Brake lines

Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
10
Location
Montana
Does anyone know of a source for new brake hose other than ACA. Preferably pre-assembled. From the master cyl. to the parking brake valve and parking brake to the steel lines running down the gear. Mine are starting to weep.
 

Bob Turner

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Messages
2,826
Univair, probably. $120 for a fabricated flex line.

Most older airplanes came out of the factory with inverted flare auto brake fittings. Mechanics came along and made them better with Aeroflex, which is generally 600 psi stuff. Current auto standards are 4000 psi operating, 5000 psi burst (from memory; I can get more specific if you need info).

My J-3 came with auto, and kept its original hoses for 45 years. New, better ones cost $11. They needed an adapter to go from #3 inverted flare to the original 1/8" pipe threads - still easy to get from Eaton. The hoses are 1966 Mustang. We couldn't find the ones with 1/8 NPT on one end. Probably Case Tractor.

I converted a Champ to hydraulic Grove wheels and brakes. Specified automotive right in the body of the field approval. The owner wanted four flex lines - almost fifty bucks.

I should have gotten an approval for Grove heel masters for my Decathlon. Toe brakes just don't seem right in a tandem tail dragger.
 

Bob Turner

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Messages
2,826
It was a joke. Most parking brakes on light aircraft cause far more trouble than they are worth. Not opinion.
 

aftCG

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2018
Messages
526
Location
Tacoma, WA
It was a joke. Most parking brakes on light aircraft cause far more trouble than they are worth. Not opinion.
It's the only thing I trust less than the fuel gauge.

But my plane doesn't have one, so I wasn't being completely facetious. Were mine so equipped it would not have my finger prints on it.
 

JimParker256

1965 Champion 7ECA (O-200)
Joined
Apr 3, 2018
Messages
142
Location
McKinney, TX
I've only "needed" a parking brake one time, but it was a situation that caused me to include a parking brake in the Bearhawk Patrol I'm building. I was at a fly-in lunch event, and arrived about 10 minutes late – after everyone had walked over the the restaurant next door to the airport. The parking ramp was full, except for one spot that was on what appeared to be a slight incline. I was in a Rockwell Commander 114 (low wing), and after I shut down, I released the brakes (lightly) to see how quickly the airplane would roll downhill. To my surprize, it was rather quick and abrupt. I realized I would have only a couple of seconds to release the brakes, climb out of the airplane (over the wing and behind), then run around to the nose wheel to insert a wheel chock. I rehearsed all the moves several times in my head, then took the plunge. Luckily I did not trip or stumble during the process, and I managed to get the plane stopped a good 3 feet behind the twin parked ahead of me! It took every bit of my strength (and I'm a pretty big guy) to push my plane back up that "slight" incline and into it's parking row. I vowed that when I built my Patrol, I would include a parking brake so I'd never have that anxiety again. (And not the mechanical clunkers, either – a hydraulic valve that holds the brake pressure once they are applied and the parking brake is set.)
 

Bob Turner

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Messages
2,826
Yep. Every now and then you will encounter something like that. Far more often somebody joggles that little lever and the pilot comes to see me about fixing the tailwheel or releasing fluid from the brake. In one case the aircraft left the runway and cracked the main casting on a Scott 3200. The City tried to tow the aircraft and damaged a wheel fairing. Next day that entire assembly (Scott mechanical parking brake) came out!

My opinion: the number of "saves" you get from parking brakes is outweighed ten to one by "problemas."
 

JimParker256

1965 Champion 7ECA (O-200)
Joined
Apr 3, 2018
Messages
142
Location
McKinney, TX
Yet another advantage of tandem aircraft flown only from the front seat... No "passengers" reaching the parking brake handle...