parking brake leaking

[bobgoodman]

when it got cold this year, i began to notice a few red drops under the cruisemaster in the morning after a cool night. i traced it down to the parking brake control valves. only the right one was leaking but i took them both out. No rebuild kits that i could find. New ones cost $400 from spruce. I put new o-rings from my bottomless o-ring supply box and i think that fixed it. however, i put another o-ring on the actuator shaft between the cable end and the piston so that when the actuator shaft is fully retracted the new o-ring seats against the brass assembly nut. then i put a spring on the outside so that when the actuator is fully retracted the new o-rings help the seal work even more better. i think it's fixed. i'll let you know if i get any more drips. the old o-rings were so hard they broke when i tried to get them out. very brittle. not sealing much at all. i guess anything gets brittle and hard after 53 years soaking in 5606.

 

[lwford]

I had a similar issue on the crate. It was a cracked flair on the left aluminum tube. I made a new one and that fixed it. I never use the parking brake on the crate. In fact, I painted the T handle yellow. The crate was on it's back in 1959 as someone pulled the brake instead of carb heat and sure enough. Lynn the Crate

 

[Dan Cullman]

I agree with Lynn. I never have used the parking brake on older a/c as there is usually no thermal relief.
I always have a pair of chocks and rope in the back of every airplane I fly.
Dan