salvageable from this fire and what to look for to make that determination. Also any ideas what caused the locking? When I put the pistons back on, I tightened them....can this cause binding?
What kind of temps can these wheel and brake parts withstand? Also, I am unfamiliar with the construction of the leg. Is this carbon fiber surrounding the metal leg? What is that for? Is the burn damage at the base ok? Also, unrelated, it looks like there is a crack at the top (red arrow in pic) that we noticed in the carbon fiber material. Is this an issue?
Finally, wheel pants, what’s the process to make new ones after you order them from Vans? A royal pain or pretty easy?
Her original post was here: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=173877
Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you, cheers!
Charles
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