Modified brake set up pics

[C5Engineer 1170]

This is the set up on my new Avid. It's a similar concept to my other one but a little different. For the best geometry you want the pistons of the MC-4Ds tucked in tight to the pedal. These work really well compared to the stock set up. 

 

[Dave0415 8]

C5,

Thanks for the pictures this is one of the mods I was looking for.

Dave in Western IL

[C5Engineer 1170]

Grabbed a few pics out of my plane today.

[Av8r3400 1179]

I've been flying the Mangy for a little while now and can finally say that the brake peddle system that I have in that plane is far superior to the OEM Kitfox setup that was on the 1-4 model planes.  Like the ones shown above the MCs on those are mounted to the torque tube of the rudder peddles and this defiantly can cause a problem.  

It goes like this:  You are landing in a bit of a right cross wind.  So as you land you have some extra right rudder in to hold centerline.  As you push on the right rudder peddle, the left one comes back toward you.  With this type of brake peddle setup, the left brake peddle is coming toward you at the same time.  If your feet aren't on the peddles properly, or if you have big shoes, or have adjusted the peddles back because you have short legs (like me), the left brake starts to get into your feet more and more.  As you push more right rudder you are getting more and more left brake.  As some point the rudder will no longer overpower the brake and if you don't catch it, you are going around to the left.  Factor in a crappy Maul tailwheel and this is a perfect ground loop storm.  This exact scenario played out for me twice.  Once I went around (luckily with no damage) the second time I was landing on a narrow grass strip and I recognized the problem soon enough to stop it by centering the rudder and getting on the brakes hard to stop (just short of the trees).

The system in the Mangy, below, is right out of the plans for the Wag-A-Bond, the Wag Aero copy of the Piper Vagabond.  By having a single torque tube axis the MCs can be mounted in front of the tube, creating a parallelogram.  The more right rudder you push, the left brake pulls away from your foot.  Also note they have about a 2.5:1 ratio, so there is plenty of brake pressure being applied to the MCs with moderate peddle pressure.  Factor into this good brakes (I have double puck Grove brakes) and this system is absoutely awesome.

This is a modification that I would highly suggest to anyone who is in the building or rebuilding process.  AS you can see I only have brakes on the pilot side, but passenger brakes could also be added with the same geometry.