Brakes / Wheels

See also Parking Brake.

Brakes / Wheels

The stock Vans brakes are fine however aftermarket brakes promise improvements (concerning heat, braking action and weight). They usually come as a complete set (wheel, disk and brake calipers).

The Vans stock nose wheel used to have an axle that was hard to adjust (single nut adjusted bearing tension and held the wheel in place) which made most builders order an aftermarket nose wheel but since September 2021, Vans has changed the design and started shipping Matco wheels/axles with a new design.

Brake Lines

• Flex gear leg brake lines:
  • Aircraft Specialty: https://www.aircraftspecialty.com/rv10products.html (gear-leg only hoses are available by special order)

Brake Fluid

See section Brake_Fluid

Companies supplying aftermarket Brake / Wheel sets

• Beringer (known for high quality and being lightweight; a good investment, but it is a big one; also replacement brake pads are reported 4/2022 to be close to $100 per wheel)
  • Local copy of RV-10 Installation file: Brg-mm-00210a.pdf, see also Installation RV instructions at Spruce, see also Beringer documents.
  • Note: Consider using drilled bolts and castle nuts instead of the lock-nuts that Beringer supplies for mounting the master cylinders. They do use rod-end bearings that don't rotate around the bolt like the stock master cylinders, so lock-nuts are generally adequate, but If they do every come loose, you cannot control the airplane on the ground.
• Grove (known for better master cylinders, the stock ones hang after some years)
• Matco (known for higher brake action than stock)
  • Additional installation recommendations by Matco (longevity and addressing high temps)
  • Matco vs stock (Grove):
    
    Above picture shows the stock main wheel on the left and the Matco wheel with 3 piston brake on the right.
    
    The Matco brake disk is 10 mm closer to the rim compared to the stock wheels (to make room for the stronger brake cylinders but also for improved spacing of the hot disks to the fiberglass fairings).
    See also this video on the Matco brakes and their installation: YouTube video by "a leaf on the wind" and part 2
    See also this video on the Matco brakes vs. the stock brakes: YouTube video by Base Leg Aviation (Vic Syracuse) Consider replacing the 3 stock U-1008 spacers with this part from PlaneAround. It's more sturdy and guarantees same height across all three bolts. Study the Matco drawings which explain that you have a choice: Add washers to the U-1008 spacers/PlaneAround single spacer or skip adding washers (Note: Matco provides flat aluminum washers wile Vans provides steel ones with shoulders that fit into the larger holes of the stock torque plate). If you add washers, you will get interference between the AN822-4D elbow and the U-1010 brake mount when the caliper is all the way in (new pads). This requires removing some material from the U-1010 brake mount (to the point where you will have to reinforce it). If you don't install the washer, very little or no interference will result, however you later need to build up the U-1010 brake mount by 0.125 where it supports the fairing on the inside. Also, if you are getting the Flyboys jack point, there might be interference between the caliper's nut for the upper pin and the jack's vertical bolt when using it, especially with worn brake pads when the caliper sticks out more to the inside. Remedy is to add washer(s) underneath the jack point bracket to bring it more to the inside. Also, if you don't use washers, one side of the jack point needs different amount of washers than the other side to keep it parallel to the brake mount. Note: the jack point can only be installed after the brake assembly is on the axle as it doesn't leave a big enough center space to slide the assemble on. Once the assembly is on the axle, the jack point sits where the axle has a smaller diameter. The Matco RV-10 kit ships with washer MSCTRA1.5 that goes under the axle bolt. With it, you will only have about 7 to 7 3/4 turns until the bearings sit snug enough to block the seal from turning with the wheel. Consider making some changes to this stack as the holes for the cotter pin will be very, very close to if not on the edge of the axle threads.
  • Build logs
    • Adam's Matco brake installation

Improvements to Brake Pedal and stock Master Cylinder

• See this bulletin: Matco, Diagnosing Uncommanded Brake Drag.
  If the master cylinder doesn't fully retract, the valve to the reservoir doesn't open and the pads can't push back the pucks.
• Single axis instead of bolts on each side (from McMaster.com)
  • 8 x 9440T63 High-Temperature Dry-Running Flanged Sleeve Bearing, 841 Bronze, For 3/16" Shaft Diameter
  • 1 x 8893K178 Tight-Tolerance Oil-Hardening O1 Tool Steel Rod, 0.1875" Diameter, 3 Feet Long
  • 8 x 6432K19 Set Screw Shaft Collar For 3/16" Diameter, Zinc-Plated 1215 Carbon Steel
• Return spring for master cylinder (from McMaster.com)
  • 8 x 6389K625 Light Duty Dry-Running Nylon Sleeve Bearing, 1/16" Thick Flange, 3/8" Shaft, 1/2" Housing Id, 3/8" Long
  • 4 x 9657K432 Compression Spring, 3" Long, 0.6" Od, 0.51" Id (they come in packs of 6, don't order 4 packs)
  • 4 x 6462K14 Set Screw Shaft Collar for 3/8" Diameter

Detailed writeup on the procedure with pictures:

• Rocketman's Build Log (ignore the unsafe browser message)
• Improvements: If you press the brass bushings into the pedals, they will not necessarily align as the pedals are not exatly 90 degrees and drilling is only exact to a limited degree. It seems better to give the bushings some play and cement them in with JB Weld while the shaft is temporarily installed.
  
• Good drilling results for the bushings were obtained when using a .311 (7.9mm) reamer threaded through the hole on the other side (the .311 reamer is part of the RV-10 Cleaveland tool kit as it is needed during the main gear installation).
• Final result: