Tonight I spent time sorting through the various documentation that came with my Berlinger brake kit, and then installing the brake cylinders on the pedals.
Berlinger is a French company, and therefore their native measurements are all metric. That’s not a comprehension problem for me, in fact it’s my preferred method, but it does get confusing when mixing metric and imperial. The brake cylinders seem to be all metric, but the hardware supplied to install is imperial.
Berlinger supply an “installation manual” for the RV-14 kit, but it is not at the level of detail I’ve become accustomed to with Vans. Some of it was just wrong. For example, the diagram, and supplied install hardware, calls for AN3-10a bolts. At the bottom of the cylinder, those bolts are too short to provide clearance from the rudder pedal itself.
I ended up using their supplied hardware for the top of the cylinders, but used a longer AN3-12 bolt with a castle nut. The castle nut isn’t really necessary because Beringer supply a rod end bearing that does the rotating. But, in the even the bearing started binding, it is good to know the nut would not come off.
Interestingly, I discovered that the left and right rudder bars are not identical. The right cylinders needed less length that the left (or vice versa?). This must be due to the geometry once installed.
Next I’ll be working out how these lines attach via Banjo fittings. Hopefully it’s not too complicated, but it will require some more research.
