The International Cessna 170 Association

Here's another one from the rank beginner: Am I right to assume that putting a new set of brakes and wheels on my 170 might be mandatory (or if not mandatory) a good Idea? I pretty much plan on keeping the stock 170A gear legs and maybe to put the PPonk blocks in there. What do you guys suggest beyond shooting myself?

I would give a lot of consideration to getting changed to Clevelands not only for the improved performance, but for simplicity and availability of parts if needed.

Grasshopper, do you know what wheels/brakes you currently have installed?

All 170s came with Goodyear wheels and brakes. These brakes work when they work and when they are working it seems they are just on the edge of falling a part and failing. New Parts are not available, old parts can be found if you scrounge because nearly everyone has replaced them with Cleveland and in some cases McCauley thought the stock of old parts is dwindling as most have thrown them away by now.

It is very easy to identify whether you have Goodyear breaks Looking at the back side of the wheel you will not be able to see both sides of the brake disk like every other airplane you see on the ramp.
If you can see both sides of a disk you either have Cleveland or McCauley. You need to know which because parts are not the same and that will take much closer investigation.

It looks like mine are Goodyear.

If I want to put Clevelands on it what am I looking for?

Your looking to buy the STC from Cleveland and the kit they sell that it approves. I've not bought this but think it's available from Aircraft Spruce or any Cleveland dealer.

I'd buy a lot of other things first as these parts are manufactured new and readily available. (I happen to know Grasshopper is collecting parts to put a 170 back in the air)

If you are going the Cleveland way ,think about putting the double puk brakes on. This makes the best braking machine around . I have never had brake fade and yes they have been very hot but still doing there job.

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bigrenna wrote:+1 on the dbl puck upgrade... Although pretty shortly here we will have George tell us that their use will make you end up on your nose...

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Here is one solution to the nose over issue with double puck brakes! Use one of these "Main gear extender thingies" with double puck calipers.

A lot of good suggestions. At Bruce's suggestion I called Atlee Dodge today. They have an STC and a related letter that allows one to put 8.5 inch tires on the Clevelands. How would this relate to the double puck Clevelands...I'll have to find out.

Does anyone know anything about this? My computer won't work the Atlee Dodge site. I'll have to call them back again.

I just bought a nice 3224 tailwheel today for 500 with a bunch of extra parts.

Right now I'm concentrating on finding parts and buying them.

When you can nose it over with 1 puck, why make it twice as easy to do with 2?

There is no STC for a double puck brake on a 170 it must be completed by field approval.

OBTW all McCauley brake parts are still available you order the McCauley part number it will be upgraded to the cleveland part. Parker now owns both companies. and the parts are interchangeable.

up Grading from Goodyears to clevelands is a simple STC that comes with the kit from Cleveland.

Upgrade your wheels too. its all in the kit.

I'm not sure that it is correct to say that all McCauley parts are interchangeable with Cleveland (and I doubt that's what Tom actually meant to write.) I may be more correct to say that some parts are interchangeable because they have been copied by Cleveland (Parker Hannifin) because some later McCauley parts were so popular.

But do not assume you can substitute one for the other willy-nilly. There are lots and LOTS of McCauley parts which are unique and not directly replaceable with Cleveland components.

Cleveland has owned McCauley for about 30 years, and Parker has owned Cleveland a long time too. when you order a McCauley part, you will get a cleveland part that will fit the McCauley assembly exactly.
When you order the complete assembly, you will get a Cleveland brake. because Parker Hanflin is the manufacturer.

T. C. Downey wrote:
up Grading from Goodyears to clevelands is a simple STC that comes with the kit from Cleveland.

Upgrade your wheels too. its all in the kit.

Grasshopper has Goodyear wheels, he has no choice but to upgrade the wheels when converting to the Cleveland the brake kit.

Again the devil is in the details. We have seen evidence that Cleveland is now putting, at the least, a sticker on their wheels restricting them to 6:00 tires. Don't know if that is now part of their STC. This is why I suggested to Grasshopper he check out Altee Dodge. Of course another detail is some folks think that the TCDS allowing 6:00 through 8:00 tires is only for the stock Goodyear wheels so any STC that doesn't specify specifically leaves this up for interpretation. Of course another detail is the TCDS as well as Altee Dodge's "FAA Letter" calls for 4 ply tires and those are particularly impossible to buy today specially in the larger sizes. Everyone just uses 6 ply of course much like we all run 100LL because 80 isn't available. But once again it depends on the devil who reads the details.

Hmmm. It will take some time to sort this out.