How do I make brakes better?

[Whitetrashrocker]

I've made it go fast, but now I need to stop.

Is there a way to make the stock manco dingo caliper brake function better?

I've taken a 3m pad to the rotor and gave it a slight surface and scuffed off the glaze on the pads. I have all the linkage on the bell crank giving most power, suffering long pedal travel.
My next experiment will be to add some length to the caliper lever.

Yes yes, upgrade to a hydraulic. Love to, but this is a no budget thing.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Maybe more leverage on the pedal?

 

[Whitetrashrocker]

Yup. Top hole at the pedal.

 

[mckutzy]

I sand the pad, I tried scotch bright. But it didn't get enough off of the the pad and rotor.
A relatively aggressive grit worked for me....80 I think...

A complete disassembly, and re greasing of the lever points, ways and caliper bracket helps alot. Making the caliper floats easily and making sure the disc is spinning true relative to the caliper...
I also sand the pads to the contour of the disc, that way they have a more exacting angle of matching surface...

What mechanical caliper do you have??

 

[Karttekk]

There should be an adjustment bolt in the caliper itself with a jam nut on it. Loosen the nut, run the bolt in until the inner pad touches the rotor then re-tighten jam nut.

 

[mckutzy]

I have this type... Its not the adjustment that is out, It somewhat is a finicky design...
Ive had all sorts of problems like above....

OP-What is the disc material made of???....

 

[Whitetrashrocker]

Karttekk has the right caliper mckutzy.

I've got it all lubed and set right. That's easy.

I was just wondering if there was a way to mod it to work better.
It will slow the kart down but it is real hard to lock the axle. I want to be able to get a slide going as I go in the corners.

---------- Post added at 06:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------

The disc is steel.

 

[Karttekk]

Not much else you can do other than roughing up both the pad surface and rotor surface to remove as much glaze as possible. 80 or 60 grit sandpaper then blow it off & wash it with Brakleen. Not sure if there's a larger caliper you could bolt up somehow for more clamping power.

 

[Wilson_Engine_Shop]

Do you have brake linkage that has a spring included? I had issues with brakes on my karts until i ziptied the spring together, now i can lock both wheels on any terrain

 

[mckutzy]

The above caliper has no springs...

Years ago I experimented with a longer arm for the existing lever. I found it was hard to dial-in with the adjusting bolt. I even put a turnbuckle with the linkage in for a fine adjust, no go... It was too much grip or not enough...Too much as in there was way too much drag when the wheel was spinning.....

Could try it out though.. a piece of steel 4" long bolted to the lever, with a bunch of holes drilled in its length...