Lkitson
Well Known Member
Looking for ideas on what might be causing the right-side Grove brake caliper to stick on my RV-8.
When pre-flighting this morning I found a puddle of brake fluid under the right wheel. I pulled the wheel pant off and there was fluid all over the inside of it as well as on the caliper and the brake pads. I jacked the wheel off the ground and couldn’t get it to turn. The caliper was locked. When I pulled the caliper off I found that that the pads were worn down to the rivets. I removed the piston and couldn’t see anything visibly wrong with it, the, o-ring or the caliper bore. I replaced the o-ring and installed a new set of pads and put everything back together. The left wheel spun freely and there where no leaks. The pads still had 1/16” above the rivets but they got replaced anyway since I had done the right side.
This is the second time this has happened (also the right side). The first time was almost two years ago shortly after I finished phase 1 flight testing. I chalked that one up to the fact that I had been doing lots of landings and tended to try to make the first turnoff at my home airport which took some aggressive braking. I thought that I had gotten the brakes too hot causing the o-ring on the right side to fail. I’ve been much less aggressive with the braking since then and have put another 173 hours and over 300 landings on the airplane. At my last condition inspection in January the pads on both sides still had plenty of material left.
On my last few flights it did seem like it took more power to taxi.
Thoughts?
When pre-flighting this morning I found a puddle of brake fluid under the right wheel. I pulled the wheel pant off and there was fluid all over the inside of it as well as on the caliper and the brake pads. I jacked the wheel off the ground and couldn’t get it to turn. The caliper was locked. When I pulled the caliper off I found that that the pads were worn down to the rivets. I removed the piston and couldn’t see anything visibly wrong with it, the, o-ring or the caliper bore. I replaced the o-ring and installed a new set of pads and put everything back together. The left wheel spun freely and there where no leaks. The pads still had 1/16” above the rivets but they got replaced anyway since I had done the right side.
This is the second time this has happened (also the right side). The first time was almost two years ago shortly after I finished phase 1 flight testing. I chalked that one up to the fact that I had been doing lots of landings and tended to try to make the first turnoff at my home airport which took some aggressive braking. I thought that I had gotten the brakes too hot causing the o-ring on the right side to fail. I’ve been much less aggressive with the braking since then and have put another 173 hours and over 300 landings on the airplane. At my last condition inspection in January the pads on both sides still had plenty of material left.
On my last few flights it did seem like it took more power to taxi.
Thoughts?
