Re: (ET) replacing Electric Ox power-off brakes

[Ken Olum <kdo cosmos phy tufts edu>]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my query last fall about repairing
or replacing the power-off brakes on my Electric Ox.  You suggested
relining, and I called a couple of shops (Midwest Brake and All
Friction), but neither was able to work with material as thin as the
what I needed.  In the end I bought new units from Inertia Dynamics.  I
got them for the right diameter shaft, but they expected a square key
whereas my old one had a roll pin.  So I had my local machine shop
(Pearson) drill the hex collar from Inertia Dynamics to fit the roll
pin, and I am back in business.

These Inertia Dynamics units seem much better than whatever I had
before.   The frame is open, so material rubbed off the disk doesn't
accumulate to clog up the mechanism, and the the friction disk can fit
anywhere over the collar, so you don't have to get the position on the
shaft exactly right.  They seem well built and hold the tractor very well
on a hill.

This was a lot more trouble than I was expecting, but I'm very happy
with the end result.

                                        Ken