Turning brake idea for discussion
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:59 am
(long post) After selling our motorhome after almost 30 years of motorhoming our garage has been full of “stuff”, so much and of flammable materials I haven’t been able to work on the black buggy much so I have been working on my tool box seat when and where I can. This morning before I got up I was doing some mental gymnastics on the forming/bending up of a mount for the air-line water filter when I got kind of an epiphany on something completely different.
About 1993, just after I bought my blue buggy and the black buggy body I was visiting my brother who then lived in Vancouver WA. He wanted to go to the Portland Swap Meet; while there I ran into a green Tow’d for sale for $800 (no, my wife wouldn’t let me buy it no matter how much pleading/wheedling I did). When talking to the owner I noticed a single handle coming back to where the driver sat. On questioning him about it the unit was hooked to the front brakes and was used for locking up the front brakes when climbing up a hill allowing the car to hang there (for some reason; I don’t remember just why unless it was for shifting into first and not being able to double clutch down).
Fast forward to roughly 2010 when I got caught in a dune crest collapse and the sand flow; e.g., Landslide that followed. My youngest stepson who was some distance behind me thought I was going to tip over sideways and be burried as the angle I was sitting at in the flow was so steep. Using the turning brake on the downhill side didn’t work the way I wanted it to but accidently I pulled on both handles and started to move forward and got out of it. Several years I ran into an article about 2WD vehicles off-roading and laying their foot fairly softly on the brakes to cause the rear diff to lock driving both wheels instead of the wheel with the least traction getting the power.
Since I ride on the Oregon dunes; where the sand is very fine, soft packed and usually damp so you don’t have front brakes as they want to lock up and dig in when applied which can cause the steering wheel to be jerked out of your hands; we only have rear brakes. I’m not sure about the other dune areas so I can’t comment about the way things are done there but from what I have heard things are pretty similar (I’m being cautious here).
I also run single rib steering tires which is OK for my buggies but not so much for rails as the front end is so light that “you have to be ready to turn” when you turn the steering wheel. The steering tires I have been seeing on rails lately are multiple ribs and not so deep. It is much quicker than turning brakes alone (at speed) from what I have been told (I get motion sick quickly when in or driving a rail so I don’t even try to drive them anymore).
There are two basic styles of turning brakes, single handle (push/pull) or dual handle. With the dual handle brake system (either “laydown” mounted or “up-right” mounted) you can pull both handles and load the diff but not so when using the single handle so a foot on the brakes is the main option but, at times, your feet can get pretty busy so for discussion: why not add a single handle brake in line in front of the turning brakes that will affect both brakes and leave the feet free to do the other jobs they have to do like brace themselves when a collision is evident. The extra brake would work with dual handles also but it is kind of redundant unless you handles are wide enough spaced so you can’t easily pull both at the same time (some of them are like that too).
By finessing and using both handles on the turning brakes I have even managed to get out of being "dug in" assuming the pan is not on the sand and the tires are hanging free in the holes they have dug. This is when strong friends or someone with a winch are nice to have around.
The same could be done when using 4 wheel brakes with turning brakes or alone to keep the front brakes from being activated. I think the “drifters” do something like that right now but for different reasons (http://www.driftingstreet.com/e-brake-d ... nique.html).
Again, any discussion?
About 1993, just after I bought my blue buggy and the black buggy body I was visiting my brother who then lived in Vancouver WA. He wanted to go to the Portland Swap Meet; while there I ran into a green Tow’d for sale for $800 (no, my wife wouldn’t let me buy it no matter how much pleading/wheedling I did). When talking to the owner I noticed a single handle coming back to where the driver sat. On questioning him about it the unit was hooked to the front brakes and was used for locking up the front brakes when climbing up a hill allowing the car to hang there (for some reason; I don’t remember just why unless it was for shifting into first and not being able to double clutch down).
Fast forward to roughly 2010 when I got caught in a dune crest collapse and the sand flow; e.g., Landslide that followed. My youngest stepson who was some distance behind me thought I was going to tip over sideways and be burried as the angle I was sitting at in the flow was so steep. Using the turning brake on the downhill side didn’t work the way I wanted it to but accidently I pulled on both handles and started to move forward and got out of it. Several years I ran into an article about 2WD vehicles off-roading and laying their foot fairly softly on the brakes to cause the rear diff to lock driving both wheels instead of the wheel with the least traction getting the power.
Since I ride on the Oregon dunes; where the sand is very fine, soft packed and usually damp so you don’t have front brakes as they want to lock up and dig in when applied which can cause the steering wheel to be jerked out of your hands; we only have rear brakes. I’m not sure about the other dune areas so I can’t comment about the way things are done there but from what I have heard things are pretty similar (I’m being cautious here).
I also run single rib steering tires which is OK for my buggies but not so much for rails as the front end is so light that “you have to be ready to turn” when you turn the steering wheel. The steering tires I have been seeing on rails lately are multiple ribs and not so deep. It is much quicker than turning brakes alone (at speed) from what I have been told (I get motion sick quickly when in or driving a rail so I don’t even try to drive them anymore).
There are two basic styles of turning brakes, single handle (push/pull) or dual handle. With the dual handle brake system (either “laydown” mounted or “up-right” mounted) you can pull both handles and load the diff but not so when using the single handle so a foot on the brakes is the main option but, at times, your feet can get pretty busy so for discussion: why not add a single handle brake in line in front of the turning brakes that will affect both brakes and leave the feet free to do the other jobs they have to do like brace themselves when a collision is evident. The extra brake would work with dual handles also but it is kind of redundant unless you handles are wide enough spaced so you can’t easily pull both at the same time (some of them are like that too).
By finessing and using both handles on the turning brakes I have even managed to get out of being "dug in" assuming the pan is not on the sand and the tires are hanging free in the holes they have dug. This is when strong friends or someone with a winch are nice to have around.
The same could be done when using 4 wheel brakes with turning brakes or alone to keep the front brakes from being activated. I think the “drifters” do something like that right now but for different reasons (http://www.driftingstreet.com/e-brake-d ... nique.html).
Again, any discussion?