Rudder Pedal and toe brakes.

[sdemeyer]

I'm having difficulty not keeping my feet off the brakes, especially when landing. I can't see any way to rotate the toe brakes farther forward to make it easier for me and sliding my toes between the rudder pedal and toe brakes is not working well.

I've attached a picture to help visualize what I'm referring to. Any suggestions on how I can remedy this?

This is on a model IV -1200

Thanks,
Scott

[Skybolt]

Scott I don't know / or I am not familier with your rudder pedals.
I am attaching a picture of my footwear. Notice the E weldment that the ball of the foot and the toe area can make contact. Yours is more of a C shape.

You must have an early Model 4, the later units went out with a beefed up weldment notice the gusset at the right angle. This was to prevent the tube from splitting.

Anyway, I have to stretch a little to get pressure on the brakes.
Can you adjust the master cylinder top bracket shortening the reach?

[SkyPirate]

if you look at the welded on tab for the brake cylinder location of the two different photo's,..they are in different places,..this might be an issue if you swapped them out,..but...if you removed the stock older model 4 actualtor pedal and added a similar lower piece ..amking it the same "E" config ..this might cure the problem

[Slyfox]

skypirate is right, if you go to the E type brake pedal, I think things would be better. If you have your foot on the bottom of the E it forces the brakes off.

[SkyPirate]

Brake-rudder pedal.jpg

a sketch of a possible fix

[sdemeyer]

Thanks a million. I will change to the "E" configuration.

Scott

[JimS]

Scott,
Had the same thing with my Model IV.
I cut a couple threads off of the stem coming out of the top of the break cylinder and also a bit off the U that screws on it. You don't need to take a whole lot off to move the break pedal out of the way. I may have even run a couple more threads on the stem I can't recall but there should probably be 4-5 threads engaged when it's done.
JimS

[dholly]

another idea

[dholly]

Well, I need to revisit this subject.

Is there anyone with a M-III that has installed the "E" toe-pieces to help keep big feet off the brakes? I see a few in the photo galleries and need to know if simply re-welding new tabs on the "E" style toe pieces to re-locate the brake cylinder rod top attach will work? Ie., can I keep the same brake torque tubes, master cylinders, lower master cylinder attach points, etc.?

I seem to recall (but did not find) some comments where someone used passenger side "E" style toe-pieces from a M-IV on the pilot side of a M-III with all other parts reused, but did have to relocate the toe-piece tab(s). Can anyone in the know give me the particulars please before my plane ends up on it's back?

Thanks

[sdemeyer]

Dholly, my friend, who happens to be a master crafstman, made up a set of pedals for me. They really transformed my airplane and I highly recommend something like this. Also, another thing that greatly helped was rotating the pedals forward about 2 inches. We did this by making longer the rudder cable straps where the cable connects to the rudder horn.

If you do not go this route, I have a brand new, never installed set of E pedals for my KF IV if your interested.