Replacing Brake Shoes on Mites

Here are some words about the Mite brakes. Several years ago, after flying the Mite for many years, I decided it was time to replace the brake shoe linings. I removed the shoes and took them to several shops to get the linings replaced. No luck. I then went to a motorcycle shop and showed the brake shoe to the guy there. He then showed me a brake shoe that is almost identical to the shoe used on the Mite. It was obvious to me that Al Mooney used off-the-shelf motorcycle brakes for the Mite.

The only problem was that the pivot hole was too small to fit the Mite brake assembly. Now what? How do I enlarge the hole that is made up of two brake shoes? I then found that a Hills brothers coffee can had the identical radius of the brake shoes. I cut the coffee can in half, mounted the brake shoes in it, and made two wood disks to match the can, mounted them top and bottom and used a center bolt and nut to clamp the assembly together. Now, using a drill press, enlarging the hole was easy.

These brake shoes are cheap and work well. They are made by EBC (made in Holland). The model number is S-602. The holes for the two springs are identical to the Mite shoes. I am sure that you, like I did, will have no problem getting them from your local motorcycle shop.

Contributed by Ben Favrholdt, N66MX

15 June, 2006