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Beringer RV-14 Kit

JDA_BTR

Well Known Member
I'm very tempted. I worry about deviating from the plans. Is there any modification needed in the gear legs or nose wheel with the kit changes laid out in the previous thread here? Or can I just buy the Beringer kit and bolt it in no sweat?

Also - where can I find how to connect the steel braided brake line in the Beringer kit? I know how to flare aluminum but that would be new for me....
 
Beringer RV14 Kit

I just received my Beringer kit recently. I haven't installed it yet but my understanding is that the axles are a direct replacement for Van's. As for the lines, Beringer includes detailed instructions with the kit on how to assemble the ends. Doesn't look too difficult. The wheels are too pretty to put wheel pants over though. Nice stuff!
 
I'm very tempted. I worry about deviating from the plans. Is there any modification needed in the gear legs or nose wheel with the kit changes laid out in the previous thread here? Or can I just buy the Beringer kit and bolt it in no sweat?

Also - where can I find how to connect the steel braided brake line in the Beringer kit? I know how to flare aluminum but that would be new for me....

Any time you deviate from the plans it's going to add at least some extra work, but in this case I think it will be pretty minor compared to the additional reliability and maintenance savings you'll enjoy down the road.

There should not be any modifications needed to the gear legs (the Beringer kit comes with new axles that should bolt right onto Van's gear legs). The nosewheel kit is the same as what many RV-10 guys are flying and by all accounts it's a very easy installation, and there's at least one RV-14A using it so far without any issues that I'm aware of.

You will have to fabricate the brake lines but as already mentioned I think it's pretty straightforward. GrayForge has a nice website at http://www.prettybits.com/oneBigList.cfm?sectionID=53&entryID=644&projectID=1 with some good pics documenting his Beringer installation on his -7A including pics of the brake line fabrication process.

You've probably seen my detailed write up about the Beringer system for the -14A at http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=138426&highlight=beringer. If you go through the list of parts to order and parts to delete from the Vans kits you should be in pretty good shape.

Disclaimer...I haven't got my Beringer stuff installed yet, so I can't guarantee there are no errors in my writeup.
 
The company emailed me to say that everything for the brakes is a bolt on replacement.

I'm interested in the Parking brake. I use it often in my arrow. Where is a good place to mount that? Has anyone done that yet?
 
Okay, so time to update. I got the kit, and spent some time reading the PDF manual. Pictures below.

It took me a good while playing with the layout to get it where the cables don't rub each other excessively with pedal motion.

Some things I learned....
1. The springs have to go at the bottom or they hit the top of the assembly. The bolts in Van's kit (an3-7) aren't long enough, so an3-10 or an3-11 will do the trick.

2. When the cables are made, there is a clocking that occurs, and the steel braid does not rotate at all, so paying attention to the clocking matters. I think my install could be neater if I clocked it better; but that is hard to do because the fittings rotate mercilessly when torqued. You would have to anticipate pretty exactly how much rotation the tightening is going to cause and it isn't consistent.

3. The rod ends are nice because they are have a bearing and allow the actuators to rotate freely a bit, like good rod ends do. But if the cables aren't laid out right there are a few places where the nuts for the banjo fittings could rub each other. No way they can block each other entirely, just a little rub.

4. If you lay down the cables just like the plastic lines there is an incredibly irritating amount of rub, cable to cable.

5. You will see that I fabricated an angle to mount the parking brake, and cut down some angle to make a fitting for the cable to actuate it. Playing with the angle of the banjo fittings made one set of cables run high, and the other set run low, so that the amount of rub is a minimum.

6. Instead of the single tie wrap that vans has us put on the plastic tubing 4" above the actuators, I took some plastic tubing (5/8? don't know it was in the shop) and put that around each of the four pairs of lines going up. In this way if they rub the rudder bar no damage done - and they will rub in a couple places on the left side.

7. The fittings on each length of tubing cannot be redone once done the first time. The banjo fitting and the part on the tubing side are reusable but there is a little brass olive that gets consumed in the process. So remaking the length to something shorter requires a few spares of this critical part. I didn't have any spares.

8. They tell you in the manual that one end of the cut tubing can be run through grommets and one cannot; this is true...... yesssssss......... the side that springs out cannot be made to work in a tight hole.

9. The clocking of the elbow adapter in the landing gear braces has to be on the money or the fitting won't mate to it. Alcohol dissolves Permatex #2 more than once.

I'd love some comments. Working without plans on this one.....
 
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Looks really nice. I replaced my nosewheel with the Beringer about a year ago and would definitely go the whole Beringer route if building again.
 
That looks nice. Thanks for the comments about the clocking. I'll try to anticipate that when doing my installation. How are you mounting the parking brake? I see the bracket, but can't tell where you plan to attach it. It doesn't appear to be attached in the photo. How do you plan to actuate it? Thanks.
 
ber1.jpg

ber2.jpg

ber3.jpg

ber4.jpg
 
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Beringer brake system

I'm very tempted. I worry about deviating from the plans. Is there any modification needed in the gear legs or nose wheel with the kit changes laid out in the previous thread here? Or can I just buy the Beringer kit and bolt it in no sweat?

Also - where can I find how to connect the steel braided brake line in the Beringer kit? I know how to flare aluminum but that would be new for me....

I just finished the interior install on my 7a. I posted some tips to the 7 "Gotcha" page. Also more on my blog.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=1156174&postcount=106
 
It is always lovely to run across a post about an upgrade after you have already purchased the kits. I just got my finishing kit. Does Van's allow you to return things for a refund?

It would be nice to make upgrade now, when everything is out in the open versus later.

ken
 
Vans policy is for full refunds in returns. I've never done it but I've got a little box of stuff to send back.
 
I purchased the Aircraft Specialty brake line kit. Will the ends on the lines fit this kit? Or is this kit metric and the Aircraft specialty kit standard?
 
I think the ACS kit is the same one you buy directly from Beringer. It's all AN4 fittings, so no metric that I found (at least in the brake lines).
 
Ken and others, we are working out the details of the Beringer install, not only for the RV14 and 14A, but the other Vans planes as well. The plan is to have crimped on banjo hose ends to connect directly to the Beringer masters and calipers, and AN fittings at the airframe bulkhead connections, like the gear passthroughs, and the reservoir. This is for the initial install. We are also working on a retrofit using the Beringer components with our existing brake hoses, if the client had previously purchased them. That way you dont have to buy another set of teflon hoses.

Hope to have a couple of beta testers lined up to check geometries, etc soon.

Tom
 
Ken--The Aircraft Specialty/TS Flightlines packages are for AN fittings, and the Beringer is for 10mm Banjo connections. They arent interchangeable, BUT, we have a client that we sent some banjo adapters to so he could convert the Banjo connection to AN. Havent heard back yet. For previously installed masters, calipers, and hoses, this would be a simple upgrade, without the expense of purchasing all new hoses.

Tom
 
Beringer modified recently some patrts of its kit for RV14. Banjos have rotable connectors now. Finished the clocking's problems. They change the AN3-7 bolts for AN3-10 also. If you bought the kit before, you can phone them and they send this parts free.

Eric
RV14A
France
 
Hi JDA,

Did you run the hoses throught the 0.375 snap bushings ? without difficulties ? It is possible to enlarge the spar holes for 0.500 snap bushings ?

Eric
RV14A
France
 
Eric and others--

When Steve and I were originally working on the RV14A cabin brake hose package, we found that the holes in the spar were pretty close together. OK for using the stock nylon hose and compression fittings, but not ok for use with crimped on hose ends with teflon hose. For a -4 hose end, we needed to open the holes up to 11/16 to allow the B Nuts to pass through the spar. To do that, would mean the the 2 holes would now become 1 large hole, and we didnt want to do that. So we decided to use -3 hose with a .500 B nut. Tim Olsen did the beta testing on this and it worked fine.
Using Beringers reusable hose ends with their hose may be just fine, IF you want to assemble the hoses in the cabin. If you assemble them on the bench and then try to install them, eat lunch first. You'll still have the same issue, unless you have found an alternate route.

NOTE: I thought about making a long bulkhead fitting to span the 2 spar sections, but we nixed that idea. One of the problem of NOT having a plane here to look at and think about. Since we made the original kit packages, we've teamed up with Beringer to work on some of the conversions. Steve and I are excited about the possibilities!

Tom
 
Here's my Beringer install. I found that 5/16" ID vinyl tubing works great for protection from rubbing. I decided to install the parking brake on a modified piece of 1.5" L-bracket with a microswitch to hook up to the efis. I will trim the excess vinyl tubing once I can see where the rubbing happens.

IMG_3360.JPG


IMG_3358.JPG
 
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Beringer lines to the brakes

I installed the whole Beringer brake a wheel system to my 14A.

All went according to JDA's list. I had to get a few extra of those tiny press fit collars as stated because if you have to re-do an end fitting they are not recoverable/reuseable, the other fitting parts are reuseable.

When you run the lines out to the brakes (on the 14A) you have to enlarge the pass-thru holes in the spar carry through webs in order to get the slightly larger diameter hose through the snap-in hole grommets. Best to do this by using a dremel to enlarge the holes off center because of the proximity of at least two of the holes (can't remember exactly) instead of using a step drill - as that gets the holes a bit too close to each other.

And, you have to wait until you run the hoses all the way to the brake line fitting at the fuselage pass-thru point down the gear leg (on the 14A) before you install that line end fitting (or opposite end if you pass it though that way.

All went pretty painless.
 
Here's our version--

We've been playing with the Beringer conversion a little bit for the RV14 and 14A, as well as for the other RV models. To use our banjo hose ends, we use a -3 teflon hose. It works well, and in the case of the 14A it means little modification to route the hoses to the main gear fittings. WE have -3 AN hose ends on the airframe fittings, and 10mm banjo CRIMPED hose ends on the Beringer accessories, like the master cylinders, calipers, parking brake valve, and for those that use it, the antiskid valve.

When using Beringer's re-usable hose ends, you can actually route the hoses through the spar, then terminate the ends, being careful to do it correctly to provide a leak-free assembly. In our package, we are providing the AN adapter fittings to change from -4 to -3 at the reservoir, and the gear/firewall passthroughs.

We have several of these packages out there for builders to use, both for the RV14 and RV14A. Shout out to Ryan McGarty in Charleston, SC, that allowed us to see his 14A and do a mockup install. We also have a few 14's, one with a parking brake and an antiskid valve installed, but I dont have any pics as of yet.

Honestly there is an advantage to using the "make your own hoses" that Beringer provides in their package. That is not everyone will place the parking brake valve, and/or the antiskid valve in the same locations as everyone else. (Not yet anyway). On the antiskid clients install, we felt that, gee if you are going to have an adjustable valve, you might as well locate it so you can reach it to adjust it. So--in his install we wanted him to mount it at the throttle cable mount brackets. That way the thumbscrew was accessible, and the hose routings were out of the way.

With our package, YES we can make the hoses any length you want, we just have to know where you are mounting the valves. YEP--one of these days we'll come up with a final location for these that is universal to all builders.

Tom


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Rob--

how are you going to adjust the brake bias with all the panel and forward substructure in place?

Tom
 
how are you going to adjust the brake bias with all the panel and forward substructure in place?

Tom

Besides the initial setting, I don't think the ALIR will be adjusted to often afterwards. I looked into installing it on the mid rudder support but couldn't come up with a layout I was happy with for various reasons. In its current place I'm going to just reach under and give it a turn.
 
I agree with that--

and hope that the bias is fairly neutral as installed. Yes, once its adjusted, you can leave it, in most cases.
Be safe!

Tom
 
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