Dragging Brake

[Esser]

I just pulled my kitfox out of the garage and noticed it's left brake is dragging bad enough that I needed a second person to help pull it back in. My brake lines aren't hooked up so I'm surprised it's dragging. All I have done is put about 10 psi in the tires. Anybody have any ideas on how to loosen this up? The right side is fine.

[jiott]

Take the bolts out of the caliper and pull off brake pads to see what's going on.

[HighWing]

My thought would be that when installing and tightening the bolts there was a slight misalignment between disk, pad and caliper. Then when tightening, it resulted in an inadvertent friction lock. Loosening the bolts, seating the caliper piston then re-tightening, I suspect would correct it.

[Floog]

This may sound silly

Let the air back out of the tire. If this corrects the problem, then tighten the bolts that hold the wheel halves together.

[mr bill]

Sounds like a brake puck may be stuck.

[N981MS]

I have had a similar issue for years on mine. Maybe since new.

If I brake to a complete stop and get out to push they drag. I can roll it but it is difficult.

If I let it coast a bit before the stop no drag.

My impression is that if they jiggle a bit while coasting in it seems to help.

If there is a known way to fix this I would be interested. But it is not really much of a problem in that I have adjusted to it.

[DesertFox4]

My right brake will do this same thing at random times. Makes it feel like I'm pushing a Cessna 206 back into the hangar. I've wondered if I had air trapped somewhere in the right brake loop although I can not see any. It heats up after moderate brake use and expands and puts pressure on the puck. Not a hydraulic engineer so just a musing.
Would love to solve this little issue also.
P.S. --- Cleveland wheels and brakes.

[jrevens]

These "Cleveland style" brake assemblies (Grove, Matco, etc. are basically the same design), with 2 guide posts attached to a cylinder assembly, can exhibit this type of issue. I'm not saying it's the issue here, but there's a long-known potential problem with the plate that runs on those posts and has one of the linings/pads riveted to it, and also where they run through a couple of bosses on the mounting plate that attaches the assembly to the axle. A problem like what you describe can be caused if everything doesn't move along those posts nice and smoothly, with no binding, as they may get slightly cocked or dirty. You want to make sure that the brake lines, or anything else, is not pulling on the "floating" assemblies and causing them to misalign and bind. There are several schools of thought regarding lubricating those moving/sliding assemblies... everything from just keeping them dry and clean to using heavy grease on them. I'm of the opinion that a light lube of the proper kind is good. What I like to do during my annual inspections at least, is clean those sliding components with a spray cleaner that leaves no residue, and then apply a few drops of "Lock-Eze", which is a graphite containing light oil. It wicks into the contact areas, and the oil mostly evaporates leaving a relatively dry film. There are many different lubricants that would work well in a similar fashion. I used a spray-on bonded dry lubricant on the posts before assembly for awhile. I can honestly say that I've never had a binding brake problem.

Quite a few years ago, a friend had one brake that would "catch" and drag periodically. He just ignored it because it would usually go away if he just tapped on the brake pedals a little. He was taxiing from his hangar to the run-up area one day and didn't notice, or ignored that it was dragging, and in that relatively short distance the brake got so hot that a fire started and traveled right up the brake line and gear leg to the fuselage. By the time he got out with his fire extinguisher a lot of damage had been done - it could have been worse. It was a valuable lesson for me.

[DesertFox4]

Thanks for the info John.
I will investigate to see if my brake line is causing interferance with proper movement then disassemble and clean then apply
Lock-eze to the posts.

[efwd]

So Kitfox's instruction to use LPS-1 on those posts is not the best product?