SonexBuilders.net

Michael,

Tell more about the speed bleeders you mention. I have the Sonex hydraulic brakes and have to bleed them about twice a season. I have no idea how I'm getting air in the lines? I think its probably more a matter of NOT getting all the air out.
I bleed the lines and the handle gets good pressure with just a short pull. Move forward a few flights and I'm back to what I call normal. Still have great braking but the pull is twice as long unless, I give a quick double pump.

Larry
Waiex121YX, Camit 3300, Dynon Skyview

Larry

I have exactly the same behavior. I fill the reservoir, bleed the lines and have a good solid brake handle. A few flights later it is obvious I have a leak - have to fill the fluid again. I find bubbles in the lines.

Best guess is a leak at the bleed valve fittings or the reservoir.

Michael - I am also very interested in hearing what speed fittings you found.

Hi Larry, Robbie,
Nice to hear from you. Always enjoy your posts. Was going to buy some camit upgrade s for our jab,
But they folded up shop right before I ordered.

The bleeders, i’ll Buy a set within the n ext few days , and post the mfgr, and part # , so anyone can order off the internet. It sure makes the brake bleeding easy, even if alone . Just crack them open a quarter turn, ,attach a tube. And small cup. Sit in plane and pump the handle a few times. Good to go.
They have a check ball in them.

WaiexN143NM
MICHAEL

Robbie,
I'll be waiting on the results.
My bleeders that come stock don't have a check ball arraignment that I'm aware of? I just use my Mighty-Vac, that I'm certain many folks have.
Everything seems good for awhile as I previously wrote and then after a few flights, I begin to notice, I'm pulling a longer stroke to get the same result. I instinctively know, I'm trying to compress air. Irritating but not a huge issue. Would be nice to evacuate the air and have solid feel on the brakes for extended periods between services. Thanks.

Larry

hi all,
the 1/4 x 28 brake bleeders are made by dorman products, pa. part #12703 $14. self brake bleeders. w check valve. avbl at pep boys , autozone, kragen Oreilly.
weve used them for 4 yrs on the waiex. love them.

michael

WaiexN143NM wrote:hi all,
the 1/4 x 28 brake bleeders are made by dorman products, pa. part #12703 $14. self brake bleeders. w check valve. avbl at pep boys , autozone, kragen Oreilly.
weve used them for 4 yrs on the waiex. love them.

michael

Michael, thanks for your tip.........the "bleeders" should make bleeding the brakes from the top down an easy one man job.

I'm using the stock Aeroconversions master cylinder with hand lever system and found that whether bleeding the brakes from the top down or from the bottom up, a short-coming of that system is the small capacity of the master cylinder. To add additional capacity, I permanently added a 3" tall standpipe to the cylinder. It consists of a 1/2" diameter brass tube and brass cap (already threaded and purchased from the local hardware store). The brass tube screws into the filler hole on the master cylinder and adds enough additional capacity for brake fluid to be helpful when bleeding the brakes using either method. Otherwise, it was so easy to run out of fluid when bleeding from the top down or overflow the cylinder when bleeding from the bottom up. Hope this also helps someone.

Art,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Sonex taildragger #95,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Jabiru 3300 #261

hi all , art,
we have two sonex master cyl. mounted on alum angles side by side straddling the forward floor sq tubing. lines go straight ahead to a firewall side matco parking brake valve, then L/R lines down the gear legs to the sonex red calipers. Alum handles up vertically fron the master cylinders with horiz. knobs facing each other. so we have diff. braking, or easily pull both. verticle alum sits just ahead of the flap torque tube. Toe brakes would be nice, but......, to get under the panel to install and maintain a PIA. We started out with the mechanical brakes, tried some toe brakes mounted firewall side and sticking thru firewall, then the stock sonex hyd brakes. then to the current set up of two master cyl with handles. easy to see service and maintain. just sit in the seat and easy to work on. the parking brake has a T handle cable to pull as you hold both brake levers on. Using the self brake bleeders with check valves makes bleeding the brakes an easy one man job.

Art have you heard when the rio linda fly in will be this year?

michael.

I unbolt and tilt the master cylinders on my toe brakes when bleeding. I have hagars. To avoid an air pocket in the cylinder I removed the piston to look inside, to see which way it needed to be tilted to remove all the air.

When I installed my Sonex hydraulic brakes I had a small air bubble in the clear brake line which appeared to be generated in the cylinder and I could not get rid of it. Talked to the hydraulics guy at the local John Deere dealer who said they always load their cylinders before installation. Not practical. Then said he would try rotating the cylinder angle a little to see if the air bubble would come to the surface. I tried that by pushing the tail down to rest on the skid (Onex trigear) and the bubble disappeared.

Tom Jones
Onex 0133

We have found that using a pressurized brake bleeder tank is the best way to fill and bleed the brake system from the brake caliper bleeder port. Even with this tool though, you may still get a couple trapped air bubbles that remain in the system that will cause a spongy peddle. On the Cozy MKIV we built, we installed a Parker parking brake valve mounted horizontally. It traps a couple bubbles of air at the high point that even the pressure pot won't get out. We un-mount the valve and manipulate it by hand to face UP to get those last bubbles of trapped air out. The pressure pot makes filling and bleeding the brake system an EZ one man job.
http://www.skygeek.com/aircraft-tool-su ... -tank.html