Drum Brakes

[Guest striker]

Learning to fly in a Thruster T500 at the moment and after going solo I will have the use of a T500 that has had very little use in the last 4 years. My question relates to the drum brakes that are fitted to the T500. Mine are a bit knocked about, the backing plate on one side is fairly bent, causing the shoes to be at the wrong angle and rub against the wheel studs and bind the wheel. Both drums look fairly deformed with the edges splayed out.

 

As the brakes are only used at slow taxi speeds and for holding I dont believe the expense of upgrading to disk brakes is warranted and would look at repairing the drum brakes. I cant see any brand name on the wheel or brakes so have no idea if they are standard Thruster issue. Would anybody be able to point me in the right direction for a parts supplier, assuming they where standard thruster brakes.Thanks....Phillip

 

 

[Guest TOSGcentral]

Hi Phillip,

 

 

Brakes are an authorised retrofit option on the two seat Thrusters so no legal problems there.

 

 

Normally the same brake system is used as on the Drifter as both aircraft use the same mainwheels. Wayne Fisher at Spectrum Aviation (02 6622 4466) should be able to assist you with identification of what you actually have fitted as although brakes per se are legal, several varieties have been used.

 

 

Unless you intend operating off paved surfaces or slopes then I would take the brakes off entirely and discard them – rolling resistance alone on grass is quite sufficient to control a Thruster.

 

 

Yours sound badly damaged and must be cleaned up. You cannot afford any asymmetric braking on a Thruster at all as they are demanding enough on the ground as it is.

 

 

Aye

 

 

Tony

 

 

[Guest striker]

Thanks for that information Tony. I'll get a couple of digital pics and contact Wayne. I do hope to travel to some fairly busy regional airports that have paved taxiways so would like to have a basic brake for peace of mind.

 

The main issue at the moment is the rubbing and binding whilst rolling ie not actually using the brakes. I was actually in this T500 with my instructor a while back, taxiing back to the hangar, when one of the wheel studs broke and locked the wheel up, thereby groundlooping us. Recently, now that i'm responsible for the T500, I took the wheel off to investigate and could see that the brakes had been rubbing on the wheel studs, obviously not a good idea. Glad we were only taxiing at the time.

 

Also whilst pulling the wheel off I discovered someone had placed a strip of metal or shim between the backing plate and the spring in an attempt to fix a toe out problem of the wheel. I think this could also have been binding the wheel up as it seems it would put the backing plate out of alignment with the drum. Regards......Phillip