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Dealing with one weak brake in a tail wheel

L18C-95

FRIEND
Oxford UK
On the return leg of a long cross country the starboard brake finally faded to insignificance. No leaking hydraulics, and when there is pressure the old expander brakes work adequately, so initial hypothesis is an up stream issue wi the master cylinder.

This thread is about nursing a tail wheel home with only one brake.

I was also fated to have to make several landings with a sporty crosswind from left to right, on tarmac. Interestingly when the pucker factor increased I dispensed with the elegant two wheel crosswind technique (upwind main gear and tail wheel), and went for the firmly planted wheeler technique!

On grass this worked quite nicely, and with some bursts of power was able to deal with the crosswind. On tarmac as the tail gently came down, and the stick was placed full back, the lack of starboard braking resulted in a gentle ground loop at walking pace into the 16 knot wind. The taxiway was to the right so a 270 degree turn was used to vacate the runway, and gobs of power to get some rudder action and taxi downwind.

The technique of riding on the upwind side on the camber of the taxiway, as described by Sparky Imeson in Tailwheel Tactics, helped somewhat (the tail wheel would want to swivel left, with the camber, instead of right in a left to right crosswind), but turning right downwind was impossible.

Adding power, while creating some excitement, initially would be counter productive as torque and propeller slipstream would encourage a left swerve, when you needed a right turning control input - only a lot of power would give the rudder and tail wheel the slip stream to get some right turning input - in fact too much power.

Eventually shut down halfway to parking and a helpful fire crew helped push the Super Cub the two or three hundred yards left to parking.

Made it back safely to base and hopefully the 64 year old brake system will be restored to full working order.
 
I have a Maule TW with the small hard rubber wheel - I would say they break out into free caster quite easily, if I have brakes not usually a problem, but with a 16 knot wind from approximately 100 degrees the weather vane effect wins!
 
I had a T-Craft with a weak left brake for a while, (weak as in almost non existent, the "good" brake was wimpy also) it was a good way to get fully back in touch with the proper use of the rudder, landing slow as possible, etc. Generally landed it like I had NO brakes. What was funny was a buddy I was flying with back then was dealing with the same situation in his T-Craft, but the opposite side brake. Taxing required us to make our turns in opposite directions, into the good brake, we probably looked like a couple drunks but we got the job done until we got educated on the Shinn brake "system". Think go cart brakes.
 
I would consider putting new diaphragms in the masters and then converting the wheels to Grove discs. You will have a noticeable improvement in stopping power and they are much simpler. The kit lists for $859, not cheap but a worthwhile investment in my opinion.
 
PerryB;62I would consider putting new diaphragms in the masters and then converting the wheels to Grove discs. You will have a noticeable improvement in stopping power and they are much simpler. The kit lists for $859 said:
The Groves were designed to give the same stopping power of a " properly " setup expander tube brake. Most don't know how to get the stock brakes to work.

Glenn
 
Sounds like you blew the bladder in master cylinder, replace it. Fill MCs and install MC plug and tighten, done in cockpit.


EXPANDER TUBE BRAKES 101 Jack the plane up so that the tire is free to turn, pump oil can filled with 5606, loosen the bleeder and pump like hell till the tire wont turn and close the bleeder with the tire locked, now open the bleeder a little till the tire will just move and then close the bleeder. What your trying to do is remove the air gap between the pads and the drum. It helps if you do this with help but I do it all the time alone. Caution, you need to hold and support the copper tube coming out of the expander tube with one hand while you push the nipple of the squirt can against it or you might damage the expander tube, you need to pump as fast as you can to keep up with whats leaking out, it helps to use a t-shirt rag as a gasket between the nipple and the bleeder and pump the 5606 thru the rag. You should have great brakes after this so either screw your 800x4 tires on or run them at 20psi. I like them at 10psi and screwed.



C85 stroker 2350rpm runup facing downhill, stock brakes 25" Goodyears CLICK ON PHOTO AND IT WILL TURN INTO A VIDEO


http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy21/cubdriver2/004_zps5404ccdf.mp4

Glenn
 
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Probably so, but I think just as many simply gave up. I've never seen expanders work very well for very long. I recently converted a Breezy and the improvement was noticeable. Not huge but a definite improvement. It now has a consistently firm and functional set of brakes. I also like the simplicity.

Ok Glenn, I just watched the video. I'm impressed. That's better than I've ever seen them work. I've been helping another friend with a J3 that has constantly spongy brakes. We'll use your method. -- We got a little time lapse thing going here. My first paragraph is in response to your first post.
 
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That reminds me on my brakeproblems. One time in Nunavut on my big Canadatrip and one time at Unimak Iland AK the brakedisk broke off. So I had one freerunning wheel. Landing in Baker Lake, Nunavut, and Cold Bay Unimak Iland , in a strong 25kts almost crosswind was no problem. But it became a realy interesting challenge to taxi up to the apron.
C-M
 
On your cub it may be worth having a look at the flex hoses that connect the master cylinders to the gear Vees. If these are of the original style and very old they will swell up when applying the brakes. They have no internal wire reinforcement and have always contributed to the poor breaking problems.

When converting to the Clevelands these are changed out to high pressure 303 type aeroquip units; otherwise your new disk brakes will feel very spongy as well.

Have someone pressure up the brakes and watch and also feel the hoses. If they swell up at all you need to replace them with the high pressure ones.
 
On your cub it may be worth having a look at the flex hoses that connect the master cylinders to the gear Vees. If these are of the original style and very old they will swell up when applying the brakes. They have no internal wire reinforcement and have always contributed to the poor breaking problems.

When converting to the Clevelands these are changed out to high pressure 303 type aeroquip units; otherwise your new disk brakes will feel very spongy as well.

Have someone pressure up the brakes and watch and also feel the hoses. If they swell up at all you need to replace them with the high pressure ones.
Those original hoses will swell up even when new. Particularly when you change to high pressure brakes. They will also leak at the crimp on fitting, even when new.
 
Those original hoses will swell up even when new. Particularly when you change to high pressure brakes. They will also leak at the crimp on fitting, even when new.

Had one of these original hoses blow on landing one time in a skywagon. Then flew it back to a very short strip with one brake, I was younger and braver in those days. Probably way more proficient then as well.
 
No big deal flying around with only one break as long as everything is just fine...

But then you get that little bounce and need a little more than rudder:???:

Sort of like playing russian roulette. You can get away without injury for a while.
 
You guy's sound brake dependent. I flew a Stearman for 116 hrs and the brakes stuck so bad that we never used them when moving. Just like ski flying without brakes you adjust to what you have.

Glenn
 
Having no breaks is better than one... And where you are landing makes a big difference.

If you decide to get on the brakes and one fails, and it's a surprise, you could be in for a good ride. If you know ahead of time you're not going to have brakes it's much easier to deal with. Some planes like brakes, like a Skywagon, others like the Stearman do not.
 
Took a friend for a ride and gave him some flight instruction from the front seat. After some good maneuvers, he started getting weird. When I asked him what he was doing, he said,"I don't know what's wrong, I feel funny"....landed immediately, had to help him out and walk him around for a while before he recovered. The fumes from one of my leaky brake diaphragms was messing him up. Never smelled it from the front seat..must have been the "flow through" ventilation...

Nowadays, when I open the cockpit, I stick my head in and sniff....
 
Good morning. I can provide a quick comment and a closing summary. Last fall I had a few flights with a balky/weak right brake in my 180. Then one morning while leaving my tie-down the master blew. At the time I had power on and the result was a scary left turn toward a couple of very nice parked airplanes. But, oh my, it could have been so much worse had it happened at a different moment, literally seconds earlier or later in the service life of aircraft brakes. Once towed to maintenance and the right master was rebuilt it took some effort to try to normalize the right brake pressure. It was a little frustrating and eventually led to tear-down and rebuild of the left master. That done both brakes felt equal and strong. What's the point? Some of us fly our normal flights that rely on braking. Sometimes heavy braking. I can't find any evidence that my masters had been overhauled in the previous 40 years and in retrospect that seems a little irresponsible on my part since I do regularly use heavy braking on a very narrow and unforgiving strip. The moral of the story.... take good care of the equipment that takes care of you. Don't overlook your brakes.

Cheers.
 
Good morning. I can provide a quick comment and a closing summary. Last fall I had a few flights with a balky/weak right brake in my 180. Then one morning while leaving my tie-down the master blew. At the time I had power on and the result was a scary left turn toward a couple of very nice parked airplanes. But, oh my, it could have been so much worse had it happened at a different moment, literally seconds earlier or later in the service life of aircraft brakes. Once towed to maintenance and the right master was rebuilt it took some effort to try to normalize the right brake pressure. It was a little frustrating and eventually led to tear-down and rebuild of the left master. That done both brakes felt equal and strong. What's the point? Some of us fly our normal flights that rely on braking. Sometimes heavy braking. I can't find any evidence that my masters had been overhauled in the previous 40 years and in retrospect that seems a little irresponsible on my part since I do regularly use heavy braking on a very narrow and unforgiving strip. The moral of the story.... take good care of the equipment that takes care of you. Don't overlook your brakes.

Cheers.

:up:up
 
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