VW Trike brakes

[DougieT]

Hi all. Whats the best master cylinder to use for rear brakes on VW Beetle based trike. What have all you beetle trikers used.

[Yoda]

a friend has put a land rover one on hers

HTH
(previously an ITAL one was fitted and worked ok)
Yoda

[Lone-Wolf]

Wotcha.

I've always used a Girling half inch cylinder - ( or five-eighths at a pinch ) if that ain't enough, then run it through a five inch remote servo. That's what's been stopping mine for the last 65 000 miles or so.

[chinster]

I run the girling single line un meself, you can also put beetle front wheel brake cylinders on rear they will improve ur braking a bit .

[DougieT]

Is a master cylinder with a bigger or smaller bore best.

I've tried a Landrover clutch master cylinder which is 3/4 inch but very hard pedel with virtually no travel, but no pressure at shoes.
All the brake components are new and wheel cylinders operate when hub is of but wont hold enough to brake wheel when hub is on.

What vehicle would the Girling 1/2 inch master cylinder be fitted to.

[chinster]

av u adjusted the brakes ? (star wheels at bottom of backplate)

[DougieT]

Brakes adjusted up. still dont hold.

[bodgy]

You need a smaller bore master cylinder with bigger bore wheel cylinders, i use a 17mm bore vw master cylinder, but i use the bigger wheel cylinders that are meant for the front of vw beetles, they will fit straight on ,they are only a bigger diameter.
Or if you don't want to do this you could fit a longer pedal for more leverage

[dracken1]

i use 5/8" ones with no probs :)

[DougieT]

Thanks for all the help. Have changed to VW beetle single circuit master cylinder, now getting a brake although not much movement at pedal. In the near future will change to bigger bore wheel cylinders.

[Borg]

http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=562_582

http://www.powertrackbrakes.co.uk/wcylinder.html#cylinder

[deano]

I've been messing around with the brakes on my vw all summer and at the end of the day found the leverage ratio of the brake pedal to be the main problem...To cut a very longgggggg story short. in the end I used a bell cranked lever (as shown in the mag last summer) operating the master cylinder which in turn is operated by the brake pedal via a rod . In this way I able to junk the servo unit and still have a brake pedal with a good feel (like a car brake pedal which have something like a 10:1 ratio) and can lock the rear wheels up in the dry at 40 mph.
I reckon there is still room for improvment but even when towing a trailer and pillion the brakes are now acceptable.........

[DougieT]

Hi Deano.
Your brakes sound good. What master cylinder and wheel cylinders are you using.

[deano]

Hi. Rear brake cylinders, shoes and drums are all standard units and were replaced last summer and I am using a landrover clutch master clyinder.
like I said rather than play about with bore sizes and remote servo's all I've done is just increased the pressure applied at the master cyl. by increasing the leverage ratio at the pedal.
Mind you I should have said my trikes got 12 inch wide wheels and pretty wide tyres so I assume that helps the stopping distance too.

[DougieT]

Thanks Deano, same setup i am using without the wide wheels. Will play about with pedal ratio.