You are correct.
I=92ve popped a few calipers and buffed out the piston and bore then instal
led new seals and they work OK again. Just remember to clean better than I
did the first time. I plugged the bleed hole, tore the seal, etc. Quite
the learning curve.
We do it to ourselves though:
Brake lines are run looped over and around stuff where air bubbles can be t
rapped=85Forever it seems.
Master cylinders are set so the reservoir line can=92t draw or allow air bu
bbles out and fluid in. Even the mono.
Some use inappropriate brake fittings and lines.
During installation many don=92t realize the caliper should be opened clean
ed and the bleed hole checked for clearance of the piston to bleed hole the
n assemble with the appropriate brake fluid as lube. The new brake caliper
s often have minor corrosion, swarf and are dry so the initial move of the
piston tears up the dry seal lip. These old non anodized brake calipers ar
e prone to corrosion from the inside as well as the outside. That light du
st is aluminum oxide and is an excellent abrasive.
During our 5 year nose to tail, we don=92t service our brake calipers. Wh
y? It is a pain and a potential disaster.
Some thoughts:
ACP50 should work on the aluminum to help prevent corrosion
and not destroy the seal.
During a 5 year maybe I will pull the caliper=85Carefully e
xtend the piston, clean, inspect, coat and push back in.
We should change our brake fluid as Dot 3-4 are glycol base
d and absorb water.
Dot 5 silicone allows water to pool in the bottom of the ca
liper. Turns color if water exposed to a dark red.
Mil 5606 gets sticky and can freeze a piston when exposed t
o air.
Replacement brake calipers may not fit your current torque
plate brake/caliper slide support.
Some second hand owners/non builders use the wrong fluid wi
th the type seals they have, and don=92t realize it because
of ignorance or the builder didn=92t document it and put it in a format th
e new owner had access to.
I=92m finally getting around to document my aircraft more completely after
12 years. I plan to put it into the POH. Similar to the spares page on my
website but no pictures. It will have not just the fluids, but the common
annual items also with torques just for a memory jogger.
Today we have no excuse not to have all our data on our cell phones. I hav
e all my manuals, parts lists/numbers, wiring diagrams, etc. on the cloud.
Now that I have so much more storage on my phone, it will go on my SD card
. I even have my cross country flight planning checklists, notes, and medi
cal stuff all handy on my cell. I don=92t have my build manual pdfs on th
e phone, but if I need that, I=92m going to be on the ground long enough to
get on the web. Again, with my phone.
Best Regards,
Bud Yerly
Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Window
s 10
________________________________
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com <owner-europa-list-server@matr
onics.com> on behalf of Karl Heindl <kheindl@msn.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 8, 2018 6:02:45 PM
Subject: Re: Europa-List: MATCO Brake Caliper
Bud,
I think I fixed it today. There was some damage to the exposed part of the
piston, and the edge of the cylinder. No idea how or. when that happened.I
popped the piston using a grease gun with adapter, then repaired and lubric
ated the o-ring and put it back together. Then spent the next 3 hours tryin
g to bleed that side again, on my own, finally success. With parking brake
on I could not turn the jacked up wheel. It seems that even the tiniest amo
unt of air spells total failure.
Karl
________________________________
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com <owner-europa-list-server@matr
onics.com> on behalf of Bud Yerly <budyerly@msn.com>
Sent: 08 July 2018 13:30
Subject: Re: Europa-List: MATCO Brake Caliper
Karl.
The brake and parts for the trigear were on my website. I see there was a
link problem so I'll fix that this morning.
The only problem with a stuck caliper is corrosion. I pull the caliper and
soak the caliper with PB Blaster and then pull back on the brake handle to
pop out the puck or use air and recondition them. Why recondition?
The new caliper may not slip right on your original Europa wheel brake moun
t. That is frustrating.
Bud Yerly
Custom Flight Creations
________________________________
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com <owner-europa-list-server@matr
onics.com> on behalf of Karl Heindl <kheindl@msn.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 7, 2018 1:22:27 PM
Subject: Europa-List: MATCO Brake Caliper
I received the information from Matco. They kept a record of what was suppl
ied to Europa. The brake assembly is WHLB5 and costs $ 98. It is a differen
t shape but is supposed to fit.
Karl
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