Began mounting my gear today.

The plans state that the brake torque plates should be oriented at about 4 o'clock position, viewed from the axle end. If I understand this right, the left torque plate will have the mounting holes aft and the right torque plate will have the mounting holes facing the front. Is that correct? I am not going to torque them down until I know for sure. The first photo is the left side with the two brake mounting holes facing aft and the second photo is the right with the brake mounting holes facing forward. I hope this makes sense.

Right and left both face aft.

Stan,

My Series 7 Manual says the same thing; but, I think the instruction is simply incomplete.

There is no mechanical reason why the caliper mount could not be mounted any which way; however, there are practical reasons for mounting the caliper plates in a particular way.

First off - Check Kitfox LLC's main website - look at N726KA in the upper right hand corner (big tires no wheel pants). You will see that the right hand side has the caliper mount trailing (although you may need to magnify the photo a bit).

Check the first attached photo of anther older KF 7 and zoom in on the right wheel behind the gear leg - this one has the wheel pants. It also has both calipers trailing. I suspect if either caliper was mounted front side of the axle - you'd have to cut a hole in the wheel pant in a pretty darn awkward location.

I know what kind of stuff I drag my wheels through and I did not want the brake line running in front of the axle to get caught and ripped out - both caliper mounts on my plane are set on the back side of the axle - just like on the photo on John's site and the other KF.

The second attached photo sort of shows how ours are mounted (back side of the axle)

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF7 Trigear
912ULS

Thanks for the posts. What you say is what I was thinking was right, but the instructions seemed to say otherwise. I will point them both aft.

Mine are both Aft as well! Kitfox N703KA SLSA

The caliper may be mounted in either position that suits your requirements.
I have seen them mounted both forward and aft with hydraulic lines routed either over the top or under the bottom. The only positions that are not practical are the bottom or top. Bottom will be subject to damage from mud, grass and dirt. Top makes it near impossible to bleed the calipers.

My wheel pants are from a Cessna 150. The existing caliper cutouts in the pants require the calipers to be mounted forward. If you have new, uncut pants, you can mount them fore or aft to fit.

If you plan on operating in deep grass consider routing the brake lines for protection from snags. Use “L” fittings to improve the routing.

John Pitkin
Greenville, TX