REFLECTOR:Matco 323 brakes

[Jack Sheehan]

I am in the process of doing a condition inspection on my airplane. 
Last weekend I got around to inspecting and cleaning the brakes, 
re-greasing etc.
I have the Matco 323 compound brakes which were the ones which 
initially had heat problems and have been revised to a RevA 
configuration. This brake is more like a clutch than a brake. it has 
two rotors (360 degree ) with brake material on both sides which turn 
with the wheel . These rotate between three stators which are 
compressed by six pistons. (illustration attached) I have about 300 
hours and I would guess about 150 landings on them. There are 
specific wear limits which Matco gave me but essentially there has 
been very little wear. The brake material new has about 1/8 in on 
each side of the rotors and there is almost that much still on the 
rotors. A problem on the original design in addition to heat was a 
significant amount of brake dust being trapped in the wheel and 
brake. I found very little dust and what dust was there was a coating 
because of the excess wheel bearing grease that was in the wheel. The 
heat problem with the original caused me to place a heat shield 
between the axle and the gear leg and at the same time I put some 
heat indicator tape on the brake housing. The lowest heat indication 
on the strip was at 130 degrees but that has never been reached the 
indicator tape is still nominal. I certainly believe the heat 
problems associated with the original brake has been solved and the 
servicability of the brake is pretty good. If anyone is contemplating 
use of the Matco 323 I believe it to be a pretty good brake and 
certainly has plenty of stopping power for an XL

Jack
N55XL
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