Toe brakes

[Charles Lemmon]

My 1958 Comanche needs toe brakes.

[Pat Donovan]

Hi Charles,

I've had two Comanches; one without and one with toe brakes. I didn't find any real difference from an operational standpoint. Considering the turn radius is defined by the nose strut limiting stop, the only real time where differential braking might help is if there is excess drag on one side that needs to be compensated for by braking on the other -- think flat tire on roll out (got the T-shirt) which fortunately doesn't happen that often.

You probably need to visit the various salvage yards to get the parts.

Pat D

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

Charles,
No 1958 Comanche needs toe brakes... In all honesty you would be better off finding an airplane with them already installed (61 or later). I'm pretty sure they built the airplane around the master cyl. mounts on the firewall...

Zach

[Charles Lemmon]

Well I've found a complete set of toe brakes (pedals, cylinders,etc) on ebay. Is there an existing STC for retrofitting these onto my '58

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

Is it a Comanche system? If it is you can install them on the airplane as long as you use all the parts as called for in the parts manual, and installed as per the Piper drawings, then it is just a logbook entry. Installing these are a BIG job. If you are thinking about using a brake system out of another type aircraft, don't waste your money as you will need a field approval and you won't get one.

Zach

[LeWayne Garrison]

If it is a Comanche system, a logbook entry is all that is required. If it is not it will require a field approval. Depending on your area's FSDO it could well be impossible to get. Some FSDO's are easier to deal with than others, but none I know of are easy to get a field approval on something like that.

[Charles Lemmon]

Thanks gentlemen. The toe brakes that I bought were taken out of a Comanche, pa24-250. My mechanic has installed them before so i should be good to go.