Now that I have put on the big block,added another 20 pounds of gussets and weigh 350 pounds. I think its time to put on dual rear disc brakes on my racing Montgomery Ward T555. I think I want to go hydraulic. But has anyone used mechanical on their trikes? Any success? What diameter discs are you using? Thickness? What are you using for mechanical or hydraulic calipers? How do they mount? Any issues so far? What if anything would you do different? Pics,pics,pics... Thanks
Watching because the idea of disks interests me.
Personally from my dealing with brakes on my mountain bike switching from mechanical to hydro there is no comparison. I do know you can have too much of a good thing too. When I swapped I had 208mm rotors ft/bk (factory was undersized 160mm that would barely slow down a steel frame with 29+ tires). They worked good with mechanical but was way too much brake with hydro. I ended up dropping back down to 180mm, combined they are now great. I haven't even looked at mechanical when I toyed with the idea on swapping from the band to disk on my 424. At least the rotors and calipers for these things are cheap compared to bicycle parts.
Personally from my dealing with brakes on my mountain bike switching from mechanical to hydro there is no comparison. I do know you can have too much of a good thing too. When I swapped I had 208mm rotors ft/bk (factory was undersized 160mm that would barely slow down a steel frame with 29+ tires). They worked good with mechanical but was way too much brake with hydro. I ended up dropping back down to 180mm, combined they are now great. I haven't even looked at mechanical when I toyed with the idea on swapping from the band to disk on my 424. At least the rotors and calipers for these things are cheap compared to bicycle parts.
To be honest Randy I have great brakes on my drag bike, I use the MCP twin-piston caliper. I use 2 individual hoses but they do sell calipers that only take 1 hose but have 2 pistons. For a master cylinder I am using a wilwood that fits 7/8" bars.
Hubs and rotors are readily available, junior dragster stuff is where I would look since they weigh around 400-500lb.
They use pushrod master cylinder though because they use gas pedal.
Hubs and rotors are readily available, junior dragster stuff is where I would look since they weigh around 400-500lb.
They use pushrod master cylinder though because they use gas pedal.
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I would be careful going overkill, like NEO said, too much brake can be bad. I had a 150cc scooter that had too much brake, wish it had regular china drum brakes but had disc front and rear. look at the lever wrong and it locked up, that combined with too high seat height made for a nasty toss...
You want to have plenty of brake, but only be able to lock up the wheels at or near full pedal pressure. You want to take into consideration your ROTATING mass, because if you have light wheels and tires, lockup will become really easy. yes you have the momentum force, but its still being transferred thru your tires UNLESS you lock the brakes, then you just skid.
If you do go overkill on the brake calipers, it will increase your pad life and decrease wear, but it will mean easier lockup unless you run a master cyl that is exerting less pressure. Splitting a single master that was meant for a single caliper into two calipers may decrease the pressure to around where you want it. also a splitter will ensure equal brake pressure between the calipers so you dont go spinning out!
thats just my 0.02
You want to have plenty of brake, but only be able to lock up the wheels at or near full pedal pressure. You want to take into consideration your ROTATING mass, because if you have light wheels and tires, lockup will become really easy. yes you have the momentum force, but its still being transferred thru your tires UNLESS you lock the brakes, then you just skid.
If you do go overkill on the brake calipers, it will increase your pad life and decrease wear, but it will mean easier lockup unless you run a master cyl that is exerting less pressure. Splitting a single master that was meant for a single caliper into two calipers may decrease the pressure to around where you want it. also a splitter will ensure equal brake pressure between the calipers so you dont go spinning out!
thats just my 0.02
I also think by using the Larrys axles. I will be able to have the disc on the axle and the hub seperate. Right now the the T555 has the hub and drum as one piece pinned to the axle. I would like to use a pin like on a trailer hitch to hold the hubs on. So no tools needed to swap the tires. Each tire would have a hub bolted to it. Pull the pin and the hub and tire come right off. Quick swap for oval to TT race.
I will give this my $.02 and when I was known in the Brothers of the Third Wheel the Triker who weighed more than his trike it was close to a toss up. When I bought back the same Tri-Sport RTS-340 SL in 2002 that I had sold in 1974 I knew I would need new tires so I went to 10 inch wheels and a street tread. So I had to raise the rear fenders. As for the brakes I just left them stock but the Borg Warner calipers just didn't give me the security to feel right being on the very busy freeway's in Portland. I added more lights had a lighted flag and a air horn that all helped with disability but the continued issues with the brakes lingered. So I went to 10 inch disc from a jr. Dragster and they were a full 1/4 inch thick. And I bought a pair of Drag lite II dualpiston calipers. And I used the original Borg Warner master cylinder and a single line. The hard part was figuring out how to make the calipers float for even wear on the pads. The way Justice mounted his calipers worked that is the same way the single RTS Tri Sports did the Jack shaft caliper mount. I was glad to have better brakes flying down the freeway at 65 mph next to a big freight truck.
Steve
Steve
