Brake Heat Shields

[brendanw]

Does anyone have photos of their brake system heat shields that they can post? Pictured below is what we've built and installed to retrofit our Cleveland 500 X 5 assembly. Currently I have the OD sized the same as the brake disc, but it seems like I should make them slightly larger. Also, we're currently using some thin aluminum sheet metal, but I think I would like to switch to steel (preferably same thickness).

[Waiter]

I'm not sure if you' have enough clearence when mounting the shield on the caliper!!

 

I mounted mine between the axel and the gear bow. The heat shield plate also serves as the mounting plate for my wheel pants.

 

I don't have any real good photos, but you can see the heat shields on the gear in several of the photos on my web site.

 

Look at the CONSTRUCTION photos, under MISCELLANEOUS

 

www.iflyex.com

 

I use 1/8 inch 6061T6, its about 1/4 inch larger diameter than the disk. Its pie shaped with about 1/4 of a pie piece missing.

 

NOTE: Your heat shield may be to close to the disk. In thermal dynamics, there is an item call "Black Body Effect". A body will re-radiate what it receives. If the heat shield is to close to the disk, it may be almost as hot (and radiating) as the disk. You need a gap to allow air circulation to "cool" the heat shield.

 

 

Waiter

[Big Steve]

Here are a couple of pictures of the heat shields on my CozyIV it has Matco brakes the shields are .063 thick. I plan on painting them with a special paint before I taxy or fly.

[Big Steve]

I hit the wrong button and posted. Here is the other picture of the heat shield.

 

[Drew Swenson]

Like Waiter says---between the gear and the axle. I made mine thick enough to be able to be flown without wheelpants. Those that made them too thin, got them either blown off or bent way out of shape.

 

I also wrapped my gear legs with fiberfrax and an aluminum tape thing that you can get from the hot rod shops.

 

The builder of my Cozy put a negative camber on the axles---don't know why---it just is. I have not gotten around to fix it yet---and it is pretty low on my list since it seems to work ok---just bugs me. But because of the negative camber, the disk is even closer than normal to the gear leg. The good news is that the legs are in good shape with the setup I described. And no---the negative camber is not from the legs melting----you can see the flox pad buildup giving the negative camber.

[brendanw]

Guys, thanks VERY much for uploading and / or directing me to some pictures of your heat shields. It's extremely helpful!

 

Attached are a couple more shots of the heat shield assembly from the 3D CAD program I use. We built the shields as previously shown and agreed that we needed a larger OD. The assembly worked and the material thickness was OK, though I wouldnt mind a bit thicker.

 

As you can see from the new pictures, we do in fact have enough clearance for the piston to move in and out of the caliper. Also, we've extended the heat shields about 0.5" radially past the brake disc. We'll be adding a strap to the bolted connection that will tie the shields back to the wheel pant bracket that we attach to the backside of the gear bow via the 4 axle bolts. This will keep the shields from contacting the disc. I may 'glue' the heat shields to the caliper bodies with a couple dots of high-temperature RTV. That way they wont ride on the caliper alignment pegs

 

All in all I think it will work well. Thanks for the help and advice.

 

Wishing I was at Oshkosh,

 

Brendan

[Chris Byrne]

Here's mine. Cozy IV and Grove brakes.